Yesterday, when I was filing away some of seemingly never ending piles of receipts, bills and other paperwork I always have sitting around, I got to thinking about just how much of this stuff I actually need to keep. I have pay stubs from all the way back to 2001. I also have credit card statements from roughly that same time period. All of which are shoved into two big file boxes, one of which I can currently barely close. As Zach wandered in to see what I was doing, I started asking him if he know what I actually needed to keep, and low and behold all we both knew was that if it was tax related, it should be kept for 7 years. Other than that, we were clueless.
So this morning, I asked my friend Google what he thought, and he sent me over to bankrate.com, which had a great answer you can find here: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/mtg/20000518h.asp.
Suffice to say, I can probably throw out about 7/8 of what I have been hauling around with me for years. I can't wait to go home and spend the night clearing out that clutter and reminiscing about all the stupid purchases I made during my time as a Boston Store purse seller. I think the justification was something like, I get 25% off though, how can't I buy another Coach purse I don't need? Now if only my paper shredder was working properly....
In addition, I went on-line to a majority of my bills (credit cards, phone etc.) and signed up for paperless billing. Since everything is already set up to pay automatically for me, it seems silly to get statements, only to toss them a month later. Less paper for me to deal with, and better for the environment to boot!
On a less financially savy note.... I ordered a new set of luggage for our upcoming cruise! :)
I could try and justify that I actually "needed" it, but it would pretty much be a big lie. My old set of luggage, which is listed on one of the aforementioned Boston Store bills that will be shredded, is neon pink, I mean hurts your eyes pink. (When my luggage missed its connecting flight once, the lady at the counter pulled out a card with various luggage fabric swatches on it, suffice to say my obnoxious pink was not on it.) It has seen better days, and actually on our last vacation had the zipper pulls sheared right off of it. Not to say I couldn't make it work, but to be honest I was just really over the pink (and honestly I think Zach was sick of having to be seen with me and it too). I got the beautiful set pictured above, which features an easy to find on the luggage carousal Fleur De Lis pattern on a red background. A little more adult than the previous pink set, to say the least. I am sooo excited, and it was on sale at overstock.com, so how could I go wrong? And with $1.00 shipping for this big old set, I couldn't say no. Have I mentioned I can justify almost any purchase? That's probably something for another financial entry...
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