I've fallen into this nasty habit of just leaving bills and other documents stack up after dealing with them (or not dealing with them as the case may be) The problem is, you can never find anything when you need it. I realize this is a pretty lousy method of organization, and I've actually got file drawers for keeping things in, but the last documents filed were circa 2001. Ouch.
So, I sucked it up yesterday and did a TON of filing. Afterwords, I realized I was still missing most of 2002. A little searching turned up another huge stack of papers buried in a drawer. I assume it's the missing year of my life. I didn't have the heart to file those too. Next weekend maybe.
Holw long am I supposed to keep this crap around for anyway? The next step will be actually balancing my checkbook again......
Posted by mike at March 8, 2004 10:32 AMIt's great to see you find yourself, Mike. :P
Posted by: Jeff at March 8, 2004 12:57 PMI actually have a crappy system. 2 drawer cabinet with folders, bottom drawer is last year and year prior. Top drawer is current year. I also took a trip to Office Max and bought some binders. One binder is for my Ford F-150 records (maintainence and crap), the other is for my finances. So far so good. I still create little piles every so often but then I get to them.
Shredder is KEY too.
Posted by: eric at March 8, 2004 02:58 PMI am the queen of filing!
Sadly, Mike, most of that stuff has to stick around for something like seven years. I am dangerously close to graduating to a 4-drawer filing cabinet. Scary. Are we that f-ing old already?
Posted by: Maria at March 8, 2004 08:01 PMso you just go 3 Eric?
I'm at about that right now. Probably a little further back on some accounts. I'm saving most every statement I'm mailed though. Should I save less?
Posted by: mike at March 9, 2004 09:43 AMI am seriously going to look into what Todd does (receive all billz online). You get a CD at the end of the year with everything. No filing required.
Posted by: eric at March 10, 2004 10:18 AMI have it all on CD. PDF's.
What are these "file cabinets"?
Posted by: todd at March 10, 2004 11:12 AMKeepin' it old school, my friend. :P
Posted by: Maria at March 10, 2004 12:54 PMwhaddathey chargeya todd?
Posted by: mike at March 10, 2004 01:10 PMA cd would be very cool to have. So many files - they take up sooo much space. My little filing cabinet is filling up too. I think it is 7 years for keeping all that stuff too :(
Posted by: Dee at March 10, 2004 01:14 PM$10.95/mo. Well worth it. The CD is like $20 at the end of the year and it is encrypted... you need a password to access it. Its pretty cool.
Maybe I'll keep the CD in a file cabinet?
Posted by: todd at March 10, 2004 05:44 PMI also file, even though I pay my bills online. It's always handy to have a paper-trail of your records.
Posted by: Jeff at March 12, 2004 10:42 AM