"Fear of regret is one thing," says author Harriet Schechter, "but fear of the IRS can be worse."

Man, she's got that right.

My accountant won't let me throw one scrap of paper away regarding my taxes or student loan repayment. When it comes to paying the government, he says, it is always the citizen's job to prove lack of guilt and NOT the government's job toprove guilt. Anytime I get into a I Must Throw This Away mood, he tells me horror stories of a client he had who had to repay her six-figure student loan from Trendy Law School two times. In case I didn't believe him, he introduced me to his neighbor's daughter so she could give me the firsthand tale. EEEEEEeeeeeek! For the rest of my life, I cart around a file box filled with records of payments and tax records. When it gets full, I scan the works onto computer and burn it to CD (that's fine, the accountant said, but always keep the originals for the last few payments of a debt like a student loan or tax bill). Every five years, paranoid of oxidation betraying me to the IRS, I copy the CD.

EEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkk!