Too pooped to pop!
Perhaps it was our wild partying last night (lying around watching TV trying to stay awake to bring in the new year) or perhaps we were just mentally and physically drained, but...
I finished the laundry room this morning and called 'er good. For today.
Thomas, Bob and I all laid down at 11 to take a nap. We all woke about 1 in the afternoon. We were all too drained to put any more work in today. We vegged. We sat around. We did nothing except watch The Twilight Zone all day. It felt darned good.
However, our day of rest is over and tomorrow we'll be hitting it hard. We have the family room and exercise room to finish. That sounds so funny, the exercise room. Well, it is an exercise room, but it's in the dungeon and it's a small ante-room that you go through to get to the bathroom. We have a treadmill that is leaving, because it's not electric and I hate it to pieces, and have for the 20 years I've owned it. I've always wanted to get rid of it and get a "real" treadmill, but Bob wanted to keep it. It makes me mad because I spent the same on it, a Schwinn, as I would have a cheap electric unit that I would have used. So out it goes. Bob's antique Bowflex stays as well as the punching bag.
One time I was really mad about something and went down and hit that punching bag. It hurt my hand. That made me even madder. Thomas's baseball bat just happened to be sitting there so I picked it up and hit the punching bag with it: wow, was that cathartic. Now I just don't get mad anymore, but Bob likes to work out with the stupid thing.
I also have the kitchen to go through, but will probably do that Saturday. We're hoping to finish up Saturday so we can rest Sunday and I can get school ready to go.
Now here's the question:
How do you all do paperwork? I mean the storage of paperwork? I don't like my system (throwing it in a to-be filed box and never filing) and want to know how normal people do paperwork so that it doesn't take over the house. How long do you keep stuff? Do you keep your water bill? What do you do with all the paper? Any loose papers I've come across that I didn't shred have been put in a box, and that will be an upcoming project. I hate paper and paperwork, and there's just got to be an easy way to deal with it. Fess up.
Happy New Year!
8 comments:
Good Job taking a break, it sounds like you all need one!
We keep it all in a file box. Each year the important paperwork get's copied and sent to the inlaws. That way when the moves loose or junk we still have what we need....
Paperwork, LOL! I hate it too and am the only one who handles the stuff in this house. We have 3 file cabinets. The one upstairs was obtained cause I was tired of the two filled ones in the basement. It holds our credit card bills, manuals for all those gadgets, receipts needed for tax time, old tax forms but not the water, electric, trash,...bills. Nope, don't keep them. I have all the contact information on my PC and online with my bank. I keep a couple months of bank statements but that's it. We don't have canceled checks I'd keep them for one year, unless it was to a charity. Then I'd keep that one for 3yrs.
Now, school work papers. Each boy has a notebook per school subject. All stuff related to that subject goes into his notebook and we do that in my dream weekly. Sometimes it does happen weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, but it does get done. The papers don't go into a tub but into a folder marked DONE.
I'm a firm believer that if any paper comes into the house it immediately gets filed---round bin or bill pile. That's why Christmas cards throw me for a loop. What do you do with them? (One reason I didn't send any this year---what if others do with them what I've done? What a waste! Email is better IMO)
I was just having this discussion the other day. I was trying to decide on a printer or a all in one.
I am going to get the all-in-one because I can scan the kids' paperwork into the computer and then throw it away.
I think that I read you need to keep important paperwork for 3-5 years. I found this site with more information. http://www.discoverorganization.com/articles/organizingpaperwork.htm
Heh. I'm married to an accountant we keep EVERYTHING. I have boxes for each year stacked up in our basement. We keep the previous 3 to 5 and shred everything that we are rotating out. I have a box for receipts for the year. That gets put in the filing box. I have a filing cabinet for the current year. And a remarkably huge pile of the "to be filed". I drown in paperwork.
This next week I will grab a box empty 2008 into it and try again to keep up with 2009.
Schoolwork I keep track of in a separate cabinet. I'm currently keeping everything for the year then spending a day going through to pull out highlights and to take pictures of all the art work the boys produce. After that it all goes out except for the box of highlights from the year (in theory). Talk to me next June to see how I'm doing at letting stuff go LOL
Good luck Frankie!
I have always put everything in labeled file boxes in the basement for 7 years. I am not keeping as much now..just the big stuff.
It's a work in progress, so I'll let you know what we do this year
when I know.lol
GOOD LUCK!
Paperwork : filing cabinet, but only AFTER weeding out the unnecessaries.
I don't keep ANYTHING that isn't:
1) needed for tax claims
2) needed for future reference.
With bills, I keep the month's bills in a napkin holder on my desk. They get paid and go back int the holder with PAID marked across the envelope. When the next bill comes, I check to make sure my payment was credited properly and then the old bill goes in the trash, new bill in the holder (in front).
Keep-able papers go in the filing cabinet. Things needed for taxes go in a folder marked with that year and either "personal" or "farm," depending on which it applies.
Things like manuals, receipts or warranties for appliances also go in the filing cabinet in a folder marked for that appliance. If the appliance is tossed or given away, the papers go with it.
Once a year, usually after tax time, I weed out old papers that aren't needed anymore. It takes about 15 minutes total to do that with my system.
Good luck on the paperwork front. I hate paperwork & I'm lucky that my dh is organized & keeps up w/ a lot of it.
I like referring to Clark Howard's list of documents/papers to keep & for how long:
http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownotes/category/7/18/209/387/
In the past year or so (as I've been cleaning out/declutting more), I've learned to toss A LOT more than I keep. It's nice. :0)
the GA peach ;-)
Hmmm. Not sure my Clark Howard link worked. Try this one:
http://tinyurl.com/7hrsyw
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