[Mattie Jo]

Originally Posted by redbird4848

LR, can you come over and tear my house apart? I have taken the bed out, and found 20 pairs of shoes and boxes of packing peanuts that we MIGHT need.

I am taking a break and going to mass.

When in doubt about your house, go to mass.

[peggydavis]

Originally Posted by jessaka

When in doubt about your house, go to mass.

Yes, and pray for strength and patience to deal with pack rats. It is really not necessary to keep your deceased parents' old electric bills.

[colleeng47]

Originally Posted by peggydavis

Yes, and pray for strength and patience to deal with pack rats. It is really not necessary to keep your deceased parents' old electric bills.

We had this older gentleman (84) who came to our house for dinner every sunday for a couple of years before he passed away. One time we went to his house to pick him up and he took us to the basement, where he had stored EVERY SINGLE CHECK he ever wrote! There were boxes and boxes and boxes of checks, all labeled with the years, etc. I never saw anything like it.

[peggydavis]

I think it is partly hereditary. We were walking around some old ruins on property once owned by my husband's family. I saw some old checks lying in the dirt. Lo and behold, they were old checks written by my DH's dad, who died in 1986, and apparently he had stored a big box of checks in the old ruins.

[colleeng47]

Originally Posted by peggydavis

I think it is partly hereditary. We were walking around some old ruins on property once owned by my husband's family. I saw some old checks lying in the dirt. Lo and behold, they were old checks written by my DH's dad, who died in 1986, and apparently he had stored a big box of checks in the old ruins.

It might be a hereditary thing, but in some cases I think it may have skipped the current generation. I can't tell you how many e-mails and phone calls we get from people who want copies of their tax returns sent IMMEDIATELY beause they need it for job applications, student loans, mortgages, etc. Nobody bothers to keep copies of their taxes, it just blows me away!

[TheComputerGuy]

That's because people only save things they like or are proud of...
Who likes taxes or the I.R.S.? I bet even you don't!

[_redbird_]

Yes, Don keeps the old checks he wrote back in 86. He keeps the carbon copy check books all rubber banned and designated by year.

He distrusts the sytem of paying bills online, which I use almost exclusively. He is also sentimental, so we have birthday/xmas/etc cards from years past and obituaries cut out from newspapers.

We have his mothers recipes, which he copied onto 4x6 cards. His parents owned a bakery at one time and he remembers bussing tables at age 5 with the help of standing on a crate to reach the table.

I like to hear those stories. What does a 5 year old do today? cartoons and video games?

[TheComputerGuy]

Although it may not be your intention, you make a good case for Uncle Don...

Originally Posted by redbird4848

Yes, Don keeps the old checks he wrote back in 86. He keeps the carbon copy check books all rubber banned and designated by year.

He distrusts the sytem of paying bills online, which I use almost exclusively.

And when they DO mess up at the other end (and they USUALLY do. Eventually....), Uncle Don has irrefutable proof.

Originally Posted by redbird4848

He is also sentimental, so we have birthday/xmas/etc cards from years past and obituaries cut out from newspapers.

Yes, they DO take up space, but can you fault a guy for wishing to keep mementos?

Originally Posted by redbird4848

We have his mothers recipes, which he copied onto 4x6 cards. His parents owned a bakery at one time and he remembers bussing tables at age 5 with the help of standing on a crate to reach the table.

This is where you can help him...
Have him put the recipes into a database or spreadsheets. (Do be sure to print them... They'll STILL take up less space.) and you can toss all the 4X6 cards....
Unless they are in his mother's handwriting... Then they may be considered "mementos"

Originally Posted by redbird4848

I like to hear those stories. What does a 5 year old do today? cartoons and video games?

So you DO have some understanding...
Just help Uncle Don see that there are more efficient ways of doing things these days... (That take up a heck of a LOT less space!)

You have my sympathy RB, but have some empathy for Uncle Don.
(And NO, storing your whole life on paper is NOT the answer... )

You also have my empathy.

[colleeng47]

Originally Posted by TheComputerGuy

That's because people only save things they like or are proud of...
Who likes taxes or the I.R.S.? I bet even you don't!

All you need is for the IRS to pull an audit on you and you'll wish you had saved things that you may not have been proud of. You should keep your returns forever. I know they say 7 years or 10 years, but we are currently sending out bills to businesses for tax returns they didn't file (or we don't have a record of) from 1989.

[mkfarnam]

In Ca. I had every payment reciept from credit card,utilities,tax,ect, along with the money order reciept , all of the way back to when I first moved in
(1982) to 6/07.

On time I found a "Silver Certificate" dated 1899, in the attic.