This is the season of re-.

We REjoice about all things spiritual and seasonal.
We REcycle gift bags from last year.
We REceive trinkets and tokens from friends and family.
We REgift last year’s randomest gifts.
We REturn wrong sizes, colors, and styles.
We REmember people and moments we cherish.
We REtell our favorite stories.
We REsolve to do things a bit differently in the New Year.

I’m a procrastinator to the core, right down to my marrow. It is not one of my finer qualities mind you, this is a confession not a profession.  But this year I decided to get a little jump start on one of my resolutions. Its a repeat from the past several years…hence, REsolution; I’m trying to REsolve an old problem!

Here’s another confession: I am completely and hopelessly horrible at dealing with mail. I know, how hard can it be, right? I’ve got a filing cabinet. I’ve got a shredder. I’ve got hanging files. I’ve got multicolored tabbed files. I’ve got file labels to color code with my hanging files and tabbed files. I’ve got in boxes and out boxes. I’ve got almost every home organizational system a girl who loves office supply stores could hope for. And yet. I have this problem.

My excuse is that I’m so overwhelmed by the tsunami-like piles of junk mail that flood my box daily that I am utterly incapacitated by it all. One would think that simply throwing it all away would do the trick. But noooOOOOooo. Junk mail is no longer an occasional occurrence but rather a daily diabolical dilemma! Junk mail is no longer a benign bargain mailer here or there but rather a highly-classified-personal-information-identity-theft time-bomb that sits there smirking at the fact that it can’t simply be tossed in the trash but must go through a 15-point destruction process in order to assure you that you won’t in fact be robbed of your identity by trash picking thieving varmints. *Gasp for breath

Ahem, so right, about the mail.

I just spent the better part of three days last week sorting through old paperwork that I failed to deal with. THREE DAYS. I know. I disgust myself. Approximately 70 gallons worth [according to the volume advertised on my trash bags] of shredded and trashed paperwork later I think I’ve caught up. *Twitch The exciting news is that I know where all my documents and paperwork from the last few years is…heh heh…just in time for tax season!

All this ridiculous effort has irked me enough to kick myself in my own bum in the dealing-with-mail-the-minute-you-get-it department. For the past four days I have successfully received the mail, opened it, and shredded or filed it. Yes I am quite pleased with myself.

Yes, I started a bit early on one of my REsolutions but it helps me feel better about the complete fail of previous personal life administrative chore resolutions.

So there you have it.  Mav’s dirty little secret…well about the mail anyway.

What are some of your top REpeat REsolutions?  What are some of your handy tips for dealing with unREsolved REsolutions?