Standing at the Shredder

It's taken nearly an hour to shred the first pile of documents I selected last night. It's been a surprisingly cathartic experience.

I shredded the docs associated with my struggle to first obtain and than expand a credit history upon moving to the US. I had to deal with very unscrupulous and shady financial institutions --I didn't know the expression "sub-prime lending" until much later but it fits-- to get that first credit card. Still, I purchased items regularly and paid my bills immediately. With some arm-twisting at my local bank and surprising cooperation from the credit bureaux, I was eligible for less usurious Visa and Mastercards by 1998.

I shredded the household accounts, leases, cable bills, gas bills, electric bills, lawn maintenance bills, water bills, telephone bills, tax bills and insurance premiums from the years kent4str, paigemom and I shared a house together. God, it's nice not having to deal with a landlord anymore.

I shredded the documents, faxes, letters, invoices, cancelled checks and bank statements from my ancient contracting days. Tax records and receipts are still retained but they will expire in the next year or so.

I shredded my RRSP, IRA and 401(k) statements from the early 1990s through the dot com bubble and the early stages of the dot com bust; the tail-end of the bust is still recent enough I'm retaining those particular records.

I shredded five year certificates of deposits for 11.75% which matured long, long ago from institutions which no longer exist. The funds have been rolled over at least three different times to different retirement account managers by me and three additional times because of various corporate mergers. Does anyone remember Counsel Trust, North America Trust or Sun Trust anymore?

I shredded bank statements from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (still in business), Central Guaranty Trust (bought by the Toronto-Dominion Bank) and Canada Trust (merged with TD to become TD-Canada Trust).

I shredded pay stubs and performance reviews from employers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With only a handful of letters of reference, I no longer have any records of my years of employment when I lived in Canada. Surprisingly, I found a letter from Canada Pension Plan from 2001 indicating my pension at 65 would be worth $1,051/month based on my contributions to that point; I'll keep that letter.

There are still many files to be sorted and much to be shredded, but it's a good start.

Standing at the Shredder

It's taken nearly an hour to shred the first pile of documents I selected last night. It's been a surprisingly cathartic experience.

I shredded the docs associated with my struggle to first obtain and than expand a credit history upon moving to the US. I had to deal with very unscrupulous and shady financial institutions --I didn't know the expression "sub-prime lending" until much later but it fits-- to get that first credit card. Still, I purchased items regularly and paid my bills immediately. With some arm-twisting at my local bank and surprising cooperation from the credit bureaux, I was eligible for less usurious Visa and Mastercards by 1998.

I shredded the household accounts, leases, cable bills, gas bills, electric bills, lawn maintenance bills, water bills, telephone bills, tax bills and insurance premiums from the years kent4str, paigemom and I shared a house together. God, it's nice not having to deal with a landlord anymore.

I shredded the documents, faxes, letters, invoices, cancelled checks and bank statements from my ancient contracting days. Tax records and receipts are still retained but they will expire in the next year or so.

I shredded my RRSP, IRA and 401(k) statements from the early 1990s through the dot com bubble and the early stages of the dot com bust; the tail-end of the bust is still recent enough I'm retaining those particular records.

I shredded five year certificates of deposits for 11.75% which matured long, long ago from institutions which no longer exist. The funds have been rolled over at least three different times to different retirement account managers by me and three additional times because of various corporate mergers. Does anyone remember Counsel Trust, North America Trust or Sun Trust anymore?

I shredded bank statements from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (still in business), Central Guaranty Trust (bought by the Toronto-Dominion Bank) and Canada Trust (merged with TD to become TD-Canada Trust).

I shredded pay stubs and performance reviews from employers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With only a handful of letters of reference, I no longer have any records of my years of employment when I lived in Canada. Surprisingly, I found a letter from Canada Pension Plan from 2001 indicating my pension at 65 would be worth $1,051/month based on my contributions to that point; I'll keep that letter.

There are still many files to be sorted and much to be shredded, but it's a good start.