Friends,
I have nine years of Tax filings, 50 years history of my house, Other documents like education certificates, ....etc.... All put together around 1000 pages which will become a suitcase by itself.
My question is, how are you managing these documents? For example: storing so that it is protected from theft, fire ...etc... To my knowledge, no bank offers such a big safe in India. The other option is to buy fire-proof safe. Please share your experiences.
Thank you
SSPP
safe storing of many documents/records
safe storing of many documents/records
do you really require to safeguard all these. ITax for a limited number of years (7?). House documents, original deeds, etc., last few years of municipal taxes, maybe some builder/purchase guarantees.
If the rest are important due to personal reasons than be prepared to pay for it.
If the rest are important due to personal reasons than be prepared to pay for it.
safe storing of many documents/records
dbs;49741do you really require to safeguard all these. ITax for a limited number of years (7?). House documents, original deeds, etc., last few years of municipal taxes, maybe some builder/purchase guarantees.
If the rest are important due to personal reasons than be prepared to pay for it.[/quote]
If you can, scan them and make multiple soft copies and keep each copy at different place (parent, in-laws:D , locker etc).
safe storing of many documents/records
I have the property docs in the locker. Photocopies with me and my brother. Birth certificates, originals, with the person, with me and my brother.
IT and property taxes docs - reference numbers in a dozen places electronically including cyber space(2) - Some scanned docs, but no paper copies (saving a tree).
Education certs, mine original only - (no one has ever asked for it, never, not one employer, except for the Higher Secondary cert that worked for admission to univ as well as a birth cert.). Sons' photocopies with me. original hopefully with them.
Some certs received at different times as a student, sportsman, employee, etc. No one has asked for these ever and would not be interested. Originals kept in my bedside drawer. Come to think of it, I have not looked at these for years.
Several docs dating back to my grandfather's time or may be older, worthless to anyone but me (not even my brother). I am like a chipmunk, a hoarder, and like old stuff (including my wi...). These can not be put into locker because every now and then I do leaf through these.
All important docs fit into my locker. Other replacable docs are stored in the basement including the irreplacable docs from my grandfather.
One has to decide what is important enough.
IT and property taxes docs - reference numbers in a dozen places electronically including cyber space(2) - Some scanned docs, but no paper copies (saving a tree).
Education certs, mine original only - (no one has ever asked for it, never, not one employer, except for the Higher Secondary cert that worked for admission to univ as well as a birth cert.). Sons' photocopies with me. original hopefully with them.
Some certs received at different times as a student, sportsman, employee, etc. No one has asked for these ever and would not be interested. Originals kept in my bedside drawer. Come to think of it, I have not looked at these for years.
Several docs dating back to my grandfather's time or may be older, worthless to anyone but me (not even my brother). I am like a chipmunk, a hoarder, and like old stuff (including my wi...). These can not be put into locker because every now and then I do leaf through these.
All important docs fit into my locker. Other replacable docs are stored in the basement including the irreplacable docs from my grandfather.
One has to decide what is important enough.
safe storing of many documents/records
I think it is best to scan and create soft copies - using a good scanner doing it at home. I think a 1000 pages will take a week of effort. maybe take a weeks vacation and do it instead of say going to hawaii:D. Whatever has been scanned you should shred, unless it is a original cert of some sort. also keep the soft copies on at least 2 machines.
BTW, I thought uploading docs to my gmail account and storing it there would be a good permanent sort of place to store it. However I wont do it unless there is a way to zip all the docs into a single zip file and then password protect the zip file. So my question to the IT experts - is there a way to relatively fool-proofedly password protect a zip file? what are the ways to encrypt and password protect folders or files. I am not so sure of the password protection available in office.
BTW, I thought uploading docs to my gmail account and storing it there would be a good permanent sort of place to store it. However I wont do it unless there is a way to zip all the docs into a single zip file and then password protect the zip file. So my question to the IT experts - is there a way to relatively fool-proofedly password protect a zip file? what are the ways to encrypt and password protect folders or files. I am not so sure of the password protection available in office.
dbs;49759I have the property docs in the locker. Photocopies with me and my brother. Birth certificates, originals, with the person, with me and my brother.
IT and property taxes docs - reference numbers in a dozen places electronically including cyber space(2) - Some scanned docs, but no paper copies (saving a tree).
Education certs, mine original only - (no one has ever asked for it, never, not one employer, except for the Higher Secondary cert that worked for admission to univ as well as a birth cert.). Sons' photocopies with me. original hopefully with them.
Some certs received at different times as a student, sportsman, employee, etc. No one has asked for these ever and would not be interested. Originals kept in my bedside drawer. Come to think of it, I have not looked at these for years.
Several docs dating back to my grandfather's time or may be older, worthless to anyone but me (not even my brother). I am like a chipmunk, a hoarder, and like old stuff (including my wi...). These can not be put into locker because every now and then I do leaf through these.
All important docs fit into my locker. Other replacable docs are stored in the basement including the irreplacable docs from my grandfather.
One has to decide what is important enough.[/quote]
safe storing of many documents/records
Check download.com There may be some encryption software (freeware or shareware) available. Remember to upload that software also just in case this software is required for decryption!!
safe storing of many documents/records
If you really want to go with the scan option, I saw a TV advertisement on the other day - it's for a scanner; you can stack multiple papers in the scanner and it will scan one at a time, just like a copier; it's an alternate option to scan 1 page at a time. The scanned copies will be saved as a PDF file. If I remember correctly the price range was around $199. You can google to find more about it.