Did you throw away lots of things when you retired? (divorce, relocate)
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I'm a decade and a half from retirement (hopefully, anyway) and I love threads like this because it encourages me to keep going with my perpetual purge. We moved at the end of 2014, and despite the fact that this is a larger house, I still got rid of a good 1/3 of everything before that move. I'm continuing to plug away on an ongoing basis, with the idea that by the time I'm ready to sell this house and downsize into retirement, I'll have most of the work already done. And I love my new decluttered house - I'm not even remotely minimalist but still trying to make sure everything is organized and has a place to be put away.
We got rid of everything except our clothes, electronics, and art. The kids didn't want the family stuff (old family pictures and antiques) and our newer furniture was too stuffy for our retirement lifestyle. We gave away everything we could to family and friends first. Then we gave all that was sellable to the local animal shelter for their upcoming garage sale. The rest went to the dump. We moved into our retirement house with little more than our clothes, art, and electronics. Starting from scratch was liberating!
Old family pics would have been something I would have kept.....
Can you give a very brief synopsis of how long we are supposed to keep 'stuff'? Or, the link from where you downloaded the instructions/rules?
Ack! I've looked in several stacks of papers and in my history on this computer. Now I can't find my notes. But I googled IRS rules on how long to keep records and there are a lot of places to look.
Now let's see what I can remember. Copies of tax returns should be kept forever. I don't know why, one can request copies from gov't, but that's what I read. Employee records (if you have a company) for about 3 or 4 years. Some places said 3 or 4 years for most things. See I was looking mostly in regards to company records. I think IRS can go back something like 6 years to review taxes and you have to keep records to back up what you've said that long. Records on real estate, for instance improvements to property forever or until that property is sold and then those years to justify that information on your taxes. Long time also for property exchanges. For most things a few years is adequate, but the tricky part is if you're ever audited, they can go back several more years. If we don't keep paper receipts, at least bank statements showing checks etc. would be good. You have to be able to justify everything put on tax returns.
I'm sorry this is so vague. I had spent some time looking into company records such as dissolving corporations, etc. If one has an LLC or a corporation, just letting it lapse with state is not good. They can come after the assets of the company/corporation for back fees and penalties. So retiring by just walking away from a company is not the way to go; follow your state rules for dissolution and distribution of company assets and keep those records. I did find those papers and forms.
I'll keep my eye open around here if I come across my notes. I'd decided just to keep 7-10 years for most important things. You wouldn't believe how much paper we have here. I figure if I keep the spreadsheets and bank statements for most years and throw away specific receipts, that would be enough backup. We are stuck with keeping other stuff such as insurance policies which have "completed projects" coverage forever. It's much harder with a company. IRS I think has a specific website, I'll go look for that at least.
I did read one story about a guy who had to wait 2 more years to retire because SS hadn't credited some of his years and he had shredded his tax returns going back that far. He requested tax return copies and they did not have them even electronically going back that far. How awful!
Well, sorry the 1st link doesn't work but google IRS rules how long to keep records, that's how I found it; at least the 2nd one works!
And I read another story about how not to let our paper get ahead of us, for example Monk's paper-hoarding brother. Remember that series? So funny, however I'm looking around here. Ah, not that bad, but I sure need to get a handle on stuff. Need to do more stuff electronically I guess. Hope that helps.
Last edited by Pat Answers; 08-08-2016 at 11:35 PM..
Reason: fix link?
When my wife and I retired (from full time work), we moved to a new place and purged. We through out so much stuff. We used Groupon to find place that would haul away our stuff for a small fee. We gave away things to Goodwill and Freecycle. We filled the trash cans to the max every day the garbage man came.
Every time things were moved out of our basement and given to the trash man or charity, I felt a sigh of relief and joy.
Why did we buy all these things? Why did we keep them for so long?
It would be great if the fellow retired people on this board would tell us their stories of getting rid of things when they retired? (How did you get rid of your junk, etc.)
I moved from one coast to the other. The following are everything I can think of that I kept. Everything else was sold, given away or thrown away (we rented a large dumpster) before I left. I flew to my new home. The dog, husband and computers were on the plane with me. The rest was shipped.
1. the dog
2. the husband
3. the last two years of bank statements and last 7 years of tax returns
4. one bed, two dressers, 3 night stands
5. two portable computers and several CDs
6. one DVD player
7. one bicycle
8. a few clothes, not many
9. one medium box of small mementos
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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I'm keeping my dump truck for future moves. Bulldozer will be sold at auction, after DS 'backfills' my grave.
Living in the boonies is not conducive to garage sales, but I can bury a lot of stuff.
Scrap prices are low, so holding onto 34 cars at the moment.
The handmade furniture can fuel the woodstove for a season.
Kids don't want anything, so numerous treadle sewing machines, bedroom sets from 1800's, heirloom pioneer stuff from homesteading grandparents will go to museums, or be buried.
Bunches of stuff goes via eBay. No one will show up if listed on Craigslist.
We downsized 8 years ago from 3600 square feet to 1800 square feet. We still have things to get rid of. I look at it and say if I am dead would my kids toss it? Then it goes.
We still have 6 years to retirement but I am trying to get rid of extras. When my Mom died 10 years ago, we found 1000s of paper placemats from the Bicentennial. Tons of containers etc, child of the depression.
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