Thanks, Fun. I hope,this doesn’t total more than 20 pounds, so I can drop it off a bag at a time.

Mod, I have to admit I keep health records so I can remember what I got and when. Now most of my doctors use a digital patient portal but again it only goes back so far.

Oh my gosh, Elizabeth, what a mess. I guess one of the advantages of living in a smaller house is that there is only so much space available .

I’m really not a pack rat except for sentimental stuff. Once I feel more confident about what to toss or keep, I’ll toss more as I go. This is so stressful!

IloveMod mentioned medical records I am currently in the process of changing doctors. The new one has sent me paperwork to fill out listing medical problems. I know I had my appendix out when I was in HS and something odd was found. What ???? I know I had a stress test where it felt like a horse kicked me in the chest with a cath to see if there was blockage. I know the cath report was normal but I do not remember when it was. There are several other things. I went fill out authorization to transfer records the options were 2 or 5 years and specific. Specific is fine but they want a date. Also gone are the days when the transfer was free.

Just me but in cleaning out all of our stuff one of the interesting things I found were old paycheck stubs showing exactly what was made and what was taken out. It also made me sad to see that my Dad was making only a few dollars more as an inhouse union person than I did at my first clerical job.

Check with your doctor but I suspect the value of historical medical records that a primary care doc has diminishes as each year passes and goes away completely after not too long. Anything that's so far back that you don't remember it well is not likely important for them to know. Most make due with the information in the medical history questionnaire that most new patients are asked to complete and maybe a few years of past lab reports to use to spot changes or new trends.

Elmer you missed part of what I wrote. Since I did not keep the information because my doctor had it I have no idea what the dates of the procedures were. I might as well leave it blank. If I had kept the information I could have filled out the new doctor's paperwork. Which is why I suggested that those type of documents be kept.

I was given some stock when I was born and at age 18 my father took the stock out of guardianship and gave me all the statements. I promptly threw out all the paper and promptly forgot about it. A few years later he asked me to show him the latest statement and I said I don't have them I threw them out. He flipped and boy did I get scolded. From that day I saved every freaking piece of paper. Forward 30 years later I threw all the paper out again. It was all in dividend reinvestments. A few years ago I wanted to sell some for a down payment and when tax time came around my accountant was able to figure out how much capital gains I had to pay fairly easily. He didn't charge me extra, but now I keep the end of year statement.

The irony is when 9/11 happened it destroyed every piece of my father's personal and work papers, files, photos, everything. He had taken all the photos to his office to send them to a company to organize, copy and make albums. He had always kept his personal papers at his office. All gone. I have a single photo of my father from when I was little and a couple of ones from before he died and that's ok.

This is my long winded way of saying it's only paper and unless you are in the midst of an audit you probably won't miss any of it and anything you really find you might have needed can be reproduced.

You need a stiff drink to wade through all those records.....and it just might help you decide to discard more.

I wouldn't call myself a pack rat either but I am organized so it was easy to label and file. Luckily when we moved 3 years ago I went through the file cabinet. I had saved all my tax returns from the year we married. The file cabinet was large and it was easy to just add one each year. But I sure did not want to pack those things up for the move so I bought a new super-duper shredder and voila! all gone. I kept 7 years and the top sheet from some of the really old ones to show how much I earned. My first year at the Free Library (1973) I made $8,890.

I packed two boxes with all the records from our 37 years of home ownership and left them for the new homeowners. It had blueprints and architectural drawings from all the additions and renovations we had done over the years, photos, list of contractors, warranties, and the combination to the safe that they hadn't discovered during their walk-through. They called a few weeks after settlement and thanked me. They had moved from a rowhome in South Philly and never dealt with all those extra things that go with a large home and yard - heck, they didn't even have a driveway.

Elmer's right about medical records. I have a binder where I store important insurance and financial information and DH and I both have a few sheets of note paper where we jot down medical info and the date. I printed an online medical history questionnaire and filled it out and take a copy if I go to a new doctor. That's very handy because while I remember my history they also ask about familial history - and that I may not remember.

Before we moved the kids all came for dinner and I gave each of them a folder with their paperwork - extra birth certificates and social security cards that I had ordered, their report cards, SAT scores, college acceptance letters, newspaper articles etc. They all had a great laugh comparing grades.

So far I haven't regretted anything that I discarded. Just don't ask me about our photos. Yep they're labeled and filed but there's way too many. I need to sort them and give each kid a shoe box (or three) and clean out my closet.

So grab a fabulous cocktail and carry on. Maire

I read what you wrote, maifleur. Did your doctor tell you that information missing was important or is this your own assessment?

I'd typed but then deleted from my earlier comment my own experience of a similar nature. About 10 years ago, my primary care doc retired. At his urging, I spent $50 for a service he'd lined up to have my paper file copied and put onto a CD. I gave it to my new doc who said something like "We don't need it. Tell me your prescriptions, what lab you've used for testing and we can get records from them. I don't need anything else unless there's something that concerns you. We'll do our own lab work, I'll review your medical history questionnaire, and that should be sufficient." And it has been.

Elmer I can only have sent to the new doctor the last 5 years worth of information. I did not keep it because I had not planned on changing doctors. I have been with this group since the mid 1980s changing doctors only when they died or retired. Part of the reason I selected this group is that they have an in house lab and imaging. I do not want to use any of the other doctors at this location nor travel to any of their other eight locations in this area. This one is not paying attention to what prescriptions he wants me to take. Twice now they were medications that I have problems with.

I only mention this as a reason that people should keep their own records because they may not be able to access their old records.

One exception to all the suggestions above about purging. We had a nightmare of a time coming up with the cost basis for a stock that DH had acquired back in the 60s. Even calling the firm we were unable to confirm the value of the stock back then, so my suggestion: before you get rid of anything stock related, be sure you have the cost basis and proof of it should you need to sell it.

Same kind of nightmare was a stock we had acquired back in the 80s which we allowed to DRIP...dividend reinvestment. Calculating the cost basis was a nightmare...convincing the bank who now holds the securities for us that we had properly calculated the cost basis was an even bigger nightmare.

Ask your doctor rather than decide on your own. Mine had no use for old records. Same was true for my wife's new doc at the same time. Both are clinical faculty at a top medical school.

It sounds like you have a sub par doctor, that has nothing to do with 30+ year old records. You don't seem to want to consider that perhaps your old records are not needed. Let your physicians tell you.

I keep nothing to do with medical history to go from one doctor to the other. I tell them what years I had surgeries and serious illnesses if they haven't already pulled my records from elsewhere. I know almost nothing of my parents histories and I don't think it matters at all what my relatives had. You either get something or you don't.

I purged papers a few years ago before we moved. Threw out just about everything. I did it again after the move and again a few months ago when we finally got wills made... don’t judge! We had put it off and put it off!

Every single time we throw out an appliance or anything with warranty directions booklet etc or give it away I toss the paperwork for it. When State Farm sends the new stuff for a policy I immediately toss the old. Our files are now in a small file box out in DH’s office . ( another post about his doghouse here in Virginia will be coming I guess lol). I’m so relieved . Online files can be accessed. You just don’t need all that old stuff . My opinion only YMMV . I haven’ got any medical records at home. We had stuff forwarded here to the clinic we use and since we’ve been lucky not to have anything significant ever medically we are good on that front... no meds etc.

Medical records are tricky. Doctors retire, groups dissolve, hospitals change hands.

When you age, its difficult for some to remember what problems they had, surgeries, etc. then when they were younger. I'm facing that now.

I'm 72 and moved and we moved to Florida from NY 8 yrs ago. During that time, the group that I belonged to in NY was dissolved. I tried to locate my doctor but couldn't find out anything except that she went to a hospital in NYC. I called a friend in NY who also went to the group using the same doctor and she said, she disappeared as did all the doctors in the group.

I know my medical history but have nothing to show to new doctors here.

My husband is 88. He has an extensive medical history and his memory is not great. He's had multiple problems over the years which involved many different doctors and treatments in different hospitals, different doctors.

Just recently, I went through boxes of old files to find what he was treated for many years ago. I could not find it any other way. He didn't remember the doctors, the hospital or the State he had the surgery done. He lived in Boston before NYC> He has struggled over the years with heart problems which required a number of treatments which he couldn't remember where it was done. We were not married way back then.

I think any old medical files should be retained if important. Any medication that is taken daily, who ordered them and why (that was another problem).

I'm still able to remember why and who prescribed the meds I take even though I can't find my old doctor or group. But, my husband at 88 has little memory of why and who prescribed certain meds, and why they were prescribed.

Think of old age and find a way to preserve what might be important when you cannot remember yourself.

Jane

i just threw out all my old teaching files and workshops. I taught (academic) writing at college level and also many workshops teaching teachers how to teach writing to students of all ages. Teachers are asked to teach writing but have absolutely no idea how to do so.

Yet another rainy day here Dedtired - making progress?

It's not necessary to retain all of your medical records, jotting the important information down is handy. I have a few index cards in my wallet with a list of DH's meds (all 10 of them) and on my cell phone, along with the contact information for his specialists. He has them in his wallet too. When he had a major cardiac event a few years ago I handed a copy to the EMT's as they wheeled him to the ambulance. From first hand experience (DH is a retired med. oncologist) I would not rely on a doctor or hospital's ability to retrieve your medical records, especially in an emergency.

It's helpful to know your family's medical history. Having a first degree relative with breast cancer nearly doubles a woman's risk, having 2 first degree relatives nearly triples it.

From Medlineplus.gov Sept 21, 2020

"A family medical history can identify people with a higher-than-usual chance of having common disorders, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, certain cancers, and diabetes. These complex disorders are influenced by a combination of genetic factors, environmental conditions, and lifestyle choices.

Maire

All the community shred days were canceled in spring due to the lockdown. I found one by accident this past summer when I was driving past an office park after a doctor's appointment, so I went home and got my boxes. Sometimes the neighborhood associations have them. Check NextDoor or search on community shred events. I would pay to take it if I had a lot.

With respect to medical records, I've found even within my hospital system, they cannot access old tests in my current record that are more than 5 years old due to changes in the medical records. So, if they wanted to see my stress test and echo from early 2015, they can't readily see it, which was a little disconcerting. I had to tell them last month I had a previous echo at that same hospital.

Thanks for all the additional ideas and information. I mostly save medical records for my own information. Sometimes I forget what shots I’ve had, or when I had certain procedures. Good point, gscience. I remember taking a stress test years ago but I doubt there is any record of the results anywhere. All I remember is I passed.

One time I sold stock that had been given to me by my mother. I had a heck of a time figuring out the cost basis but an accountant finally came up with something that was good enough. So far the IRS hasn’t come after me and it was more than seven years ago.

Yes, I’ll continue to go through papers today. What a misery! Suits the current weather. It is fun to look back at your first annual income. Mine was from working as a waitress on the boardwalk in Ocean City NJ for one summer. I think my income was $450 for three months work. All the money was in cash tips!

I also have all my kids report cards, letters from camp, etc. I will never part with those!

It is so stressful when someone dies and in addition to the usual stuff there is this mountain of paper. There may be some interesting things there but what? Where?

My dad was a bit different. He had 1 binder he put his interesting stuff in. We found it (luckily) and I have it still. And its interesting!

We purged a lot when we moved 5 years ago. But it accumulates. I always try to keep stuff flowing through the system. But its not only me here...

I am a small steps person. One drawer at a time one day at a time.

Good luck.

I can certainly relate to this thread. I did purge some excess paperwork about five years ago but need to do it again. I still have all the papers and what I paid when my husband was in the nursing home ten years ago. It's a large folder and I would like to get rid of it but then I wonder if sometime the nursing home will try to get money for something! Ugh!

In 2010 we did a whole house renovation and I kept everything. All of the plans, copies of pictures of what we bought and the receipts, bills from the GC, etc. Kept it in a bankers box in a closet in DH's office. Fast forward to August of 2020 and we had an extensive house fire to the degree that the house will be demolished and rebuilt. Except for some smoke damage to the papers everything can be read. To support the quality of the renos I just handed everything to the adjuster.

One thing we learned is to not store papers in plastic bags, The heat from the fire melts the plastic into the paper.

DH is a paper packrat and this situation is forcing him to purge any papers that still exist.

Like JJ said, one drawer at a time. The paper purge was one of my early COVID projects. I got particular satisfaction from purging several boxes of old client files from my former private practice. They had finally exceeded their retention date. Also punted were tax, bank and real estate documents that dated back to the '90s. I was filling up blue IKEA bags. Just the personal stuff (no client files) weighed 32 pounds. And that was after I had salvaged the manila file folders for reuse!

I have a document that I call my "bus file." Meaning, if I'm ever hit by a bus, this document is the roadmap to where everything is. I update it regularly and send it to my younger brother, who is my executor and beneficiary.

Food for thought: Glasgow, Scotland's Tenement House.

A Miss Toward lived in the house from 1911-1965 and never threw anything away! The house is now preserved as a museum to early 20th century life and graduate students are apparently using her old utility bills in their research.

I'm having trouble as well Ded. Maybe it is the librarian/historian genes in me. I don't want to keep it all, but some of it IS quite interesting from an historical perspective. I wish I could get a handle on it and better organize what I have. I try, but it is very time consuming. I know folks who just "toss, toss, toss." I am cursed that I want to be more thoughtful, for several reasons. I actually DO dig out things from 20 years ago and use them again for teaching purposes. Not the same as personal records, but I'm just one of those people who finds old stuff interesting. It's a curse . . .

It's been mentioned but a reminder that if you are a homeowner it's important to keep your records of expenditures for home improvement materials and labor because you can deduct that to reduce capital gains tax when the house is sold.

We lived in our previous house for 30 years and the value had increased substantially. I was amazed that because I had my expenditures carefully recorded we paid -zero- capital gains on a 6-figure profit (even after our $500K couple deduction)! Big lesson to keep those if you may be a home seller someday.

As for ancient medical records, that makes no sense to me at all. Why would a doctor need to know about something so long ago you have no record of it?! They treat you as you are in your present condition.

They might want to know if your gizzard was removed at one point, I suppose.

A friend took me to see a home that was getting a full remodel. The GC had bought it "as is" and in the drive was the largest roll off I had ever seen. On the ground in the mud were a bunch of plaques from some engineering society - unceremoniously abandoned to be driven over by trucks. Papers and photos were blowing out of the roll off - stopped by the shrubs that lined the drive. I must admit to feeling sick about the whole scene.

You want to surround yourself with stuff that makes you feel good. I wondered why my mom kept all the bills from her surgeries and cancer treatments. In bags and bags in the family room. I try not to keep sad stuff.

Thanks for the additional suggestions and encouragement. It helps to know that others struggle with this as well. This is only my own house and my own accumulation. You would never believe what I will have to face when my mother goes. I lose sleep at night thinking about it. That’s why it’s important to me to get my own house in order now since I know I will be completely burned out after dealing with that mess.

" I was amazed that because I had my expenditures carefully recorded we
paid -zero- capital gains on a 6-figure profit (even after our $500K
couple deduction)"

How was that? Capital gain is calculated considering cost plus improvements. If you had a greater than $500K gain in that calculation, there would have been a tax imposed unless you had no net capital gain (because of other losses) or no taxable income.

Here is one reason to keep some medical records. I have a close relative who had acute lymphatic leukemia as a 4 year old. Thankfully his mother kept a special diary of every medical procedure, medicine, and dosages. Now as he is entering the senior citizen world, doctors keep asking what did you take, how much and how long? He was one of the first of four children to survive the illness and his slides of blood and tissue samples are still used for research and training. Apparently heart disease and several other cancers are common in childhood cancer survivors. Since his mom kept those records he has been able to know what tests he needs and his doctors are able to keep a close eye on certain issues that have occurred because of his earlier problems.

ETA- Most people don't have anything that dramatic, but I keep copies of blood work and cd's of scans with the written report. Not because specialist can't get them, but I can speed up the tedious process and often avoid another visit and copay to a specialist after he/she finally gets a copy of my tests.

The pieces of paper that I keep for long term are birth certificates, death certificates, marriage license or divorce papers (I don't have any divorce papers), current passport, and titles to currently owned vehicles and bill of sale or statement of purchase by the buyer of vehicles I sold for the past 10 years. There may be other pieces of this nature that you might wish to keep for a long period.

The reason for having proof that you sold a vehicle in a private sale is protection. If the new owner does not register a vehicle that he bought from you, that vehicle remains in your name on state records. If that vehicle is involved in criminal activity or accident, it gets traced back to you instead of the new owner. Also, unpaid bills for parking tickets land in your mailbox.

One way to attack the chore of paper reduction is to first select these 'keep for long time' pieces and file in your important folder. Now, the deck is cleared for tossing away irrelevant or outdated material. I keep 7 years of tax returns and 5 years of bank statements, although this is not a fixed number. I define a fixed amount of space for bank and related statements and when I begin to run out of space, I destroy the oldest statements.

Set up a separate folder(s) for your investments if you have such. File papers in there by date. If you have more than one account, its a good idea to have a folder for each account. This simplifies a search for a document pertaining to a particular account. In time, you may wish to purge these folders. Keep documents as old as needed to support the tax documents you are keeping. You may keep more, but not less.

This is an example. Each person has a different set of important papers to keep while the reminder is optional. For the optional, select memorabilia you wish to keep and toss the remainder.

I can so relate to this. I have always been one to regularly go through things and cull, but you know how so much just becomes accepted like fixtures? Well, when we moved 2 years ago, in preparation of that , we did go through and toss quite a bit ( yes utility bills from our previous home - tax records and medical records from my deceased parents , etc etc).

Well so regarding the papers and records I am ok BUT my insurmountable task is photos and the letters and cards. I start at it regularly but the sentimental part just gets to me. The funny part is when I offer bits of it to my adult "kids", they get a kick out of seeing it but very rarely want it. I have done that with various photos ( more like school pictures over the years) and I do give it to them so they have the responsibility of tossing.

I know it's been discussed many times here, but if anyone has any words of wisdom for photo culling- please share away. I hope I didn't hijack your thread ded!

Keep up the noble fight!!

Scan the photos and save to a flash drive or external drive. When cleaning my FIL's house we rescued 4 albums of photos, some more than 100 years old. We did not know the people at all but thought there was an elderly aunt who would like them. I scanned each one as a winter project and saved them in an online album and a flash drive. The elderly aunt was over the moon thrilled with the photos. They were her parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles. She thought they had been lost decades ago. Worked out well for all of us.

"How was that? Capital gain is calculated considering cost plus improvements. If you had a greater than $500K gain in that calculation, there would have been a tax imposed unless you had no net capital gain (because of other losses) or no taxable income."

No Elmer, I think you misunderstood and perhaps I wasn't clear-cap gains are calculated considering original purchase cost plus allowable exemption ($250K individual/$500K couples). THEN the expenses related to home improvements are deducted, not in the original basis. For our sale, although we still had a six figure profit BEFORE home improvement projects were deducted, I did not have any final cap gain because the total dropped to less than zero after all my receipts and invoices and project contracts were deducted!

Put another way, the calculated final profit is the net difference between the sale price less the original cost of the home including selling expenses and an additional exemption which currently is $250K for individuals and $500K for couples.

From that total comes another potential deduction consisting of allowable home improvements which are then deducted and the final amount is subject to capital gains.

So that's how my files got me to that happy place of no cap gains on a very profitable sale!

Salonva - I have the same issue photos. They're organized in multiple albums which take up too much space in the guest room closet. I used to joke that I needed an intern to transfer them to a separate hard drive and flash drives. But my daughter was furloughed from the Kimmel Center a few months ago and I suggested she take some home with her and I'd buy her a new scanner and pay her. I'm not sure she realizes how many photos I have.

Maire

Scanning and saving photos might make a good "Covid Project". I don't like the term. It reminds me of being told to be prepared for a long dark winter with the virus. I would like to emerge in the spring with a new skill or an amazing project completed. Something to keep my hands busy and my brain limber. ( Maybe a new thread idea here? )

I have put our birth certificates, passports, marriage license, and death certificate for my dad (I guess my sister has our mother's) in our freezer where they will be safe if we have a fire (I read that tip years ago and hope it is true). There are a couple of other papers there, too, but I forget what those are.

DH is a hoarder. I dread having to go through everything if he dies first. Maybe this winter I can convince him that we should organize everything together. He will definitely resist it, but after cleaning out my parents home, I swore I would have this place cleared out for my son. Fingers crossed.

Don’t even talk to me about photos. I had most of mine thrown willy nilly into a cardboard box. I got as far as separating them by year into shoe boxes. Truth is my sons have little interest and neither has kids so that is the end of the line. They do like to look,through them but don’t want them. My mother also has bazilions of old family photos. Maybe my nieces will will take them. Scanning is just too time consuming. If I wanted them scanned, I’d send them off to some company that does it. I do have all the old home movies on CDs. One day I will have to watch them!

OK - I have nothing helpful to add, but couldn't help but notice that ded wrote that she printed out an article on how to get rid of excess paperwork ☺️

P.S. I guess I do have something helpful to add after all, get a soft pencil and write the names and whatever else you can recall on the backs of old photos. Don't use ball point pen or other inks as they can bleed through.

running in place, I'm a retired CPA and while I didn't spend a lot of time with individual taxation, you can be sure I understand it well. Your explanation is a bit out of order.

When an asset is sold, its "basis" is subtracted from the net proceeds to determine if there's a gain or loss. Basis is original cost (if acquired by purchase, to keep the example simple) plus money spent on improvements (not repairs) while it was owned. Improvements are sometimes described as "adjustments to basis", which means, they increase basis for determining gain or loss. If proceeds exceed adjusted basis, there's a gain. For the sale of a residence, if a couple of simple requirements are met, the first $500K of gain of a married couple can be excluded.

Determining any asset's adjusted basis is not a tax reduction strategy, it's an important step that's always required. Whether real estate, financial assets, or whatever. If all documents are not available, amounts can be estimated.

If you paid "no capital gain tax" on the sale of a residence, it's because the gain was less than the exclusion amount. Not for any other reason.

Printed the article so I could keep it nearby for reference. If I open it on my iPad it goes into sleep mode. I’ll add it to the Toss pile when done.

No offense meant. I assumed that was your intention 🙂

And FWIW, you should be able to change settings on devices to keep the screen on. I often do it when I'm using a recipe.

Photos. When I was scanning them nobody cared.

But then when I uploaded them onto a family blog, and wrote a couple paragraphs, suddenly there was *some* interest. People could swipe through them like they do everything else. My sisters youngest: "do you know we look almost exactly alike?" Me: "..."

Enough interest? I don't know. I kind of enjoy it.

That reminds me. Gotta get back to it this winter.

I cleared out that mess a few years ago and now I do it on a frequent basis.

Hubs has a nasty habit of keeping everything, including the excess junk in the envelopes and the envelopes as well.

I organized it all and now our kids can find what they need to find when they need to find it.

People keep so much junk that they can rarely find anything in the mess.

I kept dental records but now I know that it is not important to do that. Who cares if I have a cavity filled years ago.? That is all past history and the dentist takes X-rays that show everything in there.

So much stuff was so not needed.

I am carrying the same objective to everything in the house. Get rid of the junk!!!!!

JJ, when you put the photos into a different format and when you singled out the photos, they came into focus for others. That is one of the values that you get from both culling out the insignificant ones and organizing the reamaining ones.

The importance or the significance of what is left comes into much sharper focus.

I am in the middle of culling and organizing our photos and I it has become evident to me that much value and appreciation is stuck in oblivion when the photos are a mess in boxes. They must be curated and organized to tell the story. If not, they are like a bowl of alphabet soup with letters that don't spell anything.

I had started a post about organizing photos, if you are interested.

One example is that we had a box of photos that FIL had brought home from WWII. They had been languishing in a box that was casually shoved into a drawer and mostly forgotten about.

I took them and put then into a small book and placed the book on the dining table. Hubs picks it up and finds himself absolutely drawn into them as if he is seeing them for the first time.

That is not the case, He knew about them. He had just forgotten about them because they have been hidden in a drawer in a box for so long.

After composing them in a book and noting the inscriptions that FIL wrote on the back, they have become a personal story of a young man who turned 19 years old and arrived for D Day one day later. He was but a boy when he went to be a part of a tank crew in Europe. This is his story and now it has been revealed for us to share. I think that it is priceless and to think that it lingered untold for so long. He told us his story and we just relegated it to a hidden box. I find that to be rather sad in retrospect.

In organizing our photos, I have gained and experienced some revelations and realizations of who and where we have come from and who lurks in the heritage of my grand children.

Life's moments and lives that have gone have come forward and I am truly enjoying the journey.

It is important to cull out the debris so that you can see the value of what you have. I have yet to discard the rejects. They will get one more pass through before they go out. In my estimation, I have rejected somewhere around one third of what was being kept.maybe a bit more than that. Now, the remaining ones are being divided into two collections, one for each of our grown children. I plan to keep none for us. I want to hand them down to my kids in a format that they can be seen in. I don't want to pass down a mess of stuff that has no voice.

After the photos are taken care of, I plan to include some genealogy documents in the pages. It seems a perfect compliment to the photos and will explain some of them.

I have also made sure that the kids have all the information that they need after I am gone and not have to go searching for bank accounts, revolving charges on credit cards or any of the stuff that they are going to need to know. I even have a document of all my passwords for any forum or bank account, etc.

Wednesday morning, I am interested in the post you started about organizing photos. I have been meaning to do this for years. It seems so overwhelming, yet I truly have few photos compared with many others. Can you share a link?

This is supposed to be my big sabbatical task. I get so waylaid. Right now it is yard work all the time, and finishing up the preserving of the harvest. Hopefully this winter.

I hear you, plink. We are having a spate of gorgeous weather and I’ll be darned if I am going to spend these days inside shuffling paper around. It’s all outdoor stuff for me for now.

Dedtired - Yes, get out of the house, take a long walk or drive. Our area has been so lucky this week. Not only are we having absolutely gorgeous weather but our fall foliage has been the best I can remember. On Saturday we took a long drive along the PA side of Delaware River from Yardley to Riegelsville, and returned down the NJ side. It was heavenly to walk along the towpath and drink in the fresh air and view all the amazing colors, it even made New Hope's traffic bearable. Today we're celebrating our neighbor's birthday - 8 of us will gather in the driveway and enjoy apple cake, cider and sunshine. Perfect timing since my roofers arrived this morning and I can avoid the hammering.

Sounds like a perfect day, Maire-cate. I went to Valley Forge the other day and yesterday for a hike on the trails near me. The area you mention is just gorgeous. My niece lived in Riegelsville many years ago.