What to Toss, What to Keep

Miss Moxie is not helping me.


After staring at the pile of paperwork on my desk at home, I grew frustrated over my pack-rat self. I was determined to change my ways!! Time to shred and purge!
I clip articles hoping to read them, collect brochures from places I wanna visit, rip recipes out I wanna make, save birthday cards from years ago, etc. My Mom saved everything so I know she is who I got this “urge to save” from. And then there are the magazines and books I think I am going to read someday...


Any magazines around the house I try and toss or forward onto someone after I’ve read them pretty thoroughly. Books or magazines I haven’t read 'Im trying to be more proactive and donate them to friends, family, or a library. If I have not read those clipped articles in a year, I toss ‘em. A couple I kept and moved them from the pile to my nightstand or magazine rack in the bathroom. Ha-ha. Perfect night time or “private” bath time reading. J
                                                                                                                                                   
With regards to all of those countless travel brochures, I think I’m going to make a running list of the places that I want to visit and keep it on my desk top on the home computer or the fridge. This way I can always glance at it, add to it, cross off, etc. No need to keep all those brochures. (OK, already going through brochure withdraw over here...)

For example, I’ve wanted to go to the Reading Public Art Museum for years and I keep grabbing brochures. I found three brochures of the same museum! Time to figure out another strategy to reduce unnecessary paperwork. Now this though, will be VERY hard as everyone who knows me, know how much I love collecting brochures since I was a wee little lad.

https://frazzledatforty.blogspot.com/2017/03/my-obsession-with-travel-brochures.html

I’ll keep birthday cards from just my immediate family. If one is from a close friend with a nice personal note, I’ll hold onto that one too. Any other miscellaneous birthday or holiday cards, I’ll toss. Do I really need to save a birthday card from Joe-Shmo at work from  3 years ago? Nah, sorry Joe. I barely know ya.

Where do I draw the line with old bills, bank statements, pay stubs, and tax info? That’s another pile of past paper I was staring at. Most past billing statements can be retrieved online so what I do know is pay the bill, check it’s been paid online and reflected in my balance, and then shred the statement. And listen, before you question me that I am still receiving paper bills, I can’t help myself. I’m Old School baby! I have turned about half of my bills over to electronic or online billing. I’m not ready to take the full jump yet...


With bank statements, it’s the same deal. Everything can be found online these days. I kept some general info about each bank I had an account at, notices, terms and conditions, etc. The past statements have been shredded and tossed.


I’ve kept one pay stub from each previous job. Just so I have the company info if I ever need it, or the last pay rate. I embarrassingly actually had EVERY pay stub from when I started at Lehigh County over 8 years ago!!! Why was I keeping all of these papers!? I got rid of the majority and have just kept my very first one (for posterity LOL) and pay stubs from the current year.

The most depressing thing? Comparing my wages from 2009 to 2017. How sad. Now county public service careers are a great stable jobs but the ongoing financial incentives are pretty meager. Par for the course as I always knew private sector pays more than public.

Now with tax paperwork I just file away and pretty much keep forever. I’ve heard you can toss after 7 years and I’ve read you can toss after 3 years. I’m not taking any chances with the Feds. I’ll be buried with my old tax returns.

Below is a link to a great article by Suze Orman on financial clutter and what you should keep and what you should get rid of. It’s not the Bible of it all but nonetheless, a damn good guide. Hope it helps. It gave me a great place to start. 


Hmmmm…. But I don’t see ANYTHING about tossing travel brochures so I think I’m gonna still keep hoarding them. J

What paperwork or other items do you find yourself keeping?



Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 31, 2017 at 11:59 PM

    Thanks for sharing, I find comfort in not being the only one in my generation still half stuck on ripped articles for travel/bucketlist/home improvement...to me its still easier than pintrest. My odd paperwork file is the instructions, warranties and UPCs of appliances...need a refresher on how to use that food dehydrator, sawzall or electric toothbrush, or if the Moen warranty is valid. Got it.
    Thanks for the "yes, I should do that" reminders too.
    Happy Halloween!
    Chris Bogden

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marc Haynes is Focused at Fifty! November 1, 2017 at 12:41 PM

      Thanks for the comment Chris! :) Birds of a feather.... :)
      -Marc

      Delete
  2. Chuck BudaNovember 1, 2017 at 6:29 AM

    HAHA - I can't part with my notes and scribblings. So much crap and disjointed thoughts but maybe a psycho-analyst can make sense of them once I'm gone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marc Haynes is Focused at Fifty! November 1, 2017 at 12:42 PM

      LOL I actually have a separate file too for my assorted notes and scribblings! Yeah, I will definitely always keep my "idea" file! :)

      Delete
  3. Jack RossNovember 2, 2017 at 11:20 AM

    Thanks for posting this... when you are finished over there, can you come over and help me! I am overwhelmed with this stuff.... I have piles of things I intend to go through, then more comes in the mail... AAARRGH!

    ReplyDelete
  4. MurielNovember 3, 2017 at 11:10 PM

    At one point I had the idea that my financial records (I must have had 10 years saved) might be of interest as an historical, archival record of an independent woman, who first gained credit by using the Discover card offered by Sears, etc...
    Then I looked at the records, check after check to utilities, many other monthly expenditures, endless boring details. I tossed them all saving only a few mementos such as check representing a payment on my first car, a green beetle, a subscription to the Metropolitan Opera, maybe a couple others.
    I'm so glad that almost everything can be done electronically now.
    But let me see what Suze recommends, thanks for the link!

    ReplyDelete

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