Serious Problem

[Meenah]

I have a serious problem with paper, I'm not kidding. How long do you hang on to things like bank statements, credit card statements, etc. etc. etc.? I feel like I am drowning in paper.

[SuzySunshine]

I was once told 7 years for financial records but that could be old.

[MarissaNicole]

My husband tells me seven years as well. Right now we've only been married two years so we really only have two years of records and they are organized in our file cabinet. Papers that are older than that we scanned and have copies saved digitally. (Is that something you could do?)

One of our banks doesn't even mail statements (they only email them) so part of me wonders if it is really necessary to hold onto paper when you know someone is storing it electronically somewhere (at least when it comes to banks and credit cards).

Ugh I think its rediculous that you have to hold on to all of it - personally I only see a purpose/value in holding onto medical records and taxes (but yet I save it all anyway).

[JC76]

My rule of thumb is that anything related to or supporting any tax filing I save for 7 years. While it's probably good to have it in paper format, I bet in today's day and age in an audit they'd accept printed out copies of certain scanned in documents. I don't know that for a fact, though.

With other stuff (like credit card bills) I just try to get as much as possible in electronic format and save it that way if I think I might need to or want to reference it in the next year or so. Just make sure you save it in an electronically secure way (ie. don't save it in non-password protected files in your laptop, etc).

I think a lot of people actually err on the side of saving way more documentation than they really need to save purely out of paranoia. For example, I've had clients who will hang onto utility bills for years. There's just no reason for that. Why overcomplicate your life. You're right, you'll drown in it.

[MrsK]

I agree with JC. I keep the tax supporting documents with the tax return once it is filed. Prior to then, I keep seperate files for donations, bank statements, pay stubs, 401k contributions, etc. I do not keep utility or credit card bills more than 1 year (except those related to my home office which stay with the tax returns). I do, however, keep files related to loan payments for the duration of the loan.

[Meenah]

Thanks! I have been shredding for awhile.

[Vishenka69]

See if you can sign up for electronic billing with your utilities and credit cards. It really helps to cut down on monthly pile of paper. I even get e-statements for our student loans and mortgage.

With moving so much in the past 9 years I probably shred more than I should but I just can't deal with carting so much paper around.

[alison]

Opt out of credit card and bank statements. You can always print out or order them if you need a non electronic statement. The statements look EXACTLY like what you would receive in the mail!

When we moved from IL to CA, dh and I were buried under so much paper that we ended up breaking a shredder. It had had it after the thousands and thousands of sheets we sent through it. We had to shred another couple hundred sheets by hand...

We haven't needed a single document, aside from auto registration papers and receipts... We ended up having to go to the IL DMV to get some super old registration papers, so that we'd be able to register our car in California. So, my advice would be if you keep anything (as medical people who move from state to state), keep auto-related stuff!

[HouseofWool]

When we moved from IL to CA, dh and I were buried under so much paper that we ended up breaking a shredder. It had had it after the thousands and thousands of sheets we sent through it. We had to shred another couple hundred sheets by hand...

Heehee - when we moved in June - we gave up shreding and burned it in our fire pit.

Heehee - when we moved in June - we gave up shreding and burned it in our fire pit.

I'm waiting for fireplace weather to do the same.

[Tenacious_D]

We ended up bringing 5 black trash bags of paper to an event called shreddedt hosted in NYC by the sept of sanitation. Otherwise I might have moved with it. It was at least 6 years old. I always thought the rule was 3-4 years for tax stuff. 7 seems like forever.

[Tenacious_D]

We ended up bringing 5 black trash bags of paper to an event called shreddedt hosted in NYC by the sept of sanitation. Otherwise I might have moved with it. It was at least 6 years old. I always thought the rule was 3-4 years for tax stuff. 7 seems like forever.

It's called shred fest....still trying to work my fatty fingers on the iPod touch.