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Post by anonrefugee on Oct 15, 2015 12:56:26 GMT
DH has every bank and medical statement for his adult life (decades!). We have the file space, so I've let it go. But looking to the future -it's time to start culling. Can you help with expert websites about what to save, lengths of time, etc? He respects Pea vacation advice, but I might need to show him other sources for this  I don't think he needs the comfort of scanning it all. And we don't need another chore. He just needs reinforcement to get started shredding. Am I the only one in this position? It has been beneficial, maybe 1-2 times, but overall it's into the drawer, neatly filed and stored forever....forever...echo |
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Deleted
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May 18, 2024 12:47:03 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2015 13:03:31 GMT
I don't save any bank statements at all. A full year is available on my banking website, and I've never had to look farther back than that. If you want paper copies of it, stuff a year's worth into your tax folder since that's the only reason you'd need them.
As far as medical, I save the kids' yearly physical form, and used to throw it into their baby books. Now that they're 17 and 21, I make a few copies and toss them when they get the new one. Actually, now that DD is 21 and a senior in college I don't need them anymore. She can deal with it.
DH's medical records are all in one hospital system (including all his specialists and primary care), and I don't keep copies of any of it. Everything is digital now. Old stuff is gone, because why the heck would I ever need it again? They'll repeat any tests they need, and they have more than 10 years of digital records. I toss all of it once I check it.
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Post by pierkiss on Oct 15, 2015 13:14:08 GMT
I keep things for 7 years. I have 7 two inch binders. There are a whole bunch of dividers in there; a tab for every type of bill/situation. (Bank statements, power bill, medical, pool, cars, etc). After 7 years the binder contents are emptied, shredded, and thrown away. The binder is recycled for the new year.
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lesley
Drama Llama
My best friend Turriff, desperately missed.
Posts: 7,179 
Location: Scotland, Scotland, Scotland
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Post by lesley on Oct 15, 2015 13:24:59 GMT
I keep things for 7 years. I have 7 two inch binders. There are a whole bunch of dividers in there; a tab for every type of bill/situation. (Bank statements, power bill, medical, pool, cars, etc). After 7 years the binder contents are emptied, shredded, and thrown away. The binder is recycled for the new year. I like this idea, to file by year first then subject second. I think I'm going to try this!  |
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Deleted
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May 18, 2024 12:47:03 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2015 13:41:03 GMT
Save a forest and free up time!
I do not receive any invoices by mail except from our city water and garbage pick up. All of my credit card, bank, investment and utility bills are emailed and/or accessible online. Most companies give you at least a years' access. If you need to have every statement available, set up a computer filing system just like the typical filing drawer. Set up a folder on your PC.
Folders
Credit Card Statement
Subfolders American Express, Citibank, Target
Subfolders 2013. 2014, 2015
Banking Statements
Subfolders (same as above)
Want more security?
Save them on a flash drive and store flash drive in safe
Save them with passwords
Receipts (including checking/saving deposit*)
File them divided in one shoe box by the month of purchase
Purge receipts every month October 2014 receipts should thrown away on October 1, 2015 (I don't even bother shredding because only partial account numbers are printed on receipts)
Attach receipts to owners manuals on big ticket items
*In my 38 years of keeping track of the our finances I have NEVER had to track down a checking deposit slip.
Tax Returns
We have all of ours saved digitally
Hard copies for past years are scanned and saved to hard drive and documents shredded
Check IRS for number of years you need to keep, I keep hard copies for those years
If your house was destroyed by fire all your receipts would instantly be gone. If you keep your digital files in a fire-proof safe you won't panic.
I have NEVER looked at previous bank and credit card statements trying to find when/where I purchased something. I track our purchases on Excel spreadsheets. I simply open the digital file and search/find "lawnmower". I can tell you what month I purchased it and amount I paid.
I don't keep a handwritten check register, I made an Excel spreadsheet. I reconcile my checkbook every other day, it takes seconds to copy and paste the available balance online into my spreadsheet. I use to spend up to an hour reconciling checks and deposits against the bank statement and would struggle because I transposed an amount on my calculator. This has simplified my life tremendously.
Don't know Excel? Check your local college for evening classes.
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Post by Scrapbrat on Oct 15, 2015 14:16:26 GMT
I keep most stuff for one year, such as bank statements and receipts. Receipts for large purchases (like a washer/dryer) are kept with the warranty and operating manuals. When I place a new month's bank statement or whatever in the file, I pull and throw out the one from the previous year, so there is always just a rolling 12 months that I keep. The exception is tax returns, which I keep forever, I guess. That is surely not necessary, but they don't take up much space so I've just never tossed anything from that file. Anything used to support deductions taken (like property tax statements, receipts from charities for donations) are clipped to the tax return on which the deduction was taken.
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basketdiva
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,619
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Post by basketdiva on Oct 15, 2015 14:28:25 GMT
I have about 10 years of tax returns, no bank statements and no monthly bills. Once a monthly bill ( electricity, car payment., etc) has cleared the bank it is shredded. I do enter the usage for utrilities in the memo column in Quicken.
If it is a large ticket item, it goes into it's own folder and once a year the folder is reviewed and cleared of any items we no longer own.
Recipts pertaining to the house go into a folder as does anything I might need at tax time.
There is no reason that I can think of to keep the bank statements. Information is online for most banks these days. Same thing with doctor's statements.
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Post by nlwilkins on Oct 15, 2015 14:48:01 GMT
I used to toss most of my papers until we needed proof that we had lived in a house for five years for a tax deduction. It became hard to come up with since I had tossed water bills etc. Our little town did not have any of that online nor would they help me obtain copies. They felt asking for a bill from five years past was asking too much.
Bank statements would not work for what we needed. We barely were able to find enough proof but it wasn't easy.
Now I save monthly bills, filed by the month and then toss after seven years. I have big folders for each month and all paid bills for each month go into the proper month. We don't have much as we don't use credit cards and house and cars were bought with cash.
Medical bills get stuffed into a large brown envelope with the year wrote on it and get tossed into the bottom of the filing cabinet. I don't bother doing anything with them as the insurance company keeps track for me. Those are saved for proof if needed down the line, especially the medicine receipts. They then will be sorted if needed. You never know when something you have been taking for years turns out to be bad for you LOL.
So basically all our paperwork can be stored in one filing cabinet drawer. Only it has four drawers so other stuff gets saved as well.
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Deleted
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May 18, 2024 12:47:03 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2015 14:52:07 GMT
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Post by whopea on Oct 15, 2015 15:08:46 GMT
Marking my spot to read some of these tips later.
I use quicken for bill tracking and payment. It has a mechanism where you can attach a statement or a bill. I scan and attach, especially if it is tax related. Things that are scanned not related to a specific bill or account are saved in folders in evernote.
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Post by bianca42 on Oct 15, 2015 15:13:07 GMT
I use FreedomFiler as recommended by the peas many years ago. There are 2 years of monthly folders (odd and even folders for each month). I plop most bills/paperwork in there. My odd October folder has stuff from this month in it. My odd November folder has things in it from November 2013. Next month, I'll pull the Nov-2013 crud out of the folder and shred it, then start putting Nov-2015 stuff in. Then there is never a file clean out project and I feel comfortable with what I'm keeping. There are some forever folders and some rotating 10 year folders for taxes and stuff. It's not like I'm tossing everything after 2 years. |
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Post by anonrefugee on Oct 15, 2015 16:54:30 GMT
voltagain absolutely!!! Just what I needed, thank you for taking the time and finding these. I checked IRS but never even thought of Consumer Reports or other (non-IRS) government sources.
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Post by anonrefugee on Oct 15, 2015 17:04:26 GMT
I use FreedomFiler as recommended by the peas many years ago. There are 2 years of monthly folders (odd and even folders for each month). I plop most bills/paperwork in there. My odd October folder has stuff from this month in it. My odd November folder has things in it from November 2013. Next month, I'll pull the Nov-2013 crud out of the folder and shred it, then start putting Nov-2015 stuff in. Then there is never a file clean out project and I feel comfortable with what I'm keeping. There are some forever folders and some rotating 10 year folders for taxes and stuff. It's not like I'm tossing everything after 2 years. I'm going to look into this. Sounds ike the ad hoc method I have for my paper work. Most bills are handled online but we still get some income statements in mail. I like to keep hard copies in case of emergency too. And as kids approach adulthood I need to have their info packaged to give to them. Until recently few of their medical records were online. That will be phased due to college, and probably be another post. |
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Post by colleen on Oct 15, 2015 17:06:21 GMT
Thank-you, our office is starting to look like a paper cave and this will help tremendously.
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happymomma
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,078
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Post by happymomma on Oct 15, 2015 17:27:33 GMT
I just purged my file cabinets. You only need to keep tax returns for 3 years unless you have claimed bad debt, then it's 7 years.
From the IRS website:
Keep records for 3 years.
Keep records for 3 years from the date you filed your original return or 2 years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later, if you file a claim for credit or refund after you file your return.
Keep records for 7 years if you file a claim for a loss from worthless securities or bad debt deduction.
I keep a folder for household purchases/warranties. I staple the receipt to them. I have a folder for owners manuals for things like the TV in case I need to troubleshoot or need the model number.
I no longer keep things like the monthly cable bill. I check those to make sure they're accurate then dispose. I've gone paperless on everything I can or will be soon. I have a folder for medical bills paid. I have a folder for EOBs from health insurance. The key is to check things as they come in the mail to make sure there are no errors.
I have a folder for important papers such as our marriage license, vehicle titles and such.
I have a folder with my pension information and one for my husband's VA information.
I have a folder with sheets of printed address labels for the few times a year I actually mail something. I've simplified my life as much as possible by doing almost everything online. A quick frequent glance at my credit union accounts online assure me that no errors have been made.
Life is a lot simpler this way.
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Post by Lexica on Oct 15, 2015 17:47:35 GMT
I use FreedomFiler as recommended by the peas many years ago. There are 2 years of monthly folders (odd and even folders for each month). I plop most bills/paperwork in there. My odd October folder has stuff from this month in it. My odd November folder has things in it from November 2013. Next month, I'll pull the Nov-2013 crud out of the folder and shred it, then start putting Nov-2015 stuff in. Then there is never a file clean out project and I feel comfortable with what I'm keeping. There are some forever folders and some rotating 10 year folders for taxes and stuff. It's not like I'm tossing everything after 2 years. I use the same system and I love how easy it is. I also got the recommendation here from Burning Feather. It took a bit of time to set up everything and transfer old files into this, but I love how simple it is and the color coding letting me know when I am to toss the papers in that file to replace with the new version, like the yearly insurance policies. |
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Post by Lexica on Oct 15, 2015 17:57:48 GMT
I want to add that you should keep a record of your entire earnings until you file for social security. That could be the pay stubs or the yearly tax form showing your earnings and what you put in to social security. A friend of mine retired and his SS check wasn't what he thought it should be. In reviewing, it turned out that there was a 5-year gap where there was no record of his working. He knew he hadn't taken 5 years off at any point in his work career. He was able to provide the pay records for the subject years and his social security check was in reased to reflect that.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 18, 2024 12:47:03 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2015 20:03:09 GMT
I want to add that you should keep a record of your entire earnings until you file for social security. That could be the pay stubs or the yearly tax form showing your earnings and what you put in to social security. A friend of mine retired and his SS check wasn't what he thought it should be. In reviewing, it turned out that there was a 5-year gap where there was no record of his working. He knew he hadn't taken 5 years off at any point in his work career. He was able to provide the pay records for the subject years and his social security check was in reased to reflect that. I was just on the SS website yesterday. You can access the SS records of your earnings and SS payments in about two minutes by setting up an account. I didn't know it was so easily accessible. They mail me a copy every year or two, but it's worth verifying the numbers online once a year or so. Mine and DH's were accurate, I'm glad to say. I don't bother keeping instruction manuals anymore. It's much easier to look it up online than dig through my file cabinet. I've been able to find it within a few seconds -- even for older things. I found the manual for my 15-year old gas fireplace online very easily the other day. |
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Post by anonrefugee on Oct 15, 2015 20:19:56 GMT
That's good to know about social security. Most of the papers in question are o-l-d. From times when he moved around the country. We've lived here quite a while so bank and doctor service is continuous. We've had doctors retire but could get to records if we had to. @happymomma you nailed it about any recent papers. almost everything we do is online, but any hardcopy buildup we get is because we procrastinate reviewing it. (Not just DH problem). Saving it to look at later creates the backlog. maryannscraps good tip about instruction manuals. Fortunately, we already employee that one. During last round of cleaning I found manuals for items we no longer owned- didn't take long to break that habit and cull that file after that Thanks for input and suggestions! |
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Post by whopea on Oct 16, 2015 12:11:08 GMT
I don't bother keeping instruction manuals anymore. It's much easier to look it up online than dig through my file cabinet. I've been able to find it within a few seconds -- even for older things. I found the manual for my 15-year old gas fireplace online very easily the other day. I did the same thing with instruction manuals, but I do maintain a paper and electronic record of major purchases and household furniture inventory for insurance purposes. I videotaped each room and saved a copy to disk stored offsite. What manuals or information I kept is filed by room too. |
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breetheflea
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,918
Location: PNW
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Post by breetheflea on Oct 16, 2015 15:19:56 GMT
Except for warranty information, manuals, some receipts, and tax stuff I don't keep any paperwork once something is over/paid for the month.
Bank statements are available online
Bill information is available online
health information is available online
now the kids school papers...that is where my giant piles come from...
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Post by mrssmith on Oct 16, 2015 19:08:16 GMT
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Post by anonrefugee on Oct 18, 2015 19:03:52 GMT
To his credit, it's well organized and in files. To my credit, I've been very patient because it is well organized And destroying it (the process) will be very fast once he decides to let go. |
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Post by kellybelly77 on Oct 18, 2015 19:16:29 GMT
The peas sound way too organized!!! I keep nothing. Every statement, bill, etc is sent electronically. I haven't gotten paper bank statements in years. I do randomly get dr bills and I pay them and then stick them in the trash. I have never needed any paper work years later. I'm not sure why I would ever have occasion to need a 6 year old water bill.
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Post by freecharlie on Oct 18, 2015 19:33:36 GMT
No I feel like I need that filer thing
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