How long do you keep documents before shredding?

I have been saving everything for the last 10 years and it is starting to overflow my file cabinet. Each year I empty my hanging file folders and put them into envelopes and the then put the envelopes in the other drawers. I was going to make this a poll but I figured people may keep different documents different amounts of times. This is all for personal use and not what a business may keeps. So how long does everyone keep things?

1. Tax info (W2s, receipts, all other items used for filing taxes)
2. miscellaneous receipts
3. utility bills
4. credit card bills
5. insurance documents
6. paystubs
7. other items

you should get a scanner and keep them digitally.

Three years.

Quote: GWAE

I have been saving everything for the last 10 years and it is starting to overflow my file cabinet. Each year I empty my hanging file folders and put them into envelopes and the then put the envelopes in the other drawers. I was going to make this a poll but I figured people may keep different documents different amounts of times. This is all for personal use and not what a business may keeps. So how long does everyone keep things?

1. Tax info (W2s, receipts, all other items used for filing taxes)
2. miscellaneous receipts
3. utility bills
4. credit card bills
5. insurance documents
6. paystubs
7. other items

1. Garbage
2. Garbage
3. Garbage
4. Garbage
5. Card goes in the truck, rest goes in the Garbage
6. Forever, so far.
7. Garbage.

Ontario resident:

1. 7 Years
2. garbage
3. 1 year
4. 1 year
5. term (garbage after you renew)
6. garbage
7. garbage

Check this out.

http://www.ricedelman.com/cs/education/article?articleId=156&titleParam=Documents%3A+What+to+Keep+-+What+to+Store+-+What+to+Shred

My typical practice, without referencing the above and often longer anyway, is in italics

1. Tax info 5 years
2. miscellaneous receipts depends; for major purchases, about 3 yrs, otherwise just a few weeks
3. utility bills a month or so after marking them paid
4. credit card bills about a year; you could toss them though, archived statements are available online
5. insurance documents as long as needed
6. paystubs 2 years
7. other items year end statements from stock funds etc, a few years

I currently keep five folders, one for each year, with bank statements, utility bills, credit cards, tax info etc. But sometimes you can find online copies of bank statements etc. and can just download them rather than keeping the paper.

Anything related to taxes, current year plus past 3 years. Returns themselves, forever.
Insurance, original policy documents, changes to policies.
Receipts, big ticket items, while I own it. Routine, less than a year. Exception; products under warranty, especially purchased warranties, should still have the purchace receipt with it.
Home improvements; keep one big file, because if you ever sell your home, those go to valuation on cap gains taxes and if you short-sale, total investment when asking the bank to forgive your outstanding debt. Yes, it matters a lot then. I had 15 years of house receipts proving I'd spent an extra 58K on the house, beyond routine replacements/maintenance. They forgave 100K of debt when the housing market crashed and I went upside-down.

Credit card, utility bills, routine; current year only until taxes are done (for reference).

Most everyone is asking you to keep things electronically anyway; sign up for electronic billing.

Legal matters relating to lawsuits, divorces, etc., forever.

Payroll, I have mine for sentimental value, but 3 years past is plenty.

thank you for all of the responses. I can't believe I have cell phone bills from 10 years ago. I am going to start by shredding all of the utilities and go from there.

Electronic storage is obviously what I need to look into. One thing I don't like about relying on using electronic copies on the banks site is if I ever change banks I wouldn't have access to them anymore.

Quote: GWAE

thank you for all of the responses. I can't believe I have cell phone bills from 10 years ago. I am going to start by shredding all of the utilities and go from there.

Electronic storage is obviously what I need to look into. One thing I don't like about relying on using electronic copies on the banks site is if I ever change banks I wouldn't have access to them anymore.

Just take pictures of your documents and save the pdf files. Like with this app:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/camscanner-free/id388627783?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.intsig.camscanner&hl=en

Quote: GWAE

1. Tax info (W2s, receipts, all other items used for filing taxes)
2. miscellaneous receipts
3. utility bills
4. credit card bills
5. insurance documents
6. paystubs
7. other items

(1) I still have an envelope of info for income tax filings for each year back through 1997. I threw away the older ones when I moved in 2008. I prepare federal and state returns with computer software and have the data files and annual software packages still on my machine back through 1994. I highly doubt that I need all of that old info for anything, but it all fits on the hard drive or in one file drawer.

(2) Until I moved, I had been keeping the paper credit card receipts and the bills. I now scan credit card receipts and destroy the original slips of paper after the web site confirms that the company has the same info that I have. (I generally check daily.) I keep the scanned images of receipts and electronic copies of the bills on my computer. I scanned some years of my pre-move archives before destroying them, and I have about a decade of electronic records now. They take up zero physical space and negligible disk space. I have a few non-credit-card receipts that I keep on paper and/or scanned, if I think I might ever need them.

(3) I've had electronic billing on all utilities for quite a few years, with the records kept on my computer. My cable company no longer provides electronic bills, so I don't keep those at all.

(4) See (2) above.

(5) I keep the original insurance policy and the paper copy of all renewal notices. It takes a single file folder for each policy, and that's not much drawer space.

(6) Paper copies go into a file folder as they come in and are transferred to the year's tax return envelope when I prepare my taxes.

(7) Some things are thrown away before I even look at them. Others are kept for decades for sentimental reasons. I am not a slave to consistency. I have about a decade of electronic records of each of my bank account's statements stored on my computer. The bulk (but not all) of my 1966-2003 photography has been lost along the way, due to a couple of disasters and a pre-move purge. Everything since then has been digital, and I have it all.

Basically, if it is an electronic record that I can keep on my computer, there is no expenditure of money, effort, or space for me to keep the record indefinitely, so I don't bother to purge. The things I keep in paper form don't take up all that much space. Most of what is in my file cabinet is warranties, instruction manuals, and the like, plus maps/records/mementos of our travels, which are kept mostly for sentiment.

Yes, I do keep multiple backups of my computer hard drive.

I keep all my tax info forever. Seems like there is no statute of limitations where fraud is suspected.

Documents? Cash and carry baby!

Quote: treetopbuddy

Documents? Cash and carry baby!

How did that work out for you at Mile Marker 164 ?

Quote: Buzzard

How did that work out for you at Mile Marker 164 ?

Buzz, would you please stop with the Mile Marker 164 thing. Damn. Answer to your question.......not well.

I will back off. Just remember, it ain't over till it's over. Hopefully they will move onto a new victim shortly. BE CAREFUL !

About a year the maximum is 2 years. but be sure that you back it upl as e-file before shredding it all.