Day Fifteen

I still have IRA contribution forms from Putnam for 1998. My $300 in various funds had turned into anywhere from $372.29 to $431.45, and I was still living on White Plains Road then. Time to get rid of them.

Day Fourteen

Tossing out a Staples receipt for a Sony voice recorder that I bought earlier this year for $50.

Day Thirteen

Time to throw out this suitcase tag that has been on the floor by the radiator in my bedroom since last year, when I needed a new bag for a trip to London.

Day Twelve

I don't know why I keep so many receipts...Tax purposes? Memories of the fine meals I've eaten? I found one from 9/22/09 for fish tacos from Pinche Taqueria II on Lafayette Street. I think that was the night I went to see my friend Paul in The Cradle Will Rock at a theater on Lafayette and Bleecker. It's going in the garbage.

Day Eleven

A Post-it from Annie with her microwave's dimensions on it: 20.5" wide x 16.5" deep x 12" high. She didn't have room for it and offered it to me last year, but upon measuring I decided I didn't have room for it.

Day Ten

Another wrinkled receipt from the kitchen, this one from TJ Maxx from 5/22/11 for $24.99 for something called "Better Wear" on the receipt. Perhaps it's the Nine West jeans I'm wearing now.

Day Nine

A water-stained receipt from the grocery store at the end of my block from 9/16/2012, back when it was still a Pioneer. It's for two 64-ounce Snapples and a quart of milk.

Day Eight

I have been a notorious pamphleteer most of my life -- a habit I am really trying to break. So out go all the useless ones, including "Know the Bear Facts," one from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Division of Fish and Wildlife that I picked up during one of the New Jersey State Fairs that I went to with Connie and Ed. It's about how humans can deal with New Jersey's considerable black bear population. It got wet and the pages are wrinkled and stuck together.

Day Seven

Another quarter of paper with words and numbers on it that mean nothing to me: 5/24/83 JC Tilton 1982 ___________ Haney + Co. Maison d'etre

Day Six

Tossing out a slip of a cab receipt from 5/21/06 for $4.90. The ride lasted from 3:360 to 3:43...was I in my dress and heels and going somewhere for a Drama Desk Awards event?

Day Five

A receipt from Green Apple Cleaners from 1/17/2012 for mending for a pair of pants: "please mend tare [sic] on seat of pants.. and patch hole by pocket," it says. It was $9 and if these are the flimsy tan pants from Nordstrom I was thinking of they were not not worth $9 to repair.

Day Four

A receipt so old and faded that the only words I can make out on it are the name of the store: My Sister's Favorite Things. I remember it was/is a store near the Asbury Park beach that I went to with Connie and Ed on a day trip before they got the house in Pennsylvania. I believe I bought some jewelry there...

Day Three

Throwing away an ad ripped from a Metro New York newspaper for a computer-repair place in midtown. I checked and the website (bluedata-ny.com) now belongs to an English-language school.

Day Two

Today is another easy one: a small piece of lined adhesive paper with issues of magazines listed on the front: Advocate 9/03, Interview May 2004, GQ January 2002, Biography Magazine (no date)...and on the back, the mailing address for purchasing back issues of New York magazine for $8: 444 Madison Ave, NY, NY 10022.

Day One

Every day I'm going to try to throw out one piece of paper in hopes that this simple task will help me clear some of the clutter from my messy apartment. I'm starting with an easy one today: tossing a $1 off coupon for a Sabra dip that expired on 1/15/2013. Nothing that could possibly be useful there.