How long do you keep old utility bills?

[triboys]

How long do you keep old utility bills? How about credit card statements and bank statements. Is there a website with this info. I have bills from 3years or more. I want to toss it all in the trash! My main weakness is paper clutter, I need to get a handle on it.

Please help, Kristin

[zeldabee]

I keep old utility bills for one month. I don't keep credit card statements at all--I shred them immediately. Both my credit cards have all that info online. I do keep bank statements, but I'm thinking I don't need to do that, since I have been able to retrieve old info that I need faster online.

If you're going to toss the stuff, make sure you shred it well!

[Amys1st]

We keep utility stuff for that calendar year and then the shredder they go.
We get our credit card and bank statements online so that cuts down on that.

We might keep some utilities longer since we might need to show them when we sell our house.

[kamilla626]

I've always been under the impression that you only have to keep the previous month or two - just to show that your prior payment went through.

I keep a folder of "Recent Bill Stubs" that I clean out every couple months. I figure, if I need the info after I've thrown them away, I can get my records from the utility companies.

[Cinnamon]

Hi

I keep my bills only until the next one comes. But I don't get but very few (I think 3 bills a month) anyway. We bank online and have most of our bills send there. I like that a lot since I get to pay my bills online without writing any checks. (We haven't used checks for about 6 years now)

I burn all old bills.

Cinnamon

[sistermama]

People keep utility bills? What would you do with them?