Laura

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troutbend
Name:
Laura
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Estes Park, CO
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08/01
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Married
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Hotel - Hospitality

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This Oughta Be Good

Life & Events > Burning
 

Burning

My dad kept his tax records in boxes that Christmas turkeys came in. He built up several years, and then come time to store them away, he'd throw away the contents of the oldest box, change the date, and fill up the box again. I didn't want to mess with his boxes for several years so have been using plastic tubs with lids. But today I finally got around to eliminating a couple of the old boxes so I don't need to buy more plastic ones.

I decided to burn the old records in the fireplace rather than shred them. It made a lot of ashes. Everything was great until I came to my own taxes for that year. It was hard to burn them because my hoarder OCD gene kicked in. I finally got over it and 1998 is ashes. Mind you, all my taxes back to 1997 are scanned and stored on a DVD in the bank box, so it's not that big a risk.

It's progress and that feels good.

Today I talked to a Chevy dealer about downgrading my truck from this giant thing that I can barely find a place to park. I'm waiting to hear from their used car guy what the trade in would be.


posted on Oct 27, 2014 9:24 PM ()

Comments:

I shredded a lot of records when we moved from the farm and burned others
in the fireplace. Now, I have a lot too.
comment by elderjane on Nov 2, 2014 5:28 PM ()
Burning paper like that creates a lot of ashes, but made a nice hot fire.
reply by troutbend on Nov 5, 2014 8:26 AM ()
A problem I have when I shred/toss old records is that they are a kind of diary to other times. Oh ... that's the rental for our car trip to Canada in 1966. Pause to reminisce. Oh ... that's when we bought our first TV (first marriage, early times) ... see? It's heart-wrenching.
comment by tealstar on Oct 29, 2014 11:20 AM ()
Oh, it is heart-wrenching. I've got it all scanned onto a DVD, but it's not as much fun to wax sentimental over a computer file.

A couple of years ago I came across a big wad of credit card receipts from my dad's last few years. I entered them into a spreadsheet so I could sort on the dates and get an idea of what his activities were - where they went, what they ate. I know- too much time on my hands, but it was an exercise in how a person would do that sort of thing if they ever really needed to know - like CSI.
reply by troutbend on Nov 5, 2014 8:33 AM ()
For how long do you have to keep the records? It's seven years in Canada. Which reminds me. I still have some 16 year old Family Day Care records I need to shred.
DO NOT get a Chevy Cruze! That's what we got stuck with for our rental and it was a hunk-a-junk.
comment by nittineedles on Oct 28, 2014 6:57 PM ()
Supposedly the IRS here can't audit us after 7 years (unless they think we knowingly filed a fraudulent return), but some documents are supposed to be kept forever just in case.
reply by troutbend on Nov 5, 2014 8:48 AM ()
How organized are you?!?!? Nice.
comment by kristilyn3 on Oct 28, 2014 7:29 AM ()
Good luck with the car
comment by greatmartin on Oct 27, 2014 9:37 PM ()

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