Overstuffed Filing Cabinets

[blueerica]

I'm going through my stuff and I realize that my filing cabinets are WAY too full. I figured I'd come on here and see what other LoT folks do when cabinets are stuffed to the gills.

How far back do you keep your records? For closed accounts? For active ones? Do you look and see if there are relevant items that might need to be referred to, or do you just toss, toss, toss?

Opinions are greatly appreciated!

[Alex]

I don't keep any records.

I have the last few years of tax returns somewhere, and they'll get tossed if/when we move. Otherwise, bills and statements go in the trash (or shredder box) as they arrive.

[Prudence]

Obviously, I buy another filing cabinet.

(Seriously - just got another one two weeks ago.)

[Ghoulish Delight]

Paging Mr. Meinke. Mr €uro Meinke.

[lindyhop]

My filing cabinet has been full for years so I just pile paper on top. When that starts to topple I throw it all in a box to sort out "later." I have a couple of boxes in a closet that I can't even look at.

But recently I made a little bit of progress and cleaned out the filing cabinet that has most of the current stuff. I threw out quite a bit and everything is nicely organized, for now.

If you need it for tax purposes, keep it.
If it's a major purchase, keep the receipt, paperwork, whatever.
Otherwise, toss.

[Capt Jack]

Im of the mind to toss everything.

I havent yet, but Im of the mind to.

[BarTopDancer]

At the end of the year bank and credit card statements are put into a shoe box. Cell phone and utility bills are kept 3 months. I also go through my folder for instructions and warranty info once or twice a year and get rid of stuff I don't have anymore. I've finally gotten rid of papers and school work. I haven't looked at in years, obviously I don't care that much about it. Taxes stay (only the forms I mailed in and pay stubs).

I've been able to maintain one cabinet for the last 10 years with this plan.

[CoasterMatt]

Filing cabinets make great pyres.

[blueerica]

As I am grinding up stuff from my filing cabinets, I realized that I need to be fair to myself. It's only one little dinky drawer. No matter how much I get rid of now, I realize I'll still need good portion of that space.

Ugh. I hate papers.

[€uroMeinke]

Much depends on the kinds of records you've been accumulating and how you use them but:

Bills, credit card statements and the like - I generally keep long enough to make sure there wasn't an error and my last payment got credited to the account - that works out to about 3 months for me. Should I find an error, that statement gets pulled out of my "destroy in 3 month folder"

Banks Statements - the same rational applies as above, but I'm a bit more cautious with these as with the advent of electronic bill paying, they seemed to summarize most of my financial transactions quite nicely. I keep the current year, and one year previous (usually purged after I file my taxes) - I also do the same with my mortgage papers as they detail the payments to and from my escrow accounts as well which includes transactions that only happen on an annual basis.

Tax records are a bit tricky - The IRS has three years to approach you for any errors in your taxes (6 years if you under report your earnings by more than 10%). So I generally keep any supporting documents (reciepts, spreadsheets showing mileage or other business deductions, other tax forms) for 3 years. However, the IRS is one place where they consider you guilty without evidence to the contrary - there have been many cases where they have lost a filing and then claim that it was never filed. For that reason, I keep a copy of the final tax filing permanently, but dump all the supporting documentation at the three year mark.