On 5/3/2016 9:12 PM, HerHusband wrote:
I have switched to electronic billing wherever possible so I don't
have much paperwork to shred anymore.

We don't like having "online accounts". So, our utilities, bank
statements, etc. all come in dead tree form.

I'm betting all of your accounts are already online, they just print them
out and mail them to you.

No doubt. But, as *we've* never set up to access them (which would stop the
paper statements from coming), we're pretty sure no one else is seeing them.
And, as we have the sole "physical" mailed copy, we're pretty sure no one
is seeing the paper copies, either.

Not to mention, many places are starting to
charge for printed statements.

One of my checking accounts tried to go that route -- wanting $8.95/month
for the paper copies of the statements (thinking that would coerce me into
going electronic). I thanked them for their offer by closing the account.
Always someone ready to hold my money on my terms! :

We've been all electronic for many years. Paychecks are deposited
automatically, bills are deducted automatically, statements are downloaded
to my computer. I pay most of our remaining bills online (property taxes,
vehicle licenses, etc.). I have probably written fewer than three checks
in the last several years.

We write very few checks -- use plastic and cash for most payments so just
pay off the credit card companies each month. An order of 100 checks can
last me many years.

I am always amused when I see these folks with 5-digit check numbers!

it all still fits neatly in a single file cabinet.

Electronic documents don't take up physical space (other than the hard
drive itself), but more importantly I can have multiple backups of each
document.

Yup. OTOH, you're reliant on a medium that you can't implicitly verify
(can you LOOK at a thumb drive/CD/DVD/etc. and KNOW that it is intact?)

Late in my career, I learned to gather electronic versions of every document
that I was using in a project. E.g., much easier to keep a PDF of a 1200
page datasheet than to keep a physical copy of it -- esp when you might need
several different documents for a single project. I find *using* the documents
in electronic form to be tedious. OTOH, coming back to a project after some
time is much easier with electronic documents as I can search for something
that I remember (and no longer have a dog-eared copy to notice the bookmarks).

I don't sell "things". Give them away or recycle. I don't want to
worry that someone will not feel they got "good value" out of a sale.

Unfortunately, I usually need to sell my old items in order to pay for the
new items.

My solution is to buy inexpensive items : E.g., I bought a 25 ft USB A-B
cable today -- for a buck. And, three wireless Logitech mice for a buck
each.

Biggest cash layouts in years have been for external USB disks -- roughly
$100/each.

The only OTC stuff I buy is Advil.

We use Advil for headaches and inflammation. Aleve works better for sore
muscles. Pepto-bismol pills for the rare times dinner doesn't settle well.


Learn to cook better! : (I find Pepto-Bismol to be *nasty* stuff!)

I use Advil for the occasional headache -- esp during allergy season(s)
(which is virtually year round, here). Usually a pair will fix things.