Do you keep envelopes?

[disneysteve]

No, I do not keep envelopes except for a small pile on my desk and on the fridge to use for note paper and shopping lists.

My cousin died in 2021 and I had to clean out his house. He saved EVERYTHING he ever got. Every bill. Every financial statement. Every single page and the envelope. Clearing that all out was a huge job. I knew I had to pay to have everything shredded so I went through it all and separated out the envelopes and inserts that didn't require shredding and just recycled those. Still, I shredded 10 cartons of paper. And I filled the recycling bin multiple times over 6 weeks and dumped some in a friend's bin too a few times. The mountain of paper he had saved - for absolutely no good reason - was ridiculous.

 

[Ronstar]

I burn. DW shreds. MIL saves everything. Good thing.

DW needed her birth certificate for something about 10 years ago. Went to the courthouse and got her birth certificate- sex shown as male and wrong birth date by 3 days.

DW wanted a corrected birth certificate. Courthouse said no - needed proof. DW was furious and told her mom. Her mom dug out her dr and hospital bills from 1954 when DW was born and brought them to the courthouse for proof. ( Along with her testimony that her daughter was born female.)

Courthouse revised the birth certificate and all is well.

 

[Walt34]

Wait, you guys get paper bills? Like in the mail?

Yes, and deliberately so. If I get run over by that proverbial beer truck and all the bill-paying was online that would really put DW in a fix and I'm just not going to put her in that position. As it is we get the paper bills in the mail and and I pay them online, and I've shown DW how to do that, but I want to keep getting them in the mail. And we have had instances of either the computer or the ISP stops working for whatever reason and I'm not going to put myself in a position where I don't have a "plan B" for when that happens, which is to go back to writing and mailing paper checks.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I get very little actual mail and only keep important documents. I love being paperless.

 

[Koolau]

We don't keep the envelopes but keep the paid bills (with check no.)

 

[Midpack]

DW has every card I’ve ever sent her, but not the envelopes. I keep neither, I guess I’m not sentimental…

As for bills, all ours are paperless if possible. Those that aren’t are paid and all records shredded, though I keep a pdf if there’s a need like tax records.

My grocery and other shopping lists are on my iPhone, way easier than writing it down. And whenever I think of something to put on a shopping list, I just tell Siri to do it - “hey Siri, add Wheaties to my grocery/Target/Costco/Trader Joe’s list” from my iPhone, iPad or iMac. And when shopping I just check items off as I go. Way better than a paper list IME. Ain’t technology grand!

 

[Gumby]

I have observed a number of people using their phones for a shopping list. In my experience, they always take longer than me with my handwritten list scribbled on the back of a recycled envelope.

 

[CincyDave]

I toss a bill's envelope upon payment. That creates an easy visual clue for me. Anything still in an envelope needs to be attended to, whereas if there's no envelope, my task has been finished.

This is pretty much what we do as well, but pay most online anymore.

 

[mystang52]

I never kept envelopes, and until this thread would never have imagined why one would keep envelopes. We still get paper bills in the mail, due solely to DW's insistence. Although we primarily use just 2 credit cards, we have all of our cards' closing dates to be at end of the month, along with utility bills. We pay all bills, electronically, on or about first of the month; by the time we get the paper bills, they go straight to recycling.

 

[Car-Guy]

Over half of the physical mail I get now, goes straight to the trash and is "unopened". The other half I'll open and look at it. About 10% makes it to my "action bin".

 

[Midpack]

I have observed a number of people using their phones for a shopping list. In my experience, they always take longer than me with my handwritten list scribbled on the back of a recycled envelope.

I don’t know how, sure doesn’t take me longer. And it’s not as if other shoppers are waiting to select items off the shelves?

 

[latexman]

Most mail goes straight into the recycle bin, unopened. I keep the bills until paid. I take everything, except the statement, out of a bill's envelope, including their return envelope, because I use my CU's BillPay. Then, I write the bill's due date on the envelope and put it in my wooden bill caddie in chronological order by due date. When paid, I hang onto the statement and put the envelope into the recycle bin.

 

[Koolau]

I have observed a number of people using their phones for a shopping list. In my experience, they always take longer than me with my handwritten list scribbled on the back of a recycled envelope.

Shopping list, price comparing, coupon-harvesting, texting the BFF, calling the kids, looking for stuff in the store, checking the weather...etc.

I'm in-n-out before the phone "phreak" gets through 2 aisles. YMMV

 

[mountainsoft]

DW has every card I’ve ever sent her, but not the envelopes. I keep neither, I guess I’m not sentimental…

As for bills, all ours are paperless if possible. Those that aren’t are paid and all records shredded, though I keep a pdf if there’s a need like tax records.

My grocery and other shopping lists are on my iPhone, way easier than writing it down.

My wife has a box of cards too (most with the envelopes). I've scanned a few memorable cards, but otherwise they go in the trash after a week or so. These days we rarely buy cards unless we can find something appropriate in the 99 cent section. No way am I paying $7 for a piece of cardboard with writing on it.

All of our bills are autopay and I download the PDF statements to keep for reference. For the rare bill that comes in paper form, I scan the statement and save the PDF like all the others. Paper gets shredded or recycled.

I make our grocery lists using recipe software and print them out. They're sorted by store and location, making shopping trips much easier.

 

[mountainsoft]

my handwritten list scribbled on the back of a recycled envelope.

I'm surprised how many people are using old envelopes as note pads. Seems messy to me. I prefer to buy packs of 3x5 note pads and use those for notes I want to scribble down. However, most lists are typed up on the computer and printed (if needed, many don't need to be).

 

[scrabbler1]

I sometimes cut extra sheets of paper in junk mail into 4 parts so I can use the backs of them for shopping lists. Sometimes, the fronts of junk mail sheets are partly blank, so I will use the front and back of those. Envelopes are pretty good, too, but the backs of them are often "bumpy" to write on and make my already crummy handwriting look even worse.

 

[tulak]

I use 3x3 post it notes. They work well for shopping lists, as long as you don’t forget them at home.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Envelopes get thrown in a "clean" trash can next to my computer.... most end up being pulled out used for notes before ultimately being disposed of permanently. -mostly junk mail but I rarely keep cards/envelopes very long either.

 

[jollystomper]

I do not keep envelopes, unless they are from someone with a new address I have not yet recorded. I will keep it long enough to update the records. Envelopes for the bill we receive go straight to the recycle bin.

For notes I use either post-it notes, index cards, small notepads (amazing I still have these things from my Megacorp years), or a note taking app on my phone.

 

[Koolau]

I do not keep envelopes, unless they are from someone with a new address I have not yet recorded. I will keep it long enough to update the records. Envelopes for the bill we receive go straight to the recycle bin.

For notes I use either post-it notes, index cards, small notepads (amazing I still have these things from my Megacorp years), or a note taking app on my phone.

We do our notes on note pads that come with pleas for money from charities. Odd that they are all exactly the same size - which is very handy.

 

[meleana]

When I get mail or a greeting card from someone, the first thing I do is take it out of the envelope and toss the envelope in the recycling bin. It's an immediate reduction in clutter. Same goes with any of those sheets describing your rights in multiple languages, advertisements, or anything other than the primary documents. Heck, I don't even bring most junk mail in the house. It goes straight from the mailbox to the recycling cart.

In comparison, my wife goes through every piece of mail, and keeps the envelopes with every card she receives.

My mom used to pay bills and write the check number and payment date on the outside of the envelope. So she had this huge stack of statements in envelopes.

Thankfully, most mail these days is electronic so we get minimal physical mail anymore. Still, I've never understood why anyone would want to keep the envelopes. I do my best to minimize paperwork in the house.

We don’t get bills in the mail. Everything is electronic. Junk mail goes right in the garbage.

 

[scfr]

I toss envelopes in the container for recycling (pull out in the kitchen) and then when I want to write a quick list I grab one out of the recycle container.