Step 3

I have been working on step three for a while now without the help of this program. It pertains to paperwork. Not too long ago, I posted about my organization of our filing cabinet. While I'm not entirely happy with the system we have now, it is much better than the lack of system we had before.

I usually keep grocery receipts until the food is finished and after it has been recorded in Microsoft Money. I keep my pay stubs for longer than necessary. I have them for about three years. I do not have any canceled checks. All of the checks that I write are saved automatically online. At this point, the only utility bill I have is the phone bill. I have been keeping these but I suppose I don't have to any more. We do not own a home or have a lease right now so none of those papers to worry about. As far as bank statements and credit card statements, both are available online. I do keep hard copies of my checking account statement in our filing cabinet though. I'll admit I need to keep better track of my taxes. I have 08 and 07 but for the life of me can't find anything prior to that. I will be keeping them from now on and will keep at least seven years worth.

For most things that I am throwing away, I shred it first. We have a shredder at my parents as well at work. I just bring my paperwork to one of these places and use their shredder. Hopefully, we will not have any fraud in our future.

-M