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Filing papers and bills- what do you keep?

I was lurking over on the cleaning board and someone asked a question about filing. Which got me thinking....

What pieces of mail/bills/paper do you keep & file?

I feel like I keep way too much of it. And I HATE filing, so it just piles up and about twice a year I go through it and file it.

I keep anything my insurance companies ever send me because I feel like they're always trying to cheat me (even though they never have). I keep ALL of our bills, with the date I paid them and check number written on them (some of them I pay online but because I live in a small town most of our utilities have to be paid by check...they charge extra to do it online. BOO). I keep all of my receipts from medical/dental visits. I keep all of my statements from my student loans, even though I can view them online. I keep the receipts from the kittie's vet visits. I keep assorted receipts for large or expensive items. I keep all the receipts for any vehicle maintenence. And I keep anything that has to do with taxes or the house.

I feel like I'm drowning in paper and that I really don't need to keep all this crap on hand. What do I need to keep and what do I need to toss and not bother with?

Re: Filing papers and bills- what do you keep?

  • I keep everything you do EXCEPT I only keep one month of bills. When the statement comes for the new month (showing it was paid the previous month) I toss the old ones. I don't keep any medical/dental stuff. Depending on what was purchased, I may hang onto big ticket receipts for a few months and then toss it. Exception would be appliances or anything with a warranty.
  • imageFutureMrs.McC:
    I keep everything you do EXCEPT I only keep one month of bills. When the statement comes for the new month (showing it was paid the previous month) I toss the old ones. I don't keep any medical/dental stuff. Depending on what was purchased, I may hang onto big ticket receipts for a few months and then toss it. Exception would be appliances or anything with a warranty.

    This.  We only keep the current month's bills until we receive the new ones.  Additionally, a lot of bills I get sent directly online to my bank so many bills I never even have a hard copy of.  I keep the books for large purchases and recently, I keep all of the instructions books for all of the baby crap we got this past year.  My husband hates "clutter" so he throws nearly everything out.  We have files that we keep our taxes and insurance policies in.

  • I am SO bad with this.  I keep everything and I mean everything.  My file cabinet at home is organized by company/bill/account, etc.  It goes back to when I started living in my first apartment and had to pay my own bills in 2004.  I even have folders in my email for any electronic bills/payments I process and save all those. 

    Yeesh, I sound like a hoarder!!

  • I do paperless for every single bill I have therefor, I keep nothing.  It's all on my computer.  And if my computer crashes it's all on the websites, you just have to click "View Past Statements" or whatever to see what you need to see.  MUCH easier than filing!

    I also don't keep receipts.  Anything purchased for my business is either done online where I can keep the statements in my email or scanned into my computer and then destroyed.

  • We keep everything on our cars, motorcycles and cars. Then insurance, big purchase receipts, everything for Kylie, taxes, work stubs. If I had anything else with debt, I would file that too.

    I don't really keep things for bills b/c I get billed through e-mail and/or have the automatic withdrawal and/or pay online.

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  • imagenataliejp519:

    I am SO bad with this.  I keep everything and I mean everything.  My file cabinet at home is organized by company/bill/account, etc.  It goes back to when I started living in my first apartment and had to pay my own bills in 2004.  I even have folders in my email for any electronic bills/payments I process and save all those. 

    Yeesh, I sound like a hoarder!!

     

    I was like this too! DH made me go through everything earlier this year and we found paystubs from my very first job when I was 15! Embarrassed 

    Anniversary
  • Excellent article in the NYT about this. Check it out here.
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