receipts and statments

[washerboy]

I was looking for the deed to my house over the weekend and realized I have kept every bank statment, medical bill, receipt for utilities ect. since the late 80's. I grew up with depression error parents and was taught to always save receipts and statments...(my father has every cancled check he's wrote since the early 1950's). After I thought about it..I've never really had to go though and find a cancled check or statment...on the rare times I've had to produce a check number I usually just go to my internet banking screen and get what I need. Seems a little silly to waste so much space saving worthless paper.

How does the group here handle saving records? I think I'm doing over kill here. Your thoughts on the subject are appreciated!!!

 

[turquoisedude]

7 years...

I keep 7 years worth of tax forms and receipts related to rental property income only. I don't get paper bills or statements from utilities any more and although I get a bank statement every month, I just eyeball it and shred it.
My father was a 'saver' - the man had bills going back to the late 1950's that we had to get rid of when he moved out of the family home back in the 90's. Now he barely keeps anything!

 

[dogboy44]

almost nothing!

tax forms, house papers, insurance papers, and that is about it.

 

[chuffle]

Same...

Seven years for tax forms and rental property info. All the rest is scrutinized, then shredded and composted.
Bank statements are now paperless.
If I wasn't ruthless about pitching statements, I would surely suffocate under the paper blizzard.

When I went through my parents' house last year in preparation for an estate sale, I faced an entire filing cabinet of neatly organized statements from utilities and banks, going back to the 1970s.

Joe

 

[whirlcool]

It depends what it is.

Tax Forms - 10 years
Mortgage Payment Statements - forever
Credit Card Statements - 1 year
Store Receipts -
Groceries - throw away after unloading groceries
Reiepts for Appliances, Electronics -
These get stapled to the owners manual/users guide and get put in a special drawer in my office. It's one central location for manuals and proof of purchase.

 

[toggleswitch2]

You are required to keep IMPORTANT documents for 7 years, banks for 14 years.

At this point I don't even keep old cancelled checks, (who gets the oringals back anymore, anyway?). But the check registers are for my own amusement!

My first rent was $190 split three ways for a 2-bedroom apartment in the south Bronx. As we were three university students we'd panic when the rent was due....... LOL

I keep about two months worth of paid bills on file, marking which statments I want to keep longer. They say it's bad fung-shui to keep bills around. Fine by me.

 

[dj-gabriele]

I keep every statement/bill/waranty card for the minimum legal terms and after that, bonfire!
Here in Italy, after you give a cheque you never see it back, it is kept by the bank, I believe as everything is done electronically nowdays, so I don't worry about them.
Bills are to be kept 5 years, so are utilities statements. Bank ones are either 5 o 7 years. Everything concerning fiscal stuff is 10 years at least like tax etc...
Warranty cards are 2 years that is the minimum warranty period to up 5 or 7 years depending on what the seller/manifacturer gives.
We were lucky because our A/C compressor broke and that was under 7 years warranty, at first it was trouble to have it honoured on the last year, after all, the outside unit was wreked by the weather and continuos use but it was changed for only the price of the call to the technician.

 

[polkanut]

Buy a nice paper shredder and have fun!!!

 

[mistereric]

Scan and Shred

I scan pretty much everything into a big inbox on my computer, and every once in a while sort the scans out. I use a Fujitsu ScanSnap. They can be had on sale for around $250. Drop the paper in the hopper, hit the button, and the scanner feeds the pages, scans, and dumps them in the To Shred bin.

Best of both worlds... I keep everything but don't store papers. Some items get kept like car titles and so on, but most of the paper gets scanned and shredded. The papers are stored as PDF documents, and I can search the lot of them right from my computer's desktop search.

http://www.amazon.com/Fujitsu-ScanSnap-Instant-Sheet-Fed-Macintosh/dp/B001XWCQO2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245772321&sr=8-3

 

[bosch2460]

My 2 cents

The only receipts that you HAVE to keep for 7 years are your completed tax forms, w-2, and any and all receipts for home improvement. Basically, any receipts that prove that you are adding equity to your home, are the ones you keep. You do not even need to save your paycheck stubs. Remember, all statements can either be downloaded online, or via the company, if needed. All mortgage papers, keep permanently. Loan papers, for the term of the loan. Tax papers for 7 years.

Personally, I save check stubs for one year. Bank statements one year. I do not own a home, but equity building or loan papers would be kept for a fiscal year and filed with taxes. All others go thru the shredder. I got this info from Suze Orman years ago, so I take it as damn good advice. I hate keeping track of all that paper!!!