How Decluttering Revealed My Obsessive-compulsive Tendencies
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
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Here's a great tip my mother shared with me. Take a pile of papers, put hot water in your sink with a little bleach and detergent and soak them for five minutes. Then just wad them up in a ball...simple! My mother (90 yrs. old) had three large green garbage bags full and it took me some time to do it but not as LONG as shredding. Hope this helps!
Thank you for that tip. God bless you and keep you.🦋
Thank you, this will help me since I am already on my 3rd shredder, burned out the last 2.
Wow! This is a great tip!!
I'm not sure if it's really hoarding. It really is just fear....the fear of not being responsible, and the fear of the future cost if you were audited and not finding the necessary paperwork. I really understand. We're honest people and we want to be able to show it.
That’s true! It is a justifiable fear too! 😆 if I ever get audited, I want to make it as fast and painless as possible! 😅
I remember when telephone banking started and I would still go into the bank to pay bills. I slowly worked my way by trying a couple via phone and loved it. Next came the ATM, that took awhile as well, eventually love it. Next was online banking, as you know that took awhile too, love it now. The only thing is trying to not receive bills via mail. I only have one that I don’t receive because they were going to charge me for mail billing. I only keep two years now of bills, keep warranty receipts. Taxes for 10 years even though it’s 7.
Yes! It’s so weird now we don’t even use checks anymore! Or cash! Everything is electronic! I do love that! But I don’t love that the banks and credit cards don’t always save 10 years for us for statements 😆
Go paperless, then at tax time, you can print and mark things. That way they are not in your drawers taking up room!
I used to get the papers, but paperless is so much better.
Our town has community shredding trucks that comes to a local parking usually every 2-3 months. Best part is it’s FREE!
I just recently shredded 22 years of paperwork of deceased family members and our old bills, dmv registration, medical statements, etcetera. It was a tough few days, but now I am so happy that this is done.
Great job Steph⚘️
Yessss…it’s exhausting shredding with a home shredder! In going to try to keep up from now on! And hopefully try my best at paperless 😆
My husband & I did this a few months ago. Shredded all our previously owned properties, old bank statements etc. It feel great to have it all gone.
You are on the right track Step
I got rid of my yearbooks about 10 years ago. I have never regretted it.
Good for you. Just so wonderful when we accomplish a big job that we set out to do. I’ve been doing decluttering too. Little by little.
Great job steph!! It's hard letting go of stuff and you have done a phenomenal job decluttering! 😊😊
Two years ago I went through the same process, and I estimated that I decluttered 10,000 pages that I had stored in my filing cabinet. I spent days and days scanning, too, so (for example) if someone needs to see my tax returns from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and so on, I've got 'em! I scanned all of my old homeowner's and car insurance records from all the years, too, even though I can't imagine what I might need a dec page from 1982 for.
I spent days and days shredding, too. Ten thousand pieces of paper, a few pieces at a time, takes awhile when using a shredded rated for 12 pages or so. Pro tip: To keep a home shredder from overheating, pour a line of cooking oil on the pages as they go into the shredder every once in a while, and that keeps things cool and lubricated. Most shredders, if they overheat, will just stop until they cool down.
At tax time, I also prefer to have physical copies of 1099s and so on to leaf through to get the numbers, so I download them and print them out. I still get all physical copies of my credit card bills in the mail so I have a constant reminder to pay them. After they're paid on line, I scan them along with the receipt...and store them until the next year's tax time, at which time they go into the shredder, too.
I recycle paper, but I shred (and recycle) anything (envelopes, for example) that has any kind of personal information or information about any company that I might be doing business with. These days one can't be too careful.
Wow!! David that’s SO much!!!! You’re more anal than I am about an audit! 😆 But you’re ready! Are you scanning to a hard drive or Dropbox or a cloud or what is your method for retrieval?
Decluttering is not fun, but so freeing when it is done!
Vintage teddy bears sell on E bay! I just purged my clothes. I have a paper shredder and always go through my paperwork and shred away
Steven you are so funny. I'm with you I would run
@Steph. Try keeping the statements for this year. But don't use them to do your 2024 taxes. Then you'll know if it can be done. Solve two things at once.
That’s a good point!!! I do like to look at them when they come in the mail to make sure there aren’t any weird charges…but now that I’m using Nerdwallet I’m actively looking at each charge daily so I’d see anything weird right away. I think I can do it without paper! 🤞🏼🤞🏼
I graduated 42 years ago and I have looked at my yearbook about 4 times in the last 40 years. I think I need to look one more time and then toss them. I save my paperwork religiously 15 years ago I got a letter from the IRS telling me I owed $5000 in taxes from when I made $20,000 in the stock market . The year I supposedly made the money was 2008 when the market crashed . I had my paperwork thankfully. I had moved some money around in mutual funds and the brokerage firm didn’t report it right . I had actually lost a little like everyone else in 2008. I took my paperwork to an accountant to fix and I got a $300 refund instead of owing $5000.
Oh thank GOODNESS!!! It always seems like you’ll remember what happened but you don’t years later! We need a paper trail (or electronic trail! 😆) so glad you got through that nightmare! $5k 🙈
Great job, so proud of you 👏👏 thank you for sharing. God bless you guys🦋🤗 Ive been ripping up things, shredding and burning the more important things.
Hi my dears. Very well done Steph! Stevie if you run, I have a spare bedroom😂 We have started to do the same thing, get rid of everything except the last 10 years. Sure emptied the safe! Keep up the good work you guys. God’s blessings to you both. 🙏🏻💖from me to you🇨🇦🏒🥅🧿
Hi Steph this is great I just got rid awhile ago off all my paper work and kept just what's needed, I used for most off my stuff SD cards 128gb and memory sticks which worked great for other stuff good luck your doing great
Great job. I love to keep paperwork, also. When in military, had to pay extra to ship over 10lbs of useless paperwork. LOL. Keep at it❤❤❤
Check with your local law enforcement. Ours has shredding days where you can bring a certain amount of bankers boxes to the event and they shred them for free for residents :)
GREAT idea! I’m going to do that if I do have a bunch of papers in the attic…haven’t looked yet
I’m like you. I worked in an accounting office for years. I started about a year ago not being so “crazy” with keeping things. I feel your pain.
I see so much of myself in you! I've started the same process...but not having the paper to be able to highlight items for taxes is hard! I print out stuff to do taxes, but since I email my stuff to an accountant, it all gets scanned and saved to a thumb drive so I don't need to keep those papers!
Oh, taking a picture of the yearbook pages is a good idea. I threw away all my yearbooks years ago! I sometimes wish I hadn't, but it wasn't a lot of good memories anyway.
Yes I prefer paper to highlight and write notes on-and I also scan my relevant papers and send to my tax guy (since Covid we’ve been able to do taxes without being in person and I LOVE IT! So much easier 😆. So I’ve got mine saved already the last few years for that. For yearbooks I’m going to slice out whole pages I might care for later…but I’m tossing the books! 😆 I’ve never cared to go to a reunion and I’m friends with the few people I’ve stayed friends with over the years and I’m happy with that! 😀
While Citi bank is only 18months you can request the pdfs for free beyond that!😊
Yes it appeared that way! BofA was $5! But they saved 7 years which was great! I was going to request my citibank ones but I’ve got 3 accounts plus 2 credit cards (not to mention all our retirement accounts are with them 😆) so…I just scanned since I had them! Citi scanned easily the way it was folded…the BofA jammed up a lot! 😅
We figured out we could use our wood chipper...makes great mulch!
😂 That is awesome!😎
Oh my gosh. I’m trying to face dealing with about three generations of family pics I inherited. Talk about guilt!
TOTALLY!!! My mom tried to pawn the guilt photos off onto me a couple years ago and I said no! 😆😆 I did help her go through them and we got rid of tons…but she went back home with the rest 😆 She didn’t even know people’s names unless they were written on the back-so those that weren’t were donated 😆 we didn’t toss them. Some people might want old photos for crafts or whatever so it felt better to give them a chance at another life at the hands of someone else vs trash
That ending was the sweet icing on this satisfying cake!!! Great job! It's my turn. -much love as always ~Mary & fam in NJ
Steph , im just like you .. we have been married since 2002 and have filing cabinets of taxes dating back to before i met him. Im the same with the Bank statements and credit card statements. I have gotten better with the monthly bills . When a new one comes in, the old one goes out.
I'm like you. i don't feel like i can go totally paperless as i like to physically check them . But im determined this year to at least go back and remove the taxes dating back to 1999. 😊 And keep from 2017.
The download of bank statements is a good idea . They do charge alot if you require copies again.
You're doing a great job with the decluttering.
You can do this!! It’s an awful few days but once it’s done and gone I’ve felt SOOOO free! 😅
Why not back everything up on a thumb drive and label it. Put it in a little bag and label it!
I did and put it in our fire safe (as well as a copy on CD and I’ve got it saved in the cloud 🎉)
This is exactly what I need to do but avoid it like the plague and just keep adding to it...😮 congratulations to y'all 👏
It’s SO much!!! But the relief is so great after that it’s worth it! Start now at least downloading your bank and credit card statements that are available each year-that will save for future headaches and let those go! 🤞🏼
Our town does free shredding twice a year and a number of municipalities in my county have it too once a year. With my town ones you have to be a resident but the others you don’t and many times you can bring like 5-6 banker boxes full of paper. I also watch as the truck shreds my papers, I just pull out of line if needed or if there’s vehicles in front of me I can watch that way. They come right to your vehicle and take the stuff.
That’s awesome!!! Ours might have it too I’ll have to keep an eye out!
That was fun watching that shred❤
Wow, that’s nice to be able to do that. I don’t know what my niece has done with her mother’s papers. She had boxes n boxes of paper like that in her house when she passed away. I watch Locker Nuts w/Jack Chestnut and it always blows my mind how many store all that paper work and junk mail.🤦🏼. I’m very proud of you Steph, you have lots of smarts and know how to use them. Hugs 😊❤
Wow! Her mother’s paper? Now that’s gotta go! 😆 An audit is the only reason to keep things like that I would think and she’s clear since it’s not her tax burden-I’d let it go!! 😆
@@StevenSteph I agree. I told my sister that long before she passed away. My niece has been through so much with her mothers house.
❤❤❤❤❤ blessings ❤❤❤❤
Good job Steph, decluttering paper work. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤Joan
What I do is every year I keep all receipts. Then at the end of the year I just take all of the receipts & write them down on a yellow legal size of paper , totals only , from where ever you get your stuff. What I do is sort them out to each place I go like Wal Mart & etc. and start writing down the totals , as I said earlier , then add what I spent for the year in that store or place you go eat and etc. I noticed that every year I did this my total went down.
I love knowing I am not the only paper hoarder, I have 5 deceased relatives paper clutter as well as my own=need prayers!!
Oh my goodness! Get rid of theirs! You can’t get audited and be responsible for their stuff so let it go! 🥰🥰 You don’t even have to shred theirs-just recycle it ❤️
Steph my bank charges me to get paper statements every month. So I just get them emailed to me for free.
nice
Rule of thumb is current plus 5 or 6. So, 7 years? I was in records retention for 10+ years. Lol! I've since fallen way behind at home. Looking through old checks and shredding them, it hurts sometimes. Like the check I wrote to buy the twins baby beds. I cried all day. Lol!
Awww that’s so sweet you were sentimental about the check ❤️❤️❤️ love that 😘
OMG! Great Job!! I already googled the shed place you told us about. Unfortunately there is not one near me and it is for business accounts only. I am decluttering my files also. It certainly is a pains taking time consuming task. Oh, in regards to tax files, I was told 7 years; but if the seventh year has claims carried over from prior years they can go back 20 years. Thank you for sharing and being an inspiration😁😁😁
Google “shredding near me” and see what pops up! Worst case you could call your UPS store or staples and take it to them and pay a bit more. Check for coupons too! I found that UPS store had a coupon for buy one get one free up to 10 pounds of shredding so that would have made it 75 cents a pound which isn’t bad! Also they have a AAA discount 😆
Hey Steven and Steph puddy y'all are going to decluttering some stuff today and y'all are going get rid of some stuff what do not want today and y'all are going to save a lot of money today and y'all are going to donate the stuff what y'all do not want today and y'all are going through the stuff what the stuff what y'all do not want today and y'all are getting rid of things today and y'all are going to donate a lot of stuff today enjoy your life
shredders should be able to handle staples and paperclips/ Never tell the IRS "to bring it on" don't poke the tiger
I was hoping the tiger would hear it and decide to leave me alone 😉 😂
A lot of bills and bank statements can be emailed to you monthly and saved to a file. You can do this with a lot of things. I'm bad about holding onto paper.
Boa tarde StevenSteph! Que tudo dê certo em sua vida! Que Deus te abençoe! Fica com Deus! Que tudo dê certo no seu Dia a Dia!
Girrrl! I know exactly how you feel I have done that before and getting ready to do it again before it gets to bad. 👍🏻
😂 The struggle is real Tracy
Funny, but I’m working on decluttering paperwork today too. Must be something in the air😂 Great job Steph! Being able to just grab a cd of all info for 1 year is awesome. I haven’t gotten that far. I too am definitely a paper hoarder. Tons of receipts and statements and I don’t even own a business🤦🏼♀️🤷🏼♀️ I think I need to upgrade my scanner as it’s ancient and then steal your idea of burning a cd. My worry has always been technology surpassing current technology and then being unable to access the saved information. How are you saving it so you can access it in future programs??? Steve is too funny - just run away 😂😂😂 I so appreciate seeing your methods of decluttering and also hearing about the struggles. It definitely helps me get through my sticking points too. Thanks for sharing. Cheers from FL😺Big hugs to Ms.Puddy! Maybe Puddy would like the TeddyBear?
LOL I have that fear too! Luckily pdf’s are universal over Microsoft and Apple and is the format I’d have to send something if someone needed a copy, so I’m comfortable with that-pdf format has been around for so long and is so universal I think we’re good! My scanner can save to pdf (I chose black and white for faster scanning and smaller storage size). I’m shocked it all fits on my Dropbox free account without having to upgrade so it’s saved in the cloud (Dropbox) and I burned to a few cd’s and also that thumb drive and I put that in our fire safe so I feel covered and ready! 😊
When a new year comes, I get rid of my tax stuff from seven years ago.
Great strategy Nancy 😊
awesome and interesting
Thanks for watching 😊
It’s best to backup your data to a cloud service like iCloud and also make.a copy to a flash drive or portable hard drive and keep a third copy at a offsite location in case of a fire or other natural disaster cds can unfortunately get disk rot.
Yes I saved to Dropbox (cloud) and burned to a thumb drive and put in the fire safe and also burned a couple CD’s for the paper tax file ❤
Pretty hefty declutter! How many pounds did you have?
38! And I think I’ve got some in the attic I can get rid of unless I shredded it all when I attempted paper declutter previously 😆😅
@@StevenSteph wow! That's a lot of work. Good for you though
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First! Im the best again!
Yes you are! Doesn’t get any better! 🏆😎💪🎉