April 12, 2007
Dear Everyone:
Last night was a late one because of
ARMA.
I got to bed late, which meant I got up late this morning, thus I
got to work late, so I worked late and that’s why this is going to be a
short Letter. The ARMA
presentation was on Identity Theft (the fastest growing crime in the
(Also, avoid getting a credit card from that company that advertises: “What’s in your wallet?” They have a sneaky little practice of not reporting what your credit limit is with them. Instead, whatever you owe is the current limit, which means you’re maxed out even if you owe them as little as $100.)
Last week I took some vacation time and actually got quite a lot done. I did some long-delayed ironing. I completed my income taxes, in fact the refunds landed in my checking account last Friday. Then I did all the outstanding filing for 2006 records (i.e., all those bills that I paid, but hadn’t filed the paperwork for yet.) Then I rotated the files, filed the 2007 records and shredded everything from 2003.
Now you’re asking yourself, “What does ‘rotated the files’ mean?”
I have three sets of folders for the household records. The IRS requires that you keep all accounting records, plus any supporting records, for three years. Never mind what “supporting records” means; it’s easier to just keep all three years, plus the current year. At the moment, there’s a set of folders for 2007, 2006 and 2005. The 2004 records are just dumped into a box because if the IRS hasn’t come after you yet, you probably won’t need to go through those records before it’s time to shred them.
Each year (preferably before April, but things got away from me this time), I go through the oldest set of folders, culling anything that might need to go into the “permanent miscellaneous” folder. Such as when I bought the treadmill or the new hot water heater or all the documentation on Mary’s Woods (not that we need those anymore.) The contents of these folders go into the box. The next oldest set of folders goes into a file box in the closet. The drawer containing last year’s folders moves to the far side of the desk. And the just emptied folders go into the nearer drawer to become this year’s files.
Then it’s watch movies on cable TV and shred during the commercial breaks.
I even had time to finish a novel that I think I started during the last flight to “Hobby”. This is a good thing because from now to the end of the month all free time will be devoted to studying for the CRM exam. (You should know by now that CRM stands for Certified Records Manager.) I’ll be taking Part 1 on Monday, April 30th.
“Jeannie” just called to say that the floor layers are supposed to show up tomorrow to finish the stairs. If they do, she wants to take her cats back. And it’s only been seven weeks.
Love, as always,
Pete
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