How long do you keep paperwork?

jenna8984 · January 2015

I'm working from home again today (basically all week due to the snow!) and I don't have a whole lot of actual business to do. So I'm going to do some cleaning and purging. I have a huge bin of paperwork (all organized in folders) but I'm thinking most of it, I can chuck. Like tax returns I'll obviously keep, but other things? Employment letters, electric bills? I was involved in an accident 2 years ago and I have a huge folder of every medical bill and lawyer correspondence. My case was settled a year ago, so do I really need all of this still? Do you keep things like car title and mortgage papers in your home, or somewhere like a safe deposit box?

theartistformerlyknownas · January 2015

I don't keep anything. I have my tax returns saved electronically in a few places, pay all my bills online so I don't have paper statements, all my medical records are electronic.

beethery · January 2015

I scan everything and put it on google drive and back it up to an external drive. Then I shred things that are from over a year ago. If I need something, I can just print it back out.

novella1186 · January 2015

I save stuff till I know it's become completely irrelevant. Your accident thing was settled a year ago, but is there any chance of appeal?

I moved out of an apartment a few years ago. Had no problems with the management or anything. As soon as I got my deposit back and everything was done, I threw out the lease.

Another apartment I lived in had totally fraudulent management. They threatened to sue me for ending the lease early (which it says in the lease I'm allowed to do) until I sent the state Attorney General a giant packet of documents proving a lot of their fraud and non-compliance with state renting laws, etc. It was a huge mess. The statute of limitations for them to try to sue me runs out next year. I'll be holding onto all of that paper work until well beyond that, just in case.

In summary: keep the stuff that may still have bearing. Toss the stuff that has become completely irrelevant. I like lolo and beeth's method of having it all electronic. I keep hard copies but also try to scan everything in, and a lot of the time I'll e-mail it to myself and also save it in a folder if it's something really important, just to be sure I can't lose it.

emmaaa · January 2015

I barely save anything. Obviously, tax forms and my employee information. Other stuff we just get rid of. I find myself finding stuff of H's that he has had since high school and I'm like, "Why do you need this receipt from a part for your jeep that we sold three years ago?"

jenna8984 · January 2015

beethery said:

I scan everything and put it on google drive and back it up to an external drive. Then I shred things that are from over a year ago. If I need something, I can just print it back out.

ooo good call. I could bring this folder to my work and have it scanned in like 10 minutes

doeydo · January 2015

I have a box thing that is like my filing cabinet and I have everything in there. I will probably go through it eventually and possibly throw things out that I don't need after 7+ years.

jenna8984 · January 2015

emmaaa said:

I barely save anything. Obviously, tax forms and my employee information. Other stuff we just get rid of. I find myself finding stuff of H's that he has had since high school and I'm like, "Why do you need this receipt from a part for your jeep that we sold three years ago?"

hahaha that's me....I thought I was not a packrat....but I literally just found my lease agreement from Phoenix. I haven't lived in AZ since 2010.

classicalandedgy · January 2015

beethery said:

I scan everything and put it on google drive and back it up to an external drive. Then I shred things that are from over a year ago. If I need something, I can just print it back out.

This exactly except I don't upload personal info, just back it up on a couple of external drives or USB's, that are kept in my office and at home.

buttercup1958 · January 2015

Yeah V and I keep very important things in filing system. But bills and other things we keep for a year. Then V scans it and shreds it too. Then we use it for bedding for our pets ha.

bethsmiles · January 2015

I keep everything. I know I can get rid of some of it but when I go to clear out the older stuff I don't need anymore, a little voice in my head always says "But what if you need this?" and then I end up not getting rid of it. I have a problem.

kat1114 · January 2015

I save nothing. I know I should have more tax returns saved, but I only have last year's return, and it's stored on my Google drive.

I also have a copy of our last lease agreement saved on my Google drive because the landlord withheld part of our deposit, and I'm thinking of bringing legal action.

I don't even get paper copies of bills anymore because it's just more clutter.

H, on the other hand, has boxes and boxes of paperwork that I wish he'd get rid of. No one needs a pay stub from their shitty part time job in 2006.

OliveOilsMom · January 2015

I keep all financial and medical records for 7 years. That is the time frame that the IRS can audit you. So if its older than 7 years, it goes. I have 7 filing folders for this reason, when the 7th year comes up, I take everything out for shredding and start putting that new year in the folder.

I will keep all documents related to my dog (who only turns 7 this year), so I can prove she was spaded or any other medical stuff, if necessary. I also keep all car records, so if I ever need to, I can prove certain work was performed on the car. Once that car is gone though, so does that paperwork.

lc07 · January 2015

I bought a Neat Desk. It scans and then is smart enough to know the words on the paper so you can search for specific things in the program if you don't feel like manually sorting it all. I LOVE IT. Only paperwork I keep are things that have to be originals (like birth certificate) everything else gets scanned and shredded.

penguin44 · January 2015

beethery said:

I scan everything and put it on google drive and back it up to an external drive. Then I shred things that are from over a year ago. If I need something, I can just print it back out.

Oh that's a good idea. I just bought a little filing thing with folders to organize everything... All of our stuff is in a box. That was H's method before I came around, so he puts my stuff in there too. It's great...

WinstonsGirl · January 2015

We're horrible. Actually, I am. DH is much better, though he has a lot of old stuff he doesn't need anymore. We put everything like bills/Visa etc. in our shred box, but I'm pretty sure I could find papers at the bottom there from when we moved in.

We get most stuff now online instead of paper format, but I still need to get more organized. Funny thing is that DH thinks I'm more organized about this kind of stuff than he is. But really, I'm not

levieenrose · January 2015

Luddite here. I keep hard copies of everything organized in folders in a fire-proof filing cabinet. I'd always rather have a hard copy saved in a fire-proof case than a digital file that might get corrupted or be unusable in the next 20 years.

How long do you keep paperwork?

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