Mortgage Monday: No More Shredding

 

Over the years, my wife and I have amassed hundreds of pounds of paper that we have taken the time to shred or have paid to have destroyed. It is part of how we set up our offices. In addition to the usual pieces that you find like a desk, chair, bookshelves, and a trash can we also set aside a shred both for those pieces of paper that contain sensitive information. No matter where we have lived, this has been the basic suit of items that could be found in our work spaces.

Things are a little different now as we are no longer setting aside documents to be fed through the shredder. In fact we don’t even own a shredder anymore. Now we have burn boxes that we fill and set aside in the closet to be torched at a later date. This is the first time that we have had this option as all the other places where we have lived don’t allow for burn pits or piles in the back yard. We are in a different place now and now we have a concrete lined, grate covered pit designated for this task. Should make for some warm, interesting, and productive fires.

This is just one of the many new experiences that we are enjoying in our home. We are also using well water and septic for the first times and we are having to post no hunting signs on the far end of the property. A different experience but also one that allows for greater freedom and a more relaxed way to spend our days. The burn pit is actually the only such new way of life that we have yet to experience and I am looking forward to it.

Not only does it ensure the information we wish to destroy is indeed destroyed but it is also interesting to see the work and words that we create be enveloped by the flames. Depending on the document, it might make the flames dance a different way or one kind of paper may burn hotter than some others. And what words will float up and hover with the smoke and ash just above eye level? Sometimes what we create we must also destroy… some words can be silenced with fire.

And as we burn the old files and past lease agreements, it is nice to know that we now have a home and land that we can enjoy now and in the future while we forget the details of those things and places not worth remembering from our past. All those lingering moments enveloped by the flames sustained on our land… our home… not just made into confetti that will never be used for celebration. Quite the different from the life we once lived.