Holding on to documents

[angprescott]

I keep only what I have too. I do not keep bank statements or anything else that I can go online and print a copy of and if my shredder isn't working, I take a permanent marker and cross of anything that I don't want to be seen before I toss it.

[jmccaskill]

It seems that no matter what one does, their paperwork collection increases geometrically! Just a thought here, when it comes to 'destroying' the documents you no longer want to keep, using a paper shredder is not really a 'safe' way to do that. If someone is determined to gather information, shredded documents will only make their job a bit more tedious as they will need to piece it all back together, a pain but not really a difficult thing to accomplish. So if you truly need to destroy something, burning it is about the only practical way to do it. Just a thought... 

[countrygirl12]

I have so many old bills and bank statements that I need to get rid of but, my shredder is broken so I will have to be a new one. I still have a bad habit of saving everything.

Do you keep all of your documents(bills, bank statments, etc) or shredd them?

I keep things I think I may need for later ref.  I usually keep paid bills and copy of checks and stuff for at least a year.
You never know when you will need proof of something.

[nannycoe1]

This topic got me to thinking. I am going to start this week and get rid of some stuff. Time to clean some junk out!

[teresa3200]

I generally throw them away once they are paid since I have it recorded in my checkbook and at my bank.

[squirrelgirl44]

I don't keep paper copies of anything except taxes and really important things like mortgage and auto paperwork. All that other stuff like bank statements you can access for something like 7 years online. I used to keep everything and it was a giant headache keeping track of it.

[drpybutt]

I hang on to things like that for a couple of years then get rid of them

[jwallbank]

I normally keep them for about a year. I figure if someone doesn't come back on me in a year, they have to prove it to me that I owe any amount of money. Now my Critical Records (birth Cert, Marriage cert etc.) I have scanned into my computer and keep it on a flash drive along with my Hard Drive with that backed up. You never know when those items may come into account, especially if you need it for a passport or whatever.

[Liquidfire_43]

I mostly keep my documents online.... Such as paperless online bank statements provided by my bank (saves paper and several fees if I opt in for paper statements)... But when I do keep documents, I store them in a box and once it gets full I look to see if there any documents I can throw away