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The added benefits of a new file cabinet

jennifer · October 25, 2012 · 10 Comments

After working from home for over a year and a half, I finally broke down and bought a real file cabinet. It’s charcoal in color, which works nicely with my decor, and metal.
My old filing system was cheap, plastic and on wheels. Every time I opened a drawer to find a file, I had to use an unusual amount of strength and hope the whole darn thing wouldn’t fall on my feet. Balance wasn’t its strongest suit.
So off to Staples I went, with my business credit card in hand, to buy a real deal file cabinet. Like I’m all important or something.
When I brought it home, though, I realized I bought much more than an upgraded vehicle in which to store my oh so important business files.
Two things immediately popped into my head after gracefully taking my file cabinet out of the box. (There are advantages to having co-workers around when you get back to the office with a new piece of furniture.)

  1. This thing is metal, and I have a whole bag of magnetic poetry shoved in a drawer somewhere.
  2. This box will entertain my boys for hours on end.

I had visions of myself creating poetic masterpieces on the side of my file cabinet as my kids played peacefully in the next room with their box. It was all very creative and inspiring.
Then, I remembered that the magnetic poetry was actually the tabloid version and included many words that I wasn’t interested in explaining to my literate 7 year old. I had to be a bit strategic when my sons helped stick all those words on the side of my file cabinet.
So the inspiring poetry I was planning on creating turned into stuff like this:
My sons particularly thought G’s “famous Lochness monster travels and is fat and old” creation was really, really funny. Like belly laugh funny.
Who knows. Maybe he’s a future tabloid headline writer. There’s money in that, right?
The box, of course, has entertained them for hours. It’s been their house, a race car, a rocket and a robot. My husband cut out holes in strategic places so they could have windows or eye holes, depending on their need. Those holes have also cut down the number of times my furniture has been run into by screaming children running with the box over their head. (Do girls do these type of things?)
So I guess I my purchase of a new file cabinet had some added benefits I didn’t expect.
And it turns out the boys weren’t the only ones entertained by the box.

dog in a box

Oh, and in case you are wondering, my files are nice and organized in my new cabinet. And I have no struggles trying to get to them.

What added benefits have you found from a store purchase?

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Related

Business, Just for Fun, Parenting filing cabinet, G, magnetic poetry

Comments

  1. Chris Carter says

    October 25, 2012 at 11:08 am

    HA! love it!! Girls do the same stuff… 🙂 My kids LOVE getting in tubs on top of their beds and rolling off to the floor while in them. Yep. PURE entertainment!!! Ridiculous but fun! SO glad you got yourself a REAL filing system! You SO deserve that! Makes me wanna go to office max and just ask for boxes for the winter months…hmm…just might do that!!! 🙂

    Reply
    • anotherjennifer says

      October 25, 2012 at 11:22 am

      I don’t know why we bother buying presents for kids. The boxes are the most entertaining item!

      Reply
  2. Michelle says

    October 25, 2012 at 2:17 pm

    I went to the “trader depot” here on campus last year and bought a pretty decent file cabinet for our house. It was the best $20 I ever spent. Until then I too had to balance a plastic file drawer on my feet hoping it wouldn’t fall apart!
    And, yes, I think my girl would do that, too. She’ll walk around with anything on her head these days!

    Reply
    • anotherjennifer says

      October 25, 2012 at 2:24 pm

      Kids are funny. 🙂

      Reply
  3. deb says

    October 25, 2012 at 7:26 pm

    New acquisitions nearly ALWAYS seem to be unexpected benefits and amusements. I love that the entire family seemed to groove on such an office “staple.” (Sorry, no pun intended, but there you have one as a bonus!)
    I always tell my clients to never underestimate the value of a good sturdy well-balanced filing cabinet.
    Enjoy!

    Reply
    • anotherjennifer says

      October 25, 2012 at 8:11 pm

      It actually makes me a bit more efficient! So much easier to store and find files.
      Plus, my son is practicing his sentence structure via the magnetic poetry. It’s goofy, but they’re still sentences!

      Reply
  4. ilene says

    October 25, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    The boxes and packaging are always more interesting to my kids! I totally relate! And congrats on your new file cabinet! Love the magnetic poetry. Tabloid version LOL!

    Reply
    • anotherjennifer says

      October 25, 2012 at 10:13 pm

      The poetry is pretty entertaining!

      Reply
      • deb says

        October 25, 2012 at 10:16 pm

        When the kids are old enough, you can challenge them to create magnetic haikus!

        Reply
        • anotherjennifer says

          October 26, 2012 at 6:06 am

          That’s a great idea!

          Reply

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