It is important to keep records of payments you have made and the receipts that prove you have made payments. This is a way to protect yourself and your credit once you have begun to establish it.

Always get a receipt when you make any type of payment: rent, student loan, utility, vehicle, or any payments that can reflect on your credit. Set up a filing system with a file on every account payments are made to. File the receipt for each transaction in the appropriate file.  If renting from ABC Company set up a file under that name and put any paper work and receipts regarding them in the file. Do the same with the utility companies, student loans or a car payment and any one else you do business with, making a separate file for each.

Your canceled check is also a form of receipt. Most banks do not return canceled checks anymore. Some banks will send a copy of the canceled checks with your bank statement. A copy of this, blocking out the other canceled checks on the page will be acceptable in most cases. If the bank does not automatically send you a copy of your canceled checks you can call the bank and request a copy.  It would probably only be necessary to do this if you must provide a copy. There may be a bank charge for this service.

If you need to show or mail the receipt to prove you have made a payment, NEVER give back your original receipt. ALWAYS make a copy and give the copy. Keep the original receipt in the file. If you are mailing the receipt send it Certified Mail. This will cost a little extra but is worth it. If you can deliver it in person, do that.

When you make your final payment on a loan ALWAYS request a letter stating that the loan has been paid in full. Put this letter in the file that is set up for that company.

Every six months or at least once per year check your credit records   with the credit bureaus to make sure the information is correct. If there is an error, write the credit bureaus a letter explaining the error, if necessary send a copy of your receipts … copy only … not the original  and send the letter certified mail.


 (also see Certified Mail, Filing: Identity Theft)








There are many ways to recycle. There may be a recycling system set up through the trash collection company in your city. You may have color coordinated bins to put your trash in. One bin for newspapers, another for glass and another for cans and so on. There may also be a designated way for the trash to be collected. The main garbage can may need to be in one place, the bins in another and flattened boxes in another. If this is the situation in your community you have probably been given manuals or posters that show and explain how to arrange your trash for collection. There may be fines if you don’t follow these guidelines.

If there isn’t a recycling program for trash pickup in your community there are probably designated areas where you can take glass or newspapers, computers and other items that should not go into the land fill. You can call the City Clerk’s office in your town to find out where these locations are.



Recycling Inside the Home:

Way back "in the day....", our grand mothers and our great grand mothers were the 'Masters' of recycling.  They used everything they had, recycling until there was pretty much nothing left to use!   In a way they were the beginnings of what recycling has become today.

It may take a little extra effort but there are things we can do that will be a form of recycling that can not only help keep junk out of landfills but also help save us money. We buy foods that come in plastic containers or glass jars with lids. All theses can be reused if washed properly. They may not be pretty but they will serve the purpose of storing leftovers.




Containers:

Some sauces are ‘packaged’ in quart and pint sizes that are actually Mason jars which are used for home canning. (These can be bought by the case if you are interested in canning. Extra lids can be bought as well.) These jars are excellent for storing your own left over sauces and soups.



Clothes:

When clothes wear out they can be recycled. Old tee-shirts can be used for rags for dusting, cleaning, washing cars, polishing shoes and anything else a rag may be needed for. Our grandmothers or great grandmothers used worn out clothes to make rugs and quilts.  They would cut long strips of material, braid them together and then stitch the braids together in circular patterns to make braided rugs and braided baskets. There are patterns for making other styles of rag rugs and those can probably be found online or in craft books at the library or your local book stores.




Plastic Bags:

Plastic bags that are used for groceries and other merchandise do not decompose well in land fills.  You may be able to recycle those through the trash collection in your city. Some stores have recycling programs of their own and you can take the bags back to them. If there is not a program in your area, these bags can also be used to line garbage cans and for wrapping items when packing or for extra stuffing in boxes to protect breakables.

(also see Trash)




 



Regifting is becoming a some what acceptable practice in some circles. What is it? It is when someone receives a gift and they “recycle” it, unused of course and give it as a gift to someone else for what ever the reason may be. Perhaps because they don’t like or can’t use it or they are in a pinch and need a gift to give and solve that problem by “regifting” a gift.

There are a couple of “rules” for this practice. The two most important are: Do not use the item and Do NOT give it to the person who gave it to you originally!



 (see Auto Rental)