Piles O'Paper

[beka1977]

I am trying to get rid of our piles of paper. I swear to you that my husband has credit card bill receipts from high school. So what can I shred and what must I keep???

OT - I HATE the MDC search feature!

[CarrieMF]

The majority of it you can shred(though really, I"d burn it).

For 7 years you need to keep anything related to Taxes.

For 1 year(and 1 year after paying off) I would keep credit card statements, bank statements, loans,cable, phone, utilities, etc.

For the lifetime that you own it, keep vehicle & mortgage information, life insurance, retirement, medical.

[root*children]

Do you literally have piles??? If so, run to Kmart and get yourself a small, cheap file cabinet!

We do the exact same system as Carrie for all our papers (in our file cabinet of course )

[mightymoo]

Investments & brokerage statements - keep as long as you own the investment, knowing exactly when you bought it is helpful for figuring out cost basis for taxes and generally the later statements don't have that info.

I have a shelf (maybe 1/2 full) of 3 ring binders I keep older statements and papers in. 7 manilla envelopes with all tax info in them for the 7 years to keep, and 1 filing drawer with current statements & other info I want quick access to. Oh, and a small 1" high maybe neat rubber banded pile of legal sized mortgage paperwork that doesn't fit anywhere else.

[LilMama23]

Credit card bills from high school and other things that are that old or papers for vehicles and things you no longer have - they can all be shredded or burned. I wait until I have a huge trash bag full of shredded paper, mix it all up, and use it as packing material for mailings.