Where do you keep papers you might need someday (or not)?

[Naio]

Stuff like documents on the house you sold, old tax returns, etc. I have about 2 boxes of this kind of thing (after throwing out much more). Too much to bring with me. Currently in a closet at a relative's house, but wondering what others do.

[SusanDallas]

Yes, I did mean W-2. Please make sure you always keep them.

[2oldman]

SusanDallas wrote:
Never scan and discard your W-4 forms from your employers Ever.

I think you mean W-2, if you're talking about earnings. I don't think I have a single one.

SusanDallas wrote:
They told me that they would not accept copies of the W-4. It had to be the original..

That figures.

[SusanDallas]

Never scan and discard your W-4 forms from your employers Ever.

I was very lucky several years ago. I had received a statement from the IRS estimating what I would receive at retirement based on my past earnings. The form listed all the years I had worked and the yearly income. I noticed that for 1983, the report stated 0 earnings. I had been working full time since 1970. I called the IRS and reported the error. They told me that the only way to prove that I worked that year was to provide them with my original W-4 form for that year. They told me that they would not accept copies of the W-4. It had to be the original.

Thankfully, I had kept my tax returns with the attached W-4 form even though it was over 30 years ago. I would have lost a whole years worth of earnings towards my retirement if I hadn't had these forms. The IRS couldn't believe I still had it. They told me that most people lose the earnings for the year because they threw away their old tax returns.

Whatever you do, keep your W-4 forms safe. My yearly statements from the IRS had always been correct but then one years earnings just disappeared.

[Community Alumni]

MDKMDK wrote:

donn0128 wrote:
Scan them to a file. Store them on a portable hard drive. Done!

X2.

X3 and also use an off site backup on the cloud.


Photos I am sending to a scanning service and those will go to the cloud and Shutterfly

JimR

[gregirish1954]

I, as several of the other respondents do, also scan documents onto files which are then stored on thumb drives, along with all the rest of my files. (I keep almost nothing but the OS and programs on the internal hard disk)

Once a week I back up my working thumb drive to an encrypted local file which is stored on the internal hard disk as well as copied to yet another thumb drive which is locked away.

Being a highly suspicious type, as well as a former IT person trained back in the 70's by NSA, I NEVER use the cloud, even though it's convenient, because that puts the integrity and safety of my data out of my control and everybody knows that eventually someone is going to screw up. I also use an off-the-shelf encrypting security app on each of my thumb drives. that way if someone gets their hands on one of my drives they also have to crack my 32 character password before getting at the files. (For an extra layer of security, sensitive files are also individually encrypted with their own unique password.)

Because I keep the thumb drives separate from the computer unless I'm actually working with one, if someone walks off with the latter they won't have the former and all I have to do to get up and running again is find another computer to plug my thumb drive into.

[monkey44]

Scan on two drives (or more) carry one with you, one in safe deposit box. And. safe deposit box for those items that you can't scan. I carry one folder with me for documents that you need "live" ... passports, birth certificate, etc.

[2oldman]

99% of the paper I carry around is of no value, but I admit it is hard to toss. A small banker's box is where it lives.

[Trackrig]

I store most of it in the shredder.........

While we travel in the MH for about six months out of the year (leaving again this weekend), we won't be giving up the house. Having said that, while I've been home this time I decided I have way too many paper records left from tax filings, sold houses and vehicles, investment statements from several different companies I worked at and broker statements, and way too much other paper records so I tried to wear out my shredder. Trash pick-up is Monday morning and there hasn't been any room left in the large trash bin for several weeks.

Having said that, on the records we're keeping or want with us while traveling, we scan them. You can buy a very decent printer / scanner on Amazon like the Cannon MX922 all-in-one Printer that scans very well for $84.99 to include shipping. When I took out the very large TV mounted in the front of the MH, I mounted the flat screen TV on hinges and one of these now sits behind the TV.

Then, store everything on a very small Western Digital 4TB hard drive for $109.99 - smaller sizes are cheaper.

Actually you should use two of these, or maybe three. Take one with you, leave one with a friend, relative, or neighbor and one at home if you still have a house. We have friends that stored everything on a laptop after they sold the house. We'll someone broke into their Toad while they were traveling and stole the laptop.

Bill

[coolmom42]

You can also buy multiple USB thumb drives, for the same amount of storage as a single external hard drive.

Scan the documents as .pdf files, and they will be pretty small files.

And exercise minimalism in what you scan.

I am MOST concerned about backing up my photos.

[coolmom42]

donn0128 wrote:
Scan them to a file. Store them on a portable hard drive. Done!

Store them on TWO portable hard drives, with a cloud backup, like Google docs or Microsoft Cloud.

Portable hard drives have a pretty high failure rate. Don't leave them plugged in and powered up all the time.

If someone breaks in, or you have a fire/flood/tornado, all the electronics in your home could disappear forever. That's why I use a cloud backup.

If you don't want to do a cloud backup, keep one storage device in a separate location.

[MDKMDK]

donn0128 wrote:
Scan them to a file. Store them on a portable hard drive. Done!

X2.

[donn0128]

Scan them to a file. Store them on a portable hard drive. Done!

[Mandalay_Parr]

I carry mine with me.