But now, I have all this paper, some of it 40 years old, and I need to get rid of it.
I had that problem, but on a smaller scale.
I discovered 3 shoe boxes of cancelled checks on a closet shelf several years ago. Back in the 70's when DW and I were setting up our household, we put her in charge of balancing the check book and storing the cancelled checks. She did a good job. Nothing for me to worry about. If on rare occasion I needed to know if/when something was paid, the check register always had the info.
I really didn't keep track of the fact she was carefully bundling and storing the cancelled checks without a plan of purging them after some period of time. When I stumbled across them, there were thousands covering almost 40 years!
I looked through some and there were lots and lots of memories! Instead of sitting in front of the shredder, I decided that since it was winter I'd just slowly add them to the woodstove after fanning through a small stack per evening looking for interesting bits of our history. It was great fun! I'd grab a bundle of checks and, usually while watching TV or listening to music, fan through them and find examples that were fun or at least interesting to discuss and recall the times.......
Some of the laughs/memories we got involved cancelled checks that reminded us of:
Paying of DW's college loans (which were substantial, more than her first year's income!)
Paying for our first new car, a 1970 VW bug, on a time payment plan.
Bailing a college buddy out of jail after a DUI incident.
Buying stock in our local community bank when it was still a house trailer on a gravel parking lot in about 1975. (That panned out well!)
Making mortgage payments.
Paying for grad school.
Paying for DS's college.
Funding a trust for our special needs grandson.
Buying DS and DIL new cars. (Not at the same time.....)
Etc. Etc.
Lotsa memories. Lotsa discussions. Getting everything glanced over and burned took 4 or 5 evenings and 4 or 5 bottles of wine. I wouldn't recommend saving paperwork like this, but as long as we did, we made the best out of getting rid of it.