The Not So Fun Stuff

I wish I could say all of my goals for my 60 by 60 list are fun stuff. But they are not. Some I know I will downright hate to do. But I put them in there so that I would accomplish them as I have been putting them off for several years now.

What I didn’t put on my list and have just recently finished was going through all of my financial paperwork that I tend to accumulate. I had about 6 to 7 boxes of paper that has “stuff” that I felt I had to keep. Everything from credit card receipts to utlity bills to old bank statements with checks. And I’m not just talking about from a year ago. I really hate to tell anyone this but from about 2000.

Now why I would need all of those receipts, I’m just not sure. I wish I could say it was because I’m concerned that I may one day be audited by the IRS. Unfortunately I can’t. I was audited in 2006. So if I was audited in 2006, why do I have receipts from 2000?

The weekend I finished the process of purging, it felt like a cleansing. I’m now down to two boxes of financials and that is where I plan to keep it at.

Now you’re probably wondering how I can say this. Yes, each year we have to do taxes and there are always some important paperwork we need to keep.

To the rescue…the Internet. This world wide web is a very wonderful thing. And it has clouds. Yes, wonderful, fluffy, huge, cumulus clouds where you can store all of your information. And that is exactly what I plan to do.

I’m told I can set up folders in these clouds whereby I can keep that information. No longer will I be storing stuff like receipts, old bank statements, old canceled checks in boxes in my basement. But then, I won’t be storing those kinds of paperwork in the clouds.  I’ll only be storing exactly what I need to keep for tax purposes besides the “very” important papers we all need to keep. The rest will be going into my handy shredder.

Do you find you need help with organizing and purging? I highly recommend Simply Placed. I have used their products and every chance I get, read their blog posts.

So are you finding that you are keeping more information than you need? And have you thought about keeping that information in the clouds? If so, have you? And what challenges have you found storing your important information this way?