Do you save old phone bills, bank statements, etc?

[DBZ]

If you do, what do you save? For how long? And where do you keep it? I find myself getting to the end of a pile of paperwork that I've hung on too and being torn as to whether I should throw away a bank statement or whatever. I've only once can recall refering back to an old phone bill, but that little nag in me that wants to be a pack rat says, "what if you need that?" Ugh! I so long for that clean and organized house I used to have....seems like centuries ago.

[loitering]

I do keep things like bills that I can't access online, but when I do a cleaning of the filing cabinet (usually a couple times a year) I throw out all the oldest stuff. When I pay the bill, I write the online bill-pay confirmation number on it and file it. My bank statements are available online for the last 18 months, so I never keep them.

[BeckC]

I do.

I have all of my past bills, statements and pay stubs and all of that stuff for the past 9 years.

I don't know what it's staying around for, but I can't bear to part with it. I'm convinced that I'm going to need it. And actually, I have used the pay stubs to remind me what months I started/finished jobs for my resume.

[hellyaellen]

i save it, but i rarely need it. i'm afraid to toss it so i'm slowly organizing and filing it all.

[nathansmum]

In my last office/filing declutter I got rid of things from places that would have all the bills/statements electronically stored (bank, power, phone etc). The only things I kept were from small business owner type places. I spoke to a bank guy when we were talking about our home mortgage as to whether I needed to keep them and he said no as the bank is required to keep them on file if required. Also, my bank has an option to not receive statements anyway, so I don't physically get anymore now.

[Homestylfry]

I save just about everything!! I have a bunch of those accordian looking filing folders full of just...any paper work you could imagine...i am a paper work pack rat

[sewsew]

Nope I don't save any of them! I pay all my bills online through my bank - NOT through the billing company (gas/electric, phone co, cable bill) etc.

I can access all my bank info online for eightteen months and can get a print out from the bankfor further back than that if necessary!

[*andiflipping*]

I only save Dh's pay stubs and tax papers/statements.

[mumkenna&lucas]

Right now I save everything however I would like to do like sewsew does!!

Originally Posted by sewsew

Nope I don't save any of them! I pay all my bills online through my bank - NOT through the billing company (gas/electric, phone co, cable bill) etc.

I can access all my bank info online for eightteen months and can get a print out from the bankfor further back than that if necessary!

[gottaknit]

I only save bills until I see that the payment has been credited on the next month's bill, then I toss it. (So I only have one bill for each utility/service at a time.) I save paystubs for one year, then toss. (I keep the W2s with that year's taxes and save indefinitely.)


DH on the other hand saves every freaking scrap of paper. Boxes and boxes of it. I've slowly started throwing his stuff out without telling him. I don't even think he'll notice until one day the boxes are gone, maybe not even then. Last week I shredded and recycled his phone bills and rent payment receipts from 1992!!!

FlyLady is great for working through this kind of clutter. I FlyLady.