Advice, DH won't file anything

[niccig]

DH took over paying of the bills mid last year. Apparently he thinks that means you just pay the bill and don't file the receipt anywhere. There's a pile of papers stuffed in front of the filing cabinet, another pile on top of the filing cabinet, another pile in his work bag, another pile in the desk drawer. Oh, and 2012 is mixed in with 2013. Just wonderful

Sigh...If I want to get rid of these piles, I'll have to do it. I'm on summer vacation right now, so it's my only time to do it.

My old system was to file everything in a 30 slot accordion file for each year and it made it easy to find what we need for doing taxes, when needed receipt/bill for something. Things like mortgage, 401K investments go in the filing cabinet.

I'm not going to have time to sort through everything like I used to do. And frankly, I'm pissed at DH's half-arsed attempt. If you pay the bills, you have to file too. I though I could sort through into 2012, 2013. I can pull out things like mortgage bills, medical info, or receipts of things to claim on taxes. Then just put everything else for the whole year (other statements) in a big envelope. DH is the one that does the taxes, so he'll have to sort through the envelope to work out what he needs - but then that will be his problem and I'll have gotten rid of his piles.

Any other ideas? I've thought of going paperless (some things are) but then DH will never save a copy and I'll be the one that has to do it when he calls from work one day saying "I need to know when we paid xx."

[KrisM]

How much do you really have to keep? The end of year mortgage has the interest used for tax deductions. Do you need the rest? I'd probably just shred most of it.

[wellyes]

We recycle everything not needed for taxes, which generally means a couple of pieces of paper per year. We don't keep monthly bills or statements.

[egoldber]

I agree no need to keep almost any monthly bill. Can you see your bills on-line? If so, just pay and shred. We actually have the option to not get paper bills for most of our utilities.

Now we generally scan/shred or opt not to get the paper in the first place.

[BunnyBee]

We keep it for a year, just in case. I have a 2013 folder and a TAX folder. Stuff goes in chronologically. After the important info goes to the CPA, the rest gets shredded. CPA binds anything that's used with our taxes into one book with the tax forms. I doubt I even need to keep it a year now that everything is online, but I do.

[egoldber]

Also, I read this recently on Houzz. Totally changed my attitude:

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/77937...er-or-a-Filer-

DH and I are both pilers vs. filers. I think the key is to find the system he will actually use and stick with it.

[niccig]

We are probably keeping more than need to. We'll talk and figure out exactly how much to keep, and how to keep it.

We do need a way to keep receipts for tax purposes separate from other things. That's always an issue come tax time, DH knows his bought something he can claim, but can not find the receipt..so then it's a search through credit card statements to find it.

I think I'll sort out 2012 from 2013, stuff 2012 in an envelope and put with other paperwork we keep in bankers box. Then figure out something for 2013. It may just be a couple of file folders, 1 for tax receipts, 1 for medical bills, 1 for everything else, then keep putting mortgage/401K statements in their folders.

I think Beth is right, DH is a piler...so maybe even a couple of baskets to put things is better than his current system. Years ago I went through all DH's paperwork - he had boxes going back over 10 yrs. Everything was just thrown in a box and there were important documents mixed in with receipts from take-out places. If he can't figure out something to keep on top of it, I'll take back the bill paying, because honestly, paying online is easy and doesn't take long.

[KrisM]

Is it for a home business? Can he have a checking account/credit card just to use for those purposes? then anything that goes in his business money and anything that goes out is an expense?

[niccig]

Is it for a home business? Can he have a checking account/credit card just to use for those purposes? then anything that goes in his business money and anything that goes out is an expense?

Kris, this is a good idea, keeping it separate would help.

I just know that come January, DH will be "where's that receipt for $xxxx.xx" and I'll point to the overflowing filing cabinet drawer and say "in there maybe."

[egoldber]

Oh goodness, yes! Anything for his business should be in a separate account. DH keeps a separate bank account and he has a business VISA.

Do they have it filed as an LLC?

DH keeps one bin just for "tax documents", a bin for "other documents", and a bin for "XYZ LLC documents". It's not perfect, but at least everything is separate.

Are they using Quickbooks? How are they managing the business receipts and expenditures?