How long should you keep bills and credit card statements?

[mommyoftwo]

My dh and I are trying to clean out the house and get rid of things we don't need. We've been keeping all of our bills and credit card statement from the last few years and it's really starting to pile up. Can we get rid of everything except for the stuff from the last year?

[EllasMum]

I work for the government (Canadian) and we generally advise people to keep things like rent receipts (or mortgage receipts) going back at least one year. I know around here you occasionally have to prove you have lived in your residence for a period of time (say if applying for a loan or mortgage) so it is good to have old copies of rent receipts on hand. As for credit card bills, unless you have items that are still under warranty and could potentially need the bill to return an item, I'd say scrap them after you have confirmed the charges on your statements. If you need to, you can get copies of those bills and statements from the credit card companies anyway, so no real need to keep them.

ETA: You should also keep paystubs going back 1 year.

HTH,
Susan

[kimbe]

This was a great post from a little while back. I hope it helps!

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=37&topic_id=285193

[kimbe]

This was a great post from a little while back. I hope it helps!

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=37&topic_id=285193

[maestramommy]

Dh keeps everything for 5 years, but he's a bit anal about stuff like that.

[maestramommy]

Dh keeps everything for 5 years, but he's a bit anal about stuff like that.

[jermak]

Keep those that are still under warranty or those that you may need to use the in lieu of a receipt if you are going to return something or if you will need proof of purchase/purchase date information. Otherwise they can be shredded and then thrown away! (I always keep mine- why I'm not sure!) Don't forget to shred them after they'b been paid b/c they contain information you wouldn't want others to get ahold of !

[jermak]

Keep those that are still under warranty or those that you may need to use the in lieu of a receipt if you are going to return something or if you will need proof of purchase/purchase date information. Otherwise they can be shredded and then thrown away! (I always keep mine- why I'm not sure!) Don't forget to shred them after they'b been paid b/c they contain information you wouldn't want others to get ahold of !

[niccig]

It depends. A lot of our bills can be tax deducted because of DH's work, so I keep 7 years worth. I've got them in an accordion file for each year in 2 plastic filing boxes in the garage, so they're out of sight but accessible IF I need to get something. I have the current years in an accordion file in the filing cabinet, the theory is that at the end of the year I'll put this in the box in the garage and take out the one that can be shredded, and put a new file in the filing cabinet for the new year. I've just put this together, so I don't know if it'll work, but so far I like it.

Nicci

[niccig]

It depends. A lot of our bills can be tax deducted because of DH's work, so I keep 7 years worth. I've got them in an accordion file for each year in 2 plastic filing boxes in the garage, so they're out of sight but accessible IF I need to get something. I have the current years in an accordion file in the filing cabinet, the theory is that at the end of the year I'll put this in the box in the garage and take out the one that can be shredded, and put a new file in the filing cabinet for the new year. I've just put this together, so I don't know if it'll work, but so far I like it.

Nicci