Paper Clutter

[cjsmith]

Counting the deep drawers in desks, I have nineteen file drawers in one room of my house. Ten of them currently hold my filed paper. (Well, okay, nine and a half. I just spent an hour throwing away stuff.)

Whether I go paperless or not, the first step is to throw out about six drawers' worth of files I don't need. For example, I have my pay stubs back to the beginning of my current job. Do I really need all my pay stubs for all my PREVIOUS jobs? Do not doubt for a minute that I have them, every one.

Comments

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

i'd keep the year-end paystub, if anything, and stick it with tax info. sure, it's duplicated on a w2, but it couldn't hurt. but i'd only go back the 6-7 years. i did finally pitch paystubs from my first job. omg, what a riot those were!

all of my tax stuff (including paid bills, insurance/meds receipts, etc) all fits neatly into a letter-sized envelope box swiped from work. keeping utility bills (and having them in boxes by year) going back 7 years helped me sort out some identity theft stuff, by proving i'd lived where i lived going back beyond the date of the fraudulent activity.

i should take a cue from you: i haven't put away paperwork in *ages* and haven't touched Quicken since last summer. *groans*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Most of my jobs have a pay period crossing 12/31. Makes a year-end pay stub kind of weird. I was about to go pitch all my pay stubs from my earliest jobs and some of the oldest credit card statements and I just realized THOSE AREN'T IN THE FILE CABINETS! They're boxed in long-term storage, in the garage! Yeesh. I have ten nine and a half file drawers of stuff and the vast majority of it is since 2000.

Oh yikes, identity theft is a nightmare. I have no idea what I'd do if someone got their hooks into me like that. *shiver*