File Organization--What papers do you keep?

[bisous]

And what do you toss? For years now I've kept my cell phone bills. I can't think of why I do this--it is just habit! I think I'll toss.

I keep tax documentation for 7 years, right?? I keep all the stuff related to our student loans and our (ahem) investments (right!). I keep a maintenance file for each car. I keep stuff related to the kids that I'd like to save. I keep a medical file for each member of the family.

What do YOU keep and what do you toss? Nesting here and in a big mood to toss and shred!

TIA!

[ashleybama24]

I've had my bank account since I was born and have almost every statement since the 80s. It's actually not a very big file because the statements were only really one page until I started working. I know I need to shred it but I just can't!

Bills for the house and car, credit card statements, 401k statements, medical bills that I attached to the EOB's, important records like SS card and birth certificates. I also save the manuals for toys, appliances etc. DH thinks I'm crazy but we have has to reference them numerous times!

[bisous]

Ah yes! Manuals and product information. I find those to be very useful! Thanks for the reminder!

[niccig]

This is what we do.

We keep a lot of our bills for tax purposes. I have a 30 day expanding file in the front of the filing cabinet drawer that I put in the phone bills, credit card bills, gas, etc. Anything that is a permanent file and will be kept longer than 7 yrs - mortgage, investments, life insurance etc is in a normal hanging file in the drawer.

At the end of the year, I take out the accordion file, and DH does the taxes with that and anything I pulled from the permanent files. Permanent file papers go back in filing cabinet to be kept until no longer have investments/mortgage (yeah righ!). The expanding file goes into a storage box to be kept for 7 yrs...then shredded.

Manuals/product information is in another expanding file. I actually have 2 of them full and the fit in bottom drawer of filing cabinet - I tend to keep way too much, so I do need to purge these again.

HTH

[crayonblue]

We keep permanently: Social Security cards, birth certificates, titles to cars, insurance paperwork, wills, etc.

We keep for 7 years: Tax documents and all supporting papers

We keep just for the year: FSA papers

We keep for the month, until paid: all bills

As soon as a bill is paid, it goes in the shredding box. Everything is online anyway.

Oh and I do have a file with manuals.

[ha98ed14]

I toss manuals I don't think I need figuring that if I ever do need them, I can find them on the company's website.

I keep bills for probably a little too long, but I file them by month paid. I use a mini manilla (sp?) envelope for each month and have them going back 2-3 years mostly because I have failed to keep it cleaned out. This system really works for me because I can find what I want pretty easily.

I have a box for insurance info and another for bank statements. I get our statements on line and then our quarterly statements come on paper by post. Taxes is in a separate file. FWIW, all these "files" are really baskets shoved in my Expidit.

[Pinky]

We keep permanently: Social Security cards, birth certificates, titles to cars, insurance paperwork, wills, etc.

We keep for 7 years: Tax documents and all supporting papers

We keep just for the year: FSA papers

We keep for the month, until paid: all bills

As soon as a bill is paid, it goes in the shredding box. Everything is online anyway.

Oh and I do have a file with manuals.

I wish I could make myself shred my bills after one month... For some reason I always think I might need a copy so I keep them nearly a year. Though I've never needed a copy so I need to just purge them.

[crayonblue]

I wish I could make myself shred my bills after one month... For some reason I always think I might need a copy so I keep them nearly a year. Though I've never needed a copy so I need to just purge them.

For years and years I kept neat files of all of our bills. While on bed rest, I got this sudden nesting urge to purge paperwork so I shredded everything and realized we had not once looked at those bills. So, I had spent all this time creating files, sorting, filing for absolutely nothing. That's when we decided to just shred! I LOVE that now we have one file drawer of the necessities (insurance, etc.) and one file drawer of tax stuff and that's it!

[soontobe]

what things are you required to keep for 7 yrs?

[Pinky]

For years and years I kept neat files of all of our bills. While on bed rest, I got this sudden nesting urge to purge paperwork so I shredded everything and realized we had not once looked at those bills. So, I had spent all this time creating files, sorting, filing for absolutely nothing. That's when we decided to just shred! I LOVE that now we have one file drawer of the necessities (insurance, etc.) and one file drawer of tax stuff and that's it!

I think I'm going to follow your lead and get rid of ours! It would also help with the daily clutter on my counter.