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Old 08-17-2017, 07:46 PM
 
Location: 49th parallel
4,596 posts, read 3,271,309 times
Reputation: 9566

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We got rid of financial statements of one kind or another that were going back to 1996 today. What a relief! Of course, to start with I had to sit down and tear off the top of every page that had our names and account numbers on it. You have to be so careful these days. That was quite a job, until we realized that we could just bury the stuff (there's a burn ban on in our area) and it would decompose in time (I hope). So that's what we did, spreading it out over an area, then burying it. Jeez, what you have to go through!
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Old 08-17-2017, 08:22 PM
 
6,504 posts, read 4,909,973 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ndcairngorm View Post
We got rid of financial statements of one kind or another that were going back to 1996 today. What a relief! Of course, to start with I had to sit down and tear off the top of every page that had our names and account numbers on it. You have to be so careful these days. That was quite a job, until we realized that we could just bury the stuff (there's a burn ban on in our area) and it would decompose in time (I hope). So that's what we did, spreading it out over an area, then burying it. Jeez, what you have to go through!

You didn't want to shred it? I've had to do that with all the paperwork my exh left behind that had my info on it too.

I shred everything with my name on it as it's not a very common name.
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Old 08-17-2017, 08:53 PM
 
Location: SoCal
20,160 posts, read 12,713,073 times
Reputation: 16993
Quote:
Originally Posted by ndcairngorm View Post
We got rid of financial statements of one kind or another that were going back to 1996 today. What a relief! Of course, to start with I had to sit down and tear off the top of every page that had our names and account numbers on it. You have to be so careful these days. That was quite a job, until we realized that we could just bury the stuff (there's a burn ban on in our area) and it would decompose in time (I hope). So that's what we did, spreading it out over an area, then burying it. Jeez, what you have to go through!
I feed all my important financial statements to my work bin. Eventually they eat them all up.
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Old 08-17-2017, 11:27 PM
 
28,110 posts, read 63,531,084 times
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My neighbor retired 35 years as civilian aircraft mechanic for the Navy...

On his last day he was wheeling out his toolbox and was stopped by base security at the Alameda Naval Air Station and prevented from loading it up...

The burden was on him to prove he owned what he was taking... he asked the foreman and security to go home and bring in his file with receipts...

He was back within the hour and had receipts for everything... starting with the tool box bought in 1950... after about an 30 minutes of checking ancient receipts everyone was satisfied and he was told to carry on...

His wife kept meticulous files and each time he bought a work related item she kept the receipt for tax purposes...

I once needed to prove what I paid for a car I bought bought 30 years ago... otherwise the DMV was going to assess current fair market value... it was a project restoration and I too kept a file which satisfied the DMV...

That said I have kept in a shoe box every check I have written since I opened my first checking account at age 13 and a few times needed to go back many years for something car related.
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Old 08-18-2017, 06:31 AM
 
6,504 posts, read 4,909,973 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultrarunner View Post
I once needed to prove what I paid for a car I bought bought 30 years ago... otherwise the DMV was going to assess current fair market value... it was a project restoration and I too kept a file which satisfied the DMV...

That said I have kept in a shoe box every check I have written since I opened my first checking account at age 13 and a few times needed to go back many years for something car related.
I still have files on each car I've had, including race cars that have been scrapped.

I have moved so much stuff around with my recent cleaning that I can't find something I am looking for now.
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Old 08-18-2017, 07:18 AM
 
Location: Tampa, FL
27,798 posts, read 32,330,602 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ndcairngorm View Post
We got rid of financial statements of one kind or another that were going back to 1996 today. What a relief! Of course, to start with I had to sit down and tear off the top of every page that had our names and account numbers on it. You have to be so careful these days. That was quite a job, until we realized that we could just bury the stuff (there's a burn ban on in our area) and it would decompose in time (I hope). So that's what we did, spreading it out over an area, then burying it. Jeez, what you have to go through!
Our community financial planner periodically has wine, cheese, and shredding parties. Provides complimentary professional shredding service to anyone who visits his business that day. Nice service to provide to old retirees with years and years of documents.
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Old 08-18-2017, 08:07 AM
 
Location: Idaho
6,346 posts, read 7,721,264 times
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Uugh! Rented a 26-foot U-Haul truck on Monday morning and loaded it up. Front half was all boxes and back half was furniture. Then left Monday afternoon for the 1,200 mile drive to my new retirement home. Drove seven hours that first day before spending the night trying to sleep in the truck cabin.

Hit the road again the next morning at 6:00 and pulled in just after midnight. Driving a large U-Haul truck is not like driving a auto. Have to maintain constant vigilance lest the truck wanders off the road. And, went at 60 mph because anything more than that made the gas comsumption rate go way up. Was able to average 8.5 mpg as it was.

The worst was unpacking. So much stuff! Thankfully, the neighbors came over and pitched it. Without me asking. People are fantastic here. So friendly.


Still need to go back to the old place and pack up the garage. I'm really going to think hard about leaving stuff behind. This self long-distance moving is not a totally enjoyable experience. Especially at our age.
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Old 08-18-2017, 09:16 AM
 
38 posts, read 48,765 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ndcairngorm View Post
We got rid of financial statements of one kind or another that were going back to 1996 today. What a relief! Of course, to start with I had to sit down and tear off the top of every page that had our names and account numbers on it. You have to be so careful these days. That was quite a job, until we realized that we could just bury the stuff (there's a burn ban on in our area) and it would decompose in time (I hope). So that's what we did, spreading it out over an area, then burying it. Jeez, what you have to go through!

I would recommend the following. I have done about 25 years of documents in the past 2 months. It took a total of about 120 hours. I emptied about 6 lateral file cabinets of paper. What a feeling when it was done! Going forward I keep up with this each month, about 30 minutes of work each month. I would recommend getting a good flatbed, duplex scanner before starting.

1. Organize the paperwork.
2. Scan all papers.
3. Store on backup hard drives as per your household backup policy for all your files, pictures, etc.
4. Explain your significant other how everything is electronically stored on the drive.
5. Shred all scanned documents.
6. Enjoy the freedom of no more paperwork and how easy it is to retrieve any document you may need.
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Old 08-18-2017, 06:10 PM
 
Location: 49th parallel
4,596 posts, read 3,271,309 times
Reputation: 9566
Thanks for all the suggestions about paperwork. The sheer volume of it was why we decided to do it this way (a good non-Christian burial). In a stack, I'd say it stood about 3 feet tall.
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Old 08-18-2017, 10:05 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,650 posts, read 28,557,937 times
Reputation: 50477
I'll be moving in two weeks. It's horrible.

One thing I haven't been able to wrap my head around is how to pack the miscellaneous stuff and all the papers. Finally I've decided to just pack the tons of papers into boxes and simply label them "papers." And the stuff--pack it into boxes and label it "junk." There is no way I can go through all of it in two weeks and figure out what to keep and what to toss.

Once I'm at the new place, I'll have that task ahead of me. A lot of the papers can be thrown out, I know. As for the "junk"--keep some, sell some, give some away, donate some. It's too daunting to try to do it right now as it's the sentimental stuff and some of it used to be valuable. Some valuables, like china, have lost most of their monetary value.

I am donating things before I go, the easy things. But when you get to this age, moving and making decisions is really exhausting.
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