Help With Uncluttering

Recently, on Facebook, I came upon a list of things no woman over a certain age should have. Along with such items as shoes that hurt, orphan socks, and expired spices, were "tax returns from years and years ago." Old tax returns are one of the things on the list I'm guilty of having. Although the maximum time the IRS recommends keeping tax returns is seven years (and that's only if you file a claim for a loss from worthless securities or bad debt deduction), mine go back more than two decades.

For people like me who need to get rid of boxes of forms and receipts and reclaim valuable closet space, there's an alternative to spending hours (indeed, days) on end feeding documents into a shredder and dealing with the inevitable mess that results when trying to empty the shredder into a trash bag. It's a program with a name that is a rather silly-sounding and slightly patronizing acronym: K.I.S.S. (Keeping Identities of Seniors Safe). 

If you're over 60, you can take your sensitive documents to City Hall between December 4 and December 15 for free destruction. Documents will be signed over to the City Clerk and immediately placed in a secure locked container. The container cannot be unlocked by any City or County employee. It can only be unlocked by the shredding vendor, a "trusted, bonded company."

The program was implemented by Columbia County clerk Holly Tanner and is funded by mortgage taxes collected in the county clerk's office. For more information, click here.
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