Paperwork & Filing

I spent some time, these past couple of days, doing my personal paperwork and filing.  Mostly, filing, actually.

I have a love/hate relationship with filing, just like some people do with ironing!  I love to file and even worked as a File Clerk, at one time.  At one time, I had impeccable files, even at home - everything filed by date, most recent on top, two-hole punched and fixed in place with those two-pronged metal file clips; files labeled with category or name and the year, with important information written right on the file cover, itself - account numbers, etc. (that was something my step-father taught me to do; he was my filing buddy).  I prided myself on having organized files!

But, that level of organizing files can be time consuming, and when I don't have enough time to file the way I like, the filing piles up and becomes backlogged!  As a result, I've learned to compromise; these days, I no longer hole punch them and use those metal fastening clasps.  These days, it is more of a "get everything into the appropriate file, Bless; you can sort through it and organize it, later".  A "lick and a promise", one might say.  But, the perfectionist in me wants everything to be neat and tidy, and every time I go to drop another piece of paper in the file folders, the mess gets to me and then, I hate filing! 

When the file folders got too big, or at the end of the year, I'd box up the files and store them; in my closet when I lived at the apartment and in the garage since moving to this house.

When I joined an organizing forum and we had a discussion thread about organizing paperwork, one of the things we discussed was why were we holding on to all these pieces of paper?  Some documents, such as legal documents, need to be kept practically for ever.  Other documents, such as tax returns, should be kept for a certain number of years.  And, it used to be, in the days before the internet,  one kept appliance manuals for the life of the appliance.  But, these days, so much is available online, there really isn't much of a need to have files of paper copies for a lot of things.

So...why am I holding on to bill statements for utilities, etc.?  Once it is paid, I should be able to toss them, right?  But, do I toss them?  Oh, no, I write, "paid", the amount, the date, the check number (or if it was paid online) and I file them!  I used to keep them for years on end, but these days, I have assured myself it is OK to keep only the current year's statements.  On Friday, for example, I cleaned out the telephone and internet/cable files and tossed out the 2017 bill statements.

Why do I feel the need to keep these documents?  Maybe it is a fear that I might be called upon to provide proof of residency in the form of an electricity bill with my name on it from the date I emigrated!  Silly, isn't it?  Or, is it?  It has been my experience that authorities sometimes ask for the silliest documents as evidence of something or the other.  When I applied to sponsor my husband, shortly after my marriage, I was required to provide evidence that my prior marriage had ended (divorce papers or death certificate of spouse).  Sure.  Except, there hadn't been a prior marriage!  How do you prove that a marriage had ended when there hadn't been a marriage in the first place?  (You do so by providing copies of LOTS of documents, of course!  How else?)

Or, maybe it is because of something that happened when I was a child?  When I was 10 years old, my mother had a falling out with her step-children and, to make a long story short, it was decided that the household would be broken up, my half siblings would go their way and my mother would go her way and I would go with her.  But first, the household furnishings will be divided - the furniture, the appliances, the cutlery, the crockery, the anniversary clock that had been an anniversary gift to my parents from the uncle who was now, as the executor of my father's will, deciding who received what (the ownership of the house wasn't in question; that had been decided in my father's will).

The problem was, my mother had bought some of the "luxury" items of that time and place with her own earnings, which was not part of the household budget, and she claimed ownership of those items.  But, just her word that she paid for an item with her money was not sufficient.  There had to be written proof of some kind.  If my mother could prove, with receipts of payments made out in her name, or if my father had made a note in the household ledger that she had provided the money to buy something, etc., that she had paid for and bought a certain item with her own money, then, that item would go to her.  If she couldn't prove it, then, it would be added to the common goods, its value would be divided into seven equal shares, and she would be given the opportunity to pay 5/7 of the value to her step children and "buy" it back.  Well, my mother was not a keeper of receipts.  Things she bought with good faith during her 10 year marriage to my father, never dreaming that she would be required to prove that she bought them with her money, were now lost to her.  It pained her that she had to buy back her own belongings.  After her death, I found an old file folder with pages of that household ledger showing some entries of her contributions and she had written a note to me, attached to the file, "Bless, past history?"  I couldn't bear to throw those papers, but, eventually I did and I cried as I did so.  In fact, I am tearing up even now, as I type this.  It wasn't so much the things as the fact that her word wasn't sufficient and she needed to back it up with proof in the form of a piece of paper and had to buy it back if she wanted it.  I sat next to her on the sofa as the household items were divided.  This happened 52 years ago and I still remember it as if it was yesterday!  What I took away from that was - keep all your receipts!  Hold on to all the paperwork!  You never know when you might be asked to provide evidence of something or the other!   LOL!

By the way, mother chose not to buy back the anniversary clock that had been an anniversary gift to her and my father.  The person who gifted it knew very well that it had been a gift; he could have spoken up and said, this was an anniversary gift and therefore, not part of the common household items, but he didn't.  Mother loved clocks and used to talk about that anniversary clock for the longest time.  Years later, my step-father bought another anniversary clock - larger, fancier - as a gift for her; I have it on my mantel, now.   

I know that there is no one to question my ownership of what I have.  But it is hard for me to let go of papers.  As long as I have them, I can provide documentation.  When they are gone, I can't prove anything.  That old bill statement is a security blanket! 

Today, I sorted through two more file folders.  The contents of one have been sorted in chronological order and two hole punched and fastened with the file clasp thing, and organized to my satisfaction!  The contents of the second folder have been put in chronological order, but not hole punched, etc., because I will probably toss them at a later date.  I intend to go through my file cabinet and organize my folders to my satisfaction, a little at a time.  I might toss some of it, and I might box up some.  For now, it is enough that I have caught up on my filing and paperwork. 

How about you?  Do you hold on to a lot of papers?  Do you hold on to things like bill statements, children's school records (report cards, achievement certificates and awards, etc.), old vehicle registration records, and so forth?  What are some of the things you keep?  What are you comfortable with tossing?