Do you find yourself swimming in paper? We did.
There are things you need to keep (tax records, purchase receipts, home expenses and more), but there are the other things that we seemed to keep as well. So much so that we had several files cabinets worth.
Over the past few years, our goal was to simplify and reduce the paper files we kept. This is what we did:
- Scanned and digitized the family photos, slides and movies – this was a huge project
- Scanned bank / credit card and investment statements
- Eliminated manuals – we can look it up if we need to refer to this online
- Scanned income tax returns
- Scanned medical records
- Scanned and organized recipes – this eliminated all the recipe cards from my mother and many cook books too
Now most files are scanned and backed up and the paper is eliminated. It’s such a great feeling when there is less paper. As an added bonus, we are down to one file cabinet. We sold the other file cabinets for some extra cash.
Remember to check to find out what you are required to keep and for how long before getting rid of your paper.
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