Sunday, August 07, 2011

Lurking

I've been a cleaning frenzy. Part of it is a financial necessity as I've been selling off stuff I no longer use on various sites. Part of it is emotional... the fear that I'm becoming a hoarder. I just don't want my godchild or relatives to have to clean up such a mess.

The other day, I was up at 4 and in the attic, organizing and getting rid of old tax paperwork. I tossed anything older than the prerequisite 13 years. (I have several friends who don't admit to working for the IRS but have pointed out to me that the agency can audit back to 10 years. IF they find a problem, they can request and additional three in either direction.)

As I moved to the recycling bin, I was absolutely stunned that EVERYTHING in those boxes is ripe for some lurking identity thief. My bank in the late nineties (sold to other corporations several times now) placed my entire social security number ON EVERY PAGE OF EVERY STATEMENT!

My credit card receipts...printed on REAL paper...  contain the ENTIRE number.

So, I stoked a fire in the outdoor fire pit and started burning. I only managed about two years worth before the thing was full of ash!  As I minded the fire, I started cleaning the garage. I decided my shipping area was ripe for a reorganization. Just look at what I found lurking there... she's bigger than a quarter!


Yes, I smashed her dead! If only we could do the same with identity thieves!

5 comments:

Dexter said...

EW!!!!

As for those papers... yup, that's what wood stoves are for. What a pain to have to keep records.

rottrover said...

EEEK!!! Thanks for the reminder about those old docs. Amazing what used to be 'public' info!!

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

Clever post:) Love the ending.

Mom and Dad are very careful about all that shredding too. Amazing what they used to print on paper - talk about telling the world all your business. Happy cleaning - we wondered how we got a comment from you last week that early in the morning:)

Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, Ciara, and Lightning

Duly Inspired said...

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Linda@VS said...

OMG! Nasty things, identity thieves and black widow spiders.