That’s what I love about Get Rich Slowly — the sustainability factor.

And yet I do things you might consider financially irresponsible. For example, last week I borrowed $19,900 at 0% interest till March, $50 fee. I used it to pay back $8,000 taken out of my retirement fund to do construction. Paying back the retirement fund saved me $2,000 in 2006 taxes that I paid on Oct 15 (extension). I paid $12,000 into my SEP (pension plan with deferred taxes), saving $3,000 in 2007 taxes.
$5,000 taxes saved, for a $50 fee.

I will receive enough fees during the first quarter of 2007, to cover the card.

JD: the model you linked to to amazon is no longer being sold, any word on the newer models?

As a rule, anything dealing with taxes needs to be kept for at least 7 years.

Help!

[...] show you an actual spending plan I drew up three years ago. (This document is an important piece of financial archaeology. It’s the first spending plan I ever made, and it’s the first sign that I was ready to [...]

The only other things I keep are permanent contracts, such as insurance, mortgage, auto contracts & any amendments made to them over the years. Bills with notations about check numbers are kept w/the contracts for 5 years or whenever the files get too thick.

My pattern is: I scan something, and put in a directory tree split by year then month. If I need to search for a particular bill or set of bills, I have several search options.

For backup, I make a compressed encrypted file of each years directory and upload that to on-line storage.

Some critical papers get filed, but have been scanned for backup anyway. Everything else gets shredded in an old cross-cut shredder that I bought from a liquidator. I’ve had the shredder for 8 years. It doesn’t so much cut as tear into ragged rectangular pieces a quarter-inch long. It’s done that from the day I got it.

Plain clutter in the form of non-financially-sensitive ads get chucked in the recycle bin.

I can go back to 1998 if I need to track something down.

[...] have a new goal this week.  Thanks to this post and following comment discussion at Get Rich Slowly, I’ve decided to take the plunge into [...]

Also keep in mind, that some documents only hold in front of a court, if you keep the originals. Tampering with scanned documents is so easy.

Why? You don’t explain.

Ah, yes. I glossed over that, didn’t I?

The system is flawed because it’s virtually impossible to find any document that I might actually need. I had eleven different shoeboxes. Yes, they’re organized with roughly a year of stuff in each, but still I’d have to sort through a mass of papers to find any one thing.

Also, I store all these documents in an easy-to-access place, making them an easy target for identity thieves. (Though I’ll admit, they’d have to be pretty desperate to be looking in shoeboxes!)

Plus, I *burned* records from one box at one point, so I’m missing data from 1998-2001 (or something like that). That’s a shame since late 1998 was when I made one important financial move. I’m hoping to find my old Quicken data so that I can reconstruct it, but I fear it may be lost…

You’re right that sticking things in a shoebox is less work to do on a regular basis, but if you ever need to look anything up, that time savings is right out the window. And I think that an ongoing system of scanning doesn’t add much time to the process. I’m hoping so, anyhow!

I like the idea of going paperless & scanning important receipts. But then need help keeping them organized in files for the computer (any tips).

Why? You don’t explain.

I enter my receipts in Quicken (tracking all my spending) and then stick them in envelopes or shoeboxes in storage in case the IRS needs the originals someday. It’s a lot less work than scanning stuff that may never be looked at again. But maybe I’m missing something?

And what do you maintain electronically? I’m not so much wanting to get completely into the paperless thing, but I do need a way to manage the documents that I receive only electronically. In the past, I have been printing them out, but I need a way to manage the electronic versions of the documents.

So far what I have been doing is maintaining a directory structure, but there has to be a better way. This way seems to be so “Windows,” and I would prefer a “Mac” way of doing it.

Thanks.

Plonkee, even if you don’t want a shredder, you can still do some easy things. For example, tear off account numbers, and tear those small bits into little pieces. Then either put some pieces in one trash can and some in another, or put them into a really disgusting part of the trash can, like right where you dumped your no longer identifiable leftovers from the fridge.

I actually plan to do just what you’re in the process of doing, take all my paper receipts, etc. and scan them in for digital archiving and retrieval.

My rule of thumb is that anything that has my name or address on it (even if it’s addressed to “occupant”) gets shredded and put in the recycling.

Purging is good – I love to shred.

My initial scanning phase took almost a month. I quickly got a scanner with a document feeder, although I still had to use the flatbed portion for the receipts. I have several times over been compensated for the time I spend scanning documents. (I once received a $250 credit for a bill over five years old.)

Good luck!