I was just reading what Consumers Reports has to say about how long to keep these things--check out the latest issue on the newsstand. But I've checked into several sources on the web, including Suzie Orman's site--there's no "right" list--they all seem to vary a bit. One thing that Consumers said: Keep your pay stubs until your W2 form comes, then "reconcile" it. I have no idea how or why--maybe to total up state and income taxes paid already? I've never done that. Utility bills, I keep for a year. Some sources say you can ditch them after you pay the bill, and also, if you do any online bill paying with the utilities, they have your payments on file for a while. One useful thing about having a year's worth of utility bills somewhere, paper or online, is that they can come in handy when you want to sell your home and need to provide an average utility cost for heat, water, electricity on the real estate property listing ad. Also, they can give you a quick visual if you're thinking of paying the budget route--where your personal costs are averaged out and you pay the same amount each month. Home Depot receipts? Are you talking about new windows or a new power drill? Staple them to the warranty booklets. Anything less, reconcile with your credit card bill if you charged them, shove them in a Ziploc bag and store them a secondary storage place for 6 months or so in case somethng breaks and then toss them afterward. Also, the Consumers magazine also had an item about what you should store in your safety deposit box, if you have one at the bank. Social Security card, passport, car title, original insurance documents were among them, and many others. Worth looking at! I tend to keep my credit-card statements a few years longer than most people. I find that I'm occasionally wondering where I bought something from, framing supplies, for example, and a quick look at the statements reminds me which website had what I was looking for. For all my papers, I have a closet that stretches far back, and in it I have, in the front, a set of 2 stacked rolling filing bins, for the current year. Stuff that I know I want to keep longer goes in a cardboard file box that gets pushed to the back of the closet. (Also in that closet is a metal shelving piece holding all my stationery supplies, some fabric, craft supplies, my computer warranty and related documents and extra cords [in a large Ziploc]). So documents are all in the same space, but divided between what I really need more frequently and stuff I want to hold onto just in case!

Well siddle that was absolutely no help! Nice way to sneak in and SPAM your business. I don't believe baltomom was looking for a steel building! Baltomom, being on city water with 4ppm of chlorine, sediment and oxidized iron you will need a back washing filter to catch the sediment and remove chlorine. I might suggest a Multi-Media backwashing filter system with about 8 lbs of KDF media added. This will remove all the sediment and chlorine. The Aquasana filter has carbon and KDF but the problem is it will load up with iron quickly the next time that flush of iron/sediment problem occurs there is no way to backwash the system. So it will be useless in a very short time. Do the times this problem occurs correlate to when hydrants are flushed by your city? Also if you are on a cul-de-sac or dead end this is a common problem. You often get the brunt of sediment especially during high use periods IE: summer. RJ

The walls are definitely drywall, Allie. The walls are not lath & plaster. Since this is a curtain rod that you are trying to hang, I suspect that the anchors hit solid wood, the studs or a header. Take an ice pick or something similarly long & pointy and tap it into the hole w/ a hammer. If it 'sticks' then you know that you have hit solid wood (hopefully not metal framing or a large framing nail!) and all you need to do is patch the holes, drill new pilot holes and use longer screws, long enough to go thru the drywall and a half inch or so into the wood. If you have a cordless screwdriver or drill, dial the torque setting down & skip the pilot holes. (Use a little bar soap to lube the threads on the screws.)

Tallulah, another thing you can do is pay a relatively small fee to have a home inspector come in and evaluate your home to see what needs to be done to sell it. I personally would not be looking at turning a garage into a mud/laundry room for a house I was going to sell, unless there is no laundry room? Paint is a very cheap way of brightening up the house, plus you can stage your house and have that be an expense of the sale. Being a landlord is a whole other challenge, especially if you are not collocated with the rental.