Simplify Your Life

AMERICANS ARE RACKING UP some major financial achievements — but probably not the kind you'd celebrate with a ticker tape parade.

Each of us now spends about 22 hours a year sorting out bills, account statements and other paperwork, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That might not sound like much, but it's more time than we spend helping our kids with their homework or getting out to the movies. For reasons that nobody can quite fathom, the typical household has accounts at four different financial institutions. And last year we paid a record $16.3 billion in credit card late fees — small wonder, since the average household is now trying to keep track of 14 credit cards, according to the research firm CardTrak.com. Come to think of it, if we shredded all those bills and statements, we could have a ticker tape parade after all.

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