Saturday, January 10, 2009

Reciepts, bills & pay stubs oh my

My rooms gotten messy. A little past messy. Clothes on the floor, bills scattered around. I find that when my rooms organized I feel better about myself. Maybe I have some sort of undiagnosed issue but it's true.

I have bills in my room from 2006! Do I still need to hold on to them? My dad would keep his bills for years & would always yell @ me when I threw things out. I used to toss bills once I saw that my payments were credited online. I never keep a balance so didn't see the need but perhaps my dads constant yelling got to me & now I have a bag full of bills.

Armed with a shredder in hand, here's what I am going to follow as I sort things out.
  • Bills - 3 months of history (not sure why when I can see almost a year of history online. Always good to have a backup though in case of any glitches I suppose)
  • Receipts - I toss once I see it on my statement unless off course it's a big purchase or something I might return. I check my credit card balances online @least once a week.
  • Pay stubs - here's where I am confused. I am not sure how much history of this I am supposed to keep. I have not tossed a single one out since I started working...so have almost 2 years worth scattered here & there. When's a good time to toss these? Good old google has failed me & given me various answers.
  • Agreements - I have little booklets for the credit card agreement, my banking account & things like that. Things I've never referenced since I got them but at the same time, documents I feel I should hold onto. I think I'll keep these guys around as annoying as they are.
  • Warranties & how to use booklets - Another annoying thing that I hardly use but take up space & hard to find when you do need it. Similar to before, they don't see the light of day but I feel like I should keep for some reason.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's why I went all paperless as much as possible!!

Fabulously Broke in the City
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver...

Anonymous said...

Paperless is definitely a good solution. If you can't do that, then a good accordion file should help you out.

I keep important receipts for large purchases. I also keep a year's worth of pay stubs. Bills and bank statements I keep virtual copies of so I just shred the paper copies if they still send them to me.

Warranties or instruction booklets I try to keep bundled in one place. I have a big manila envelope to contain them. Once the warranty is expired or I don't have the appliance anymore I toss them.

Have fun organizing!