How long do you Keep Paid Bills

[RJB1180]

I use a binder to keep all of my bills, bank statements, pay checks, privacy statements, etc.

I was wondering how long you keep each type of bill, i.e. Mortage, utility, bank statement, CC, etc.

I move CC statements with tax deductions to the tax folder at the end of the year, but I need more room.

Also I keep my DD/paycheck in the binder.

Please help

[billybob]

I do everything online, ao as soon as i get a bill or statement, i trash it

[fultron]

Unless its something I need for tax-purposes I ditch it immediately, and most of mine are available online these days. I used to hold on to them, but they took up room and one day I realized: I never looked at this stuff, why am I keeping it?

My dad kept everything. He passed away last fall and as we sorted through some old boxes, we found utility bills dating back to 1983!

[veronak]

Any bank statements I keep for at least 5-7 Years CC statement I keep each monthly statement until the end of the year and only the last statement december's for about 2 years after that I trash. Now my paystubs I keep seems like forever I have my very first pay stub from 1989 lol my monthly billshone, light etc I trash at the end of the year

[JoyJoy]

Paid in full bills I keep always or atleast until the three credit reporting bureaus have the correct information listed. Case in point, we paid off our Sears bill in December, 2005. TransUnion had my husband as owing $427.00 earlier this month. He wrote Transunion a letter and enclosed a copy of the paid Sears bill. Today hubby received a corrected credit report from Transunion showing Sears paid in full.

I keep all income tax papers for 7 years. All information regarding remodeling, property taxes and pertinent house information like papers from the closing forever! One has to file papers with the IRS as to profit or loss after selling their home.

[sweeps]

I keep tax-related stuff forever.

Receipts, bills, etc. I keep for at least 3 years. Especially bank statements. Even though I do my banking online, I like to have hard copy documentation. Otherwise the bank could easily remove $1,000 from your account and what proof would you have that they had done it?

[contrary1]

I don't think I've thrown any away. Thank goodness.

I just turned what was my primary residence into a rental in 05, the tax accountant asked me in March, for documentation and amounts of all improvements to the new rental, since purchase in 89. I had everything. Took awhile to gather it up, since I didn't file it like it was a rental, I had just kept the individual projects I had worked on. ie; roof, new windows, etc.

I've got room, so I keep everything. The records have saved me money many times.

[cicy33]

I also keep everything for at least 5 years if not longer. I have also in the past had to dig something up that was more than a year old.

[neatdesign]

I've never been good about keeping paperwork, mostly because I don't see the point in it if I never look at it. However, for the past three years my husband and I have been going through the US immigration process and they require proof of a co-mingled life, such as joint utility bills, loans, bank statements, etc. So I try to hang on to some of them for that purpose. Next year when he applies for US citizenship will be the last time I have to deal with this sort of paperwork -- I'm really looking forward to it!

[debtdude]

We keep back for one year and that helps with budget averaging. Important loan final payment receipts, those we keep forever. For the most part, bills are kept annually.

[abowers]

I've also switched to Ebills for most thing, so I don't have any bills saved right now. The only paperwork I have is tax stuff since like 1999 (when I started working); my new car paperwork, my student loan paperwork, etc.

Monthly bills were taking up way too much space in my "important papers" box.

[wwjdmsl]

usually 3 years but tax and tax related stuff 7 years

[flash]

monthly bills, through the calendar year

tax stuff, 7 years

[boefixepa]

After keeping everything for years and never needing it....I shreeded all monthly bills. It was taking up too much space and time to organize it. I switched everything I could to e-bills and I keep only things for the house and taxes! Much less paper floating around now! I feel less cluttered and that stack of mail isn't screaming at me to be filed!