paper work ?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2005
paper work ?
5
Wed, 11-12-2008 - 10:18am

I want to tackle my filing cabinet this month and I'm not sure how long you are supposed to hold onto things.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-03-2006
In reply to: ma2connor
Wed, 11-12-2008 - 3:23pm
I hold onto everything for a year. Then, On January 1st, I keep the latest statement, bill or whatever and shred the rest. Something like proof that you paid off a cc or car I would personally keep for several years.
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-02-2008
In reply to: ma2connor
Wed, 11-12-2008 - 3:44pm

I do the same as the above poster. Sometime in January of the new year I purge most of our bills. I know they say after you receive your next gas or electric bill you can shread the old one (b/c your current bill shows a zero balance as reflected from your payment the previous month) but with two little kids I don't have that kind of time so I just purge yearly.


If I closed a c/c or paid off a loan or something I'd hold onto the documentation showing that for a while. Usually its once piece of paper so I would just keep that filed.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-12-2007
In reply to: ma2connor
Wed, 11-12-2008 - 6:41pm

Someone, I think it was Peg, posted a couple of links about this quite a while back.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-10-2003
In reply to: ma2connor
Wed, 11-12-2008 - 8:07pm

Paycheck stubs I would keep a LOT longer.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2006
In reply to: ma2connor
Thu, 11-13-2008 - 1:07pm

I can't find that post right now. I found our "Paper Palooza" posts from last November but that's not where I posted the link(s). I would just google and there will be lots of articles.

I decided after last November's conversations to keep all tax records indefinitely. I keep the final paystub of a year indefinitely and then the paystubs for the past year (shredding the one year old stub each time I get a new one). I do a similar thing with my household bills and credit cards where I keep a folder for the due date month and I shred the ones from a year ago as I file this years. None of those have any tax implications. I finally seem to have gotten into that groove with the new house. I always was a 'put it in a pile and don't file it girl' but the new house set me up with new routines and I have eliminated almost all paper bills so that helps too. I keep all 401k/IRA statements. All of this is in one file drawer for me except the taxes so I'm pretty happy with that level of storage.

Peg