Comments on: Financial Paperwork Bankruptcy: Should It Be Done And If So, How?

By: Sonnie Grimes

Sonnie Grimes — Mon, 04 May 2009 21:33:44 +0000

The reply from Juggling Frogs triggered something I had seen a couple of weeks ago. I was in a committee meeting where the leader was concerned about our lack of funds. She started going through a file of papers as part of the meeting when in this stack she unearthed several checks which amounted to appx. $100.00. Most of these checks were about four years old. Need I say more?

By: Juggling Frogs

Juggling Frogs — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:46:06 +0000

This is sage advice. I bet she’ll sneak into that closet and tackle the backlog in 10 minute increments, however, once she discovers the beauty of a working file system.

She’s lucky to have you for a friend. Too many people would wag fingers and make her face the big box of papers.

It would be helpful, though, before the box is put all the way in the back of the closet, to do a quick run-through and make sure nothing important (like checks or tax info) is in there. As long as it’s a box of benign backlog, this is a gentle and safe way to deal with it.

By: Grayson De Ritis

Grayson De Ritis — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:08:37 +0000

Very helpful post that hit on something I need to start doing asap.

By: Mardee

Mardee — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 00:44:38 +0000

I’m another one that has been paperless for several years now and loves it. I used to get so many statements from banks, my DRiP investments and other accounts that I was awash in paper and just overwhelmed. Now I get everything electronically – it’s available if I need it, but I usually don’t. And now I can save my filing cabinet for items that don’t come in digital form. :)

By: Ursula

Ursula — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 21:02:02 +0000

I used to keep every single statement for every single account … after doing this for about 15 years and never having to refer to any of those statements even once, I realized that I didn’t need to spend so much time keeping all my statements organized.

Fast forward to the 21st century and the advent of so many online paperless services. I don’t bother keeping too much of anything in “hardcopy” fashion anymore. I keep my year-end statements for my mortgage and my retirement accounts, but that’s it. I’ve gone to paperless for my VISA and my bank accounts, I check them religiously (daily, as I’m a control freak), and I know that if I ever should NEED a paper statement, I can order one online. Any statements other than the above mentioned I check then shred.

My filing life has been much simplified since doing this! I’ve been doing this about 3 years now, and haven’t had a need to order a paper copy of any of my online statements yet.

Paperless frees a lot of one’s time as well as space in one’s house to store all that stuff!

By: verena

verena — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 20:37:02 +0000

I, too, had just a mess of papers everywhere. Some were filed properly, lots were just laying around. At the end of last year I had purchased a Mac application called ReceiptWallet, but never used it. I was reading a blog entry a month or so ago, and the blogger mentioned his system, where he converted everything to PDF using a Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner. I bought one, but I don’t always follow through with stuff, I thought I might end up with another expensive paperweight taking up space.

I set the scanner up when it arrived, and it has changed my paper-filled life. I scan all of my business related expenses, tag them with a serial number, then file them by serial number and file them away (in case the feds want to see). ReceiptWallet keeps the scans nice and neat, you can sort and categorize them. For my personal receipts that I don’t need to keep, I scan them and then shred.

I also downloaded ReceiptWallet’s sister application DocumentWallet. I keep copies of any other documents I want to keep in there, including PDFs of manuals, copies of tax forms, etc.

My paperwork clutter is ALL GONE. It was fun to scan through it, and I am now prepared for next tax season.

By: Peter R

Peter R — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 20:28:05 +0000

@ David P – I understand your hesitation going completely paperless, but who do you think sends the paper statements? Mistakes can be made on those too. The best defense to bank error is to keep detailed records on your own.

By: David P

David P — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 17:18:48 +0000

I’ve thought about all sorts of solutions to my backlog of paperwork. Having recently married, now there seems to be twice as much paper to sort out.

I’m coming to the realization that I need to set everything aside and just wait seven years.

One big question for Trent: Do you get all of your statements in the mail or do you do the electronic delivery method? I like not getting the mail, but I don’t like relying on the bank to keep all of my data.