Comments on Daytime Mail
Comments
commentson 19 March 2003 : 12:39, Fleischman sez:

I know the feeling. I mean, why do we have to store all this paper? it's ridiculous.

do I have a solution? no.

you must suffer like the rest of us.

commentson 19 March 2003 : 12:52, gnome-girl sez:

I'd say save the last 6 months just in case things might get a little wierd if the W-- happens just to be on the safe side ya know? :)

commentson 19 March 2003 : 12:58, justin sez:

Yeah - I hear you - on the safe side. But on the safe side of what? When's the last time anyone had to look back at an old utility bill to prove anything that couldn't be proven any other way?

I just went online and transferred my phone bills to only electronic. That makes credit card, and phone all electronic. Now if I get on the DMA's do-not-mail list I might be able to further sharply reduce my paperload.

commentson 19 March 2003 : 13:11, Sara sez:

Don't throw it away--make sure you shred it. Seriously. My husband refuses to take my shredding seriously, and he just got a letter from a credit card company confirming his request to change his address to Pompano beach, Florida. except he didn't request it.

commentson 19 March 2003 : 13:17, justin sez:

I rip things in half, and then into quarters generally. I figured that was enough that people can't send in the "transfer balance checks" or anything.

But maybe I should be tossing it all into the fire place! Oy - what a headache this papermail.

commentson 19 March 2003 : 14:29, jimbo sez:

Justin,

it's a cost v rewards type of thing.

I generally bin mine coz its a pain to keep but once had to get a statement for some reason and the bank charged $5 a page.

The binning of these documents may be a rebellion against my father who has stored bank statements from 1964!!!

Jimbo.

commentson 19 March 2003 : 15:11, randy sez:

J-

You need to save that stuff. With your business, you should be deducting alot of that stuff as home office expenses, and the IRS prefers paper over all else.

"Snatch it like you live"- what was the pronunciation of live in that statement?

commentson 19 March 2003 : 15:18, justin sez:

I definitely appreciate Schedule C - I index and file my expenses through online billing and Quicken. At this point I haven't made enough money to be of interest to the IRS. But I see your point - if I'm making lots of home-business deductions, they might want to see the bills. In person, on paper. Sigh. Maybe I can point them to this thread to show them my thinking on the subject of paper archives.

Snatch it like you lihv, baby!

commentson 19 March 2003 : 17:02, Fleischman sez:

didn't you hear me?

I said suffer, damnit!

commentson 20 March 2003 : 11:45, Damanda sez:

Save it all and file it by type of expense. Allowable IRS deductions for those of us working in "media" are surprisingly liberal. Work from home? A portion of your rent/mortgage is deductable along with a portion of utilities, cable/Direct tv, DSL, magazines, movie receipts, music, office supplies, food & liquor bought for gatherings with coworkers, office supplies, mileage to the store to buy office supplies and it goes on and on and on and on.... keep a tax diary in a day runner noting who you met with, what you bought, where you went etc. Get a good tax person. Mine used to work for the IRS. It sounds like you don't have time to do any of this, but if you get it together, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

commentson 26 March 2003 : 12:58, MarkPaul sez:

Justin said in response to Sara, "I rip things in half, and then into quarters generally. I figured that was enough that people can't send in the "transfer balance checks" or anything."

_________________

I have grocery bags of torn off labels with my name on them from magazine covers, order forms, donation requests that I chose not to honour, balance transfer checks, etc. And the brimming contents of those sacks are all waiting to be shredded because I live in perpetual anticipation that someone will get one of those discarded offers from the trash and use my identity to start ordering a bunch of things. If they are smart enough to send those things directly to themselves, then I will be stuck with the bills without any of the enjoyment. If they have everything sent to me, I probably won't notice the difference except for the incremental grocery bags that ultimately wind up in queue, filled with even more torn off labels and such waiting to be shredded. Well, it's not going to happen!

So now it's like a full time job having to process all the "labeling residue." I never thought it was going to be like this.

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