With this newfound realization that I’m supposed to keep this paperwork, Peter and I decided to buy a filing cabinet and a new shredder. Apparently all of that great shredding that I did all year killed ours. (Can you sense the bitterness?) After visiting store after store only to learn that filing cabinets and shredders are both *really* expensive, we headed over to our neighborhood Goodwill. And lo and behold, we found both of these things for a total of $24.

We actually saw the guy wheeling this filing cabinet out onto the floor and chased him down. I think we terrified him.

(The sticker on the filing cabinet was there when we bought it. It was not an accessory that I chose.)

I was skeptical about buying a used shredder. I reasoned that someone probably donated it because it didn’t work, but Peter found one that someone had jammed paper into and didn’t feel like fixing. He patiently removed the jam and found an outlet to test it out. All the while I was shifting back and forth impatiently like an angry teen out shopping with her mother. He’s pretty great for putting up with me–and for other reasons as well!

I like our filing cabinet but I think I want to jazz it up a little bit. The boxes below are my inspiration, but I’m generally a neutral kinda gal who likes smaller pops of color.

{Little Green Notebook}

What do you guys think? I brought home a few swatches to get an idea of the shade of blue that I want to paint them, but so far I’m not loving any of them.

So, should I paint it blue, paint it grey (because that is always an option), leave it as is, or find a new idea all together? I know this one is already thinking long and hard to figure out a solution.

A little P.S.–If next year will be your first year filing taxes on your own, I am warning you save everything!