I feel like the day's over when it gets dark, too. And it's raining, so my mammal brain is telling me to go to sleep somewhere warm and cozy and dark.

Instead, I'm entertaining my mammal brain with home chemistry. I'm at last tackling the cleaning of all this tarnished silver I've collected with washing soda solution and alumium pans. It's going slowly, but the stuff is really really tarnished.

Jess, that's great! Best of luck and happy birthday, to you.

Happy Birthday Jessica!!

Happy Birthday, Jess!!! And great news on the apartment!

Happy Birthday, Jessica! May the apartment-acquiring go smoothly!

Happy birthday, Jess!

If you use Money or Quicken, you don't need to keep your statements. I imagine if I didn't use Money, I'd keep my statements now, because I've gotten used to going back and saying, "When did I buy that?" "Did I give them money already?" "How much was it last time?"

I keep my bills...quite a while, I guess. For the current year they're sorted by type, and when I turn the year over I just put the past year all together and label it.

The medical bills and explanations of benefits are used pretty often, and other bills are reviewed for usage patterns to see if I can get a better deal or bundle.

Oh, lord. Black belt training. I'm so sleepy. Gotta go.

Would one recommend Money or Quicken for a complete novice at such record-keeping systems?

I've used both, and though I think I ultimately prefer Money, switching over to Quicken (which came preinstalled on my Mac) was completely painless.