HOW LONG SHOULD I KEEP THIS STUFF?

[Golddollar]

I just spent the better part of yesterday and tonight going through 6 months of paid bills. When you figure that every month there is potentially a gas bill, electric bill, phone bill, internet bill, insurance bill, cable/satellite bill and a bill for each credit card, that adds up to a significant stack of paper each month. And I ended up keeping each paid bill for a period of time in case there was a dispute as to whether I paid it. Take that stack of paid pills and multiply it by 6 and it turns into a big pile of paper.

With the inquiries as to whether as a senior citizen I keep pathways clear to avoid falls, I spent the time to pull out every one of the paid bills over 3 months old. I'll probably give the shredder a good workout tomorrow.

So after all this work, I decided to tap into the collective wisdom of the Forum. Is keeping 3 months of paid bills overcautious or just right? Is keeping 2 months of paid bills an appropriate amount of protection against billing errors, or is keeping 1 month of paid bills sufficient? I don't feel confident enough to stop getting bills in the mail. I'm trying to break decades of packrattery without giving up needed documentation that I paid a bill. I don't have cancelled checks because I have diminished my Ludditeness by learning how to pay bills on line. Thanks for your help.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Golddollar, we're contemporaries, and like you, I am "old school" in most things. Except bill-paying...

Trust me on this: You can throw away every single bill once you've paid it. You don't need to keep them at all. You're paying them online, as I do, so there is a record of your account online, including statements and bills.

I'll take it one step further: You don't need to get paper bills at all. You can specify emailed delivery of every single bill you listed, and you will get a statement emailed to you every month. If you're really concerned about having a record in your possession in case there is a dispute, you can create a file in your computer for each account, and save the emailed statements as .pdf files.

I've had my finances organized this way for years, and I've never had a problem. Try it, you'll like it...

 

[wood714]

I've been paying my bills online for many years. Every time I pay one it has a receipt on the screen I can print out. I always do a screen shot of it, and keep them in a folder on my PC. Their small .jpg files and don't take up any room.

I could tell you what my bills were from 2011. Surprisingly the only one that's gone up in great multitudes over the years is my car and house insurance.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Let me echo Kevin. We keep no paper as everything is done using electrons.

 

[Breakaway500]

Unless I need it for tax filing most receipts go directly into the hopper.

 

[jeffrefrig]

My wife used to save paper paid bills for ten years. They actually came in handy when we sold our last house. Every Jan. or Feb. she would sit upstairs and destroy the 11 year old paper. She's finally joined the 21st century. But if I need last year's tax papers, she whips it out like a magician.

 

[kozmic]

My wife has a very large drawer in our kitchen island. When its full she grabs a handful from the back and shreds them. I asked her the method to her madness once. A mistake I will never make again.

 

[ladder13]

I save all my car maintenance records to hand to the new owner, personal info redacted, so he knows what he’s getting.

When I sold my C6 to Carvana with 9 years of records a few years back, they wanted nothing but the two fobs and title, not even the manual which I threw into the trunk as the rollback driver was getting ready to leave.

 

[NYlakesider]

As a card carring Luddite I save most old bills for a year. Stuff that goes in my tax records are put in a nice large envelope and saved longer.

In the beginning of February I go through the year old stuff and do a decent interpretation of Oliver Norths secretary at the shredder. (Fawn Hall)
It all fits in a one large trash bag and goes into the paper recycle bin at the transfer station.

 

[NYlakesider]

I save all my car maintenance records to hand to the new owner, personal info redacted, so he knows what he’s getting.

When I sold my C6 to Carvana with 9 years of records a few years back, they wanted nothing but the two fobs and title, not even the manual which I threw into the trunk as the rollback driver was getting ready to leave.

Great minds think alike!- Heck I could have wrote that!-

 

[375hh1973]

Everything electronic, I save zero paper

Hate clutter

 

[Dave.357]

I have a wood stove that I use to
store old paper work in. Never gets full
and may reduce heating cost.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

If it has Tax implications, like Real Estate Taxes, I print-copy it and stick it in the Tax folder.
But Water Bill, Internet Bill, etc?
Pay online and move on.

 

[dmn57]

I quit saving old bills, etc., years ago and have gone paperless for most things. I never had cause to use any of what had been saved before, and there is a record of everything somewhere. My sister and I had the opportunity to go through our dad's papers - three full desks - when the folks moved into assisted living last year. We found stuff going back 40 years, a lot of which was for businesses that were no longer in operation. It was kinda interesting for a while but ultimately it all ended up in the dumpster.

 

[Gamecock]

I keep 3 years.

 

[g-dad]

Up until a few yrs ago I had every years' worth of receipts, tax returns etc. from my first job at 16 to the present. When I asked my CPA what was necessary to keep he told me 7 yrs worth would be fine. We had rental properties and some other things going on that needed documentation if there was an audit. Now all the reasons are gone that required the papers. Life is simpler (tax wise) and what has not been converted to online payments gets shredded when paid.

I will say it was fun finding the papers for the first mortgage, car purchase etc. A lot of memories!

 

[DWalt]

Nearly all bills I get (utilities, etc,) are paid through a credit card, check, or as a direct draft from my bank checking account. Credit card and bank account statements are kept online and can be accessed at any time they may be needed. There is not much reason these days for keeping paper records unless you are one of the rare individuals who pays for everything with greenbacks, like many people did 60 years ago before there was much in the way of digital record keeping. There are a few paper records I will keep, mainly things that might have some future income tax significance such as W-2, K-1, and brokerage statements. I don't remember ever needing them.

 

[Greyman50]

Call me cautious but I copy each check written to pay basic bills and attach a copy of the invoice. Have several years worth so some will get shredded soon. Most items I buy the CU CC gets used and I write the con. number on the printed statement from CU when pay online. Statement gets filed in a folder.

 

[MRB1]

We keep everything in plastic storage boxes designated by year. If you wanted to know how much water we used in August 1996, the bill could be retrieved in less than five minutes. Those boxes go back to 1984. Storage is not a problem, so we can store data for many years with no problem. Why is another unanswered question.

 

[NFrameFred]

Let me echo Kevin. We keep no paper as everything is done using electrons.

That used to bother me as I'm still a dinosaur that has no debit card, and though I pay as many bills as possible electronically, I still use cash for everyday spending - gas, groceries, incidentals, movie tickets . . . I like to keep track of my spending like that, as I find when I'm out of cash . . . I quit spending. When it becomes too easy for me to whip out the plastic I run the danger of melting the card down if I'm not careful. Different strokes for different folks.

Have reduced my paper bills for the most part but I still refuse to sign up for "auto debit" or "auto pay" where they just take it out of my account every month. Fine if it works for you but for me, personally, that's an invitation to disaster and inadvertent thievery. As far the accounts that are just electrons going both ways, paper records are over rated since a phone call or an email can get you an emailed invoice or even a paper one should a discrepancy arise. Trouble is, by the time you realize there's a problem usually months have gone by if you ever catch it at all. As I said, the concept used to bother me but I now realize that if we wake up tomorrow and it's the world of Mad Max or The Walking Dead not only will I not have any records whatsoever, those I owe won't have any either, so there's that . . .

We keep everything in plastic storage boxes designated by year. If you wanted to know how much water we used in August 1996, the bill could be retrieved in less than five minutes. Those boxes go back to 1984. Storage is not a problem, so we can store data for many years with no problem. Why is another unanswered question.

I have a different system with the same results - I keep a printed budget sheet for each month (pre-printed sheet that just has to have the monthly info entered, and I just print 12 blanks in January for the rest of the year) going back for years. More than necessary, really, but each year only requires 12 sheets so 20 years doesn't take up much space in a file cabinet. It shows each regular monthly bill, the date due, the amount owed, the amount paid, date paid, and either the check number or the confirmation number of the electronic payment. Helps me budget, track our spending, and in the unlikely event the "ACME" Corporation decides I owe them something from 5 years ago because they can't find their records . . . I have quick access to the check number or confirmation code and it's then the bank's problem.