How many file drawers of papers do you have?

I try to eliminate that whenever possible. I have one and it gets emptied and sorted when it gets full. Anything real important goes to a small file cabinet. The rest goes into a box to use as fire starter.

You only need tax stuff for 7 years.

When you do purge your files, either buy a strong (non-home-use) shredder or have a shredding company come to your house – the shredder is in the back of their truck.

Zero. Anything critical is scanned and electronically filed. I made this shift many years ago.
Comes in handy when you are at the DMV and they ask for a specific document and I can pull it up on my phone and email or fa it to them right from my phone.

Well, I have one file drawer, most of which is probably unnecessary, and there because I don’t want to take the effort to go through it.

Then I have various sprawling messes of %$#@ bill and advertising correspondence and receipts and so on, that I haven’t gotten around to processing.

The two above are the papers I hate. The papers below i actually like:

I have various papers that are notes on projects I’m working on, and quite a few boxes and binders of papers of past projects.

And I have old letters and so on.

Oh, and a box of manuals.

I had my last job for over 25 years and I had personal files at work, which was very convenient. I kept medical records, tax records, personal correspondence, etc. in addition to work correspondence and work paperwork. When I received a personal check, for example for a medical reimbursement or reimbursement for mileage or other expense, I’d make a copy of the check and attach it to the paperwork. Also in these files I’d keep greeting cards and other ephemera that I thought was cute or worthy of keeping. Also in these files I had my daughter’s school paperwork, like copies of form I’d filled out, report cards, etc. Also in these files were magazine articles that I printed on the printer at work, color copies of things that I might like to use for decoupage – all kinds of stuff.

When I left work a few months ago and brought it all home, I did a quick run through of the files and got rid of a lot. I still have a lot that could use more purging. As far as paperwork itself, a few file drawers. As far as other stuff like cards and photos – they’re in boxes and drawers in the house so it’s hard to say.

When I left the job, I got rid of a ton of stuff. Right now I don’t need all the check copies for medical reimbursements. I kept those copies in case there was any discrepancy about what was owed, and I know it’s on the insurance company website but I just liked being able to look at the invoice and be able to know right away that I had received the check (or not received it).

@JLeslie: As for business records that you are keeping for tax purposes, your CPA can tell you or you might google Florida laws. Anything older than what you need, you can get rid of.

I’ve got 2 four drawer file cabinets in my office that are fairly full. Plus Ive got a storage unit that is fairly full of all the business tax records. I went through a sales tax audit a few years back and the auditors used virtually all these files. I came out fairly clean but they audited six years of taxes. Kinda scared me so now I keep everything. If I hadn’t sold the business, I’d be looking for another storage locker. In other words I have lots and lots of files, just in case. I’d sure like to get rid of some of them but I’m currently going through a dispute with the IRS and need to protect myself. It’s comforting to know you’re in the right but you still need to be able to prove it. The IRS is not a very forgiving agency.

I no longer have any file drawers. Eventually, when I get my place, again I will. I do have a number of written things that need to be put away properly.

We have lots. But transfer to boxes after about a year. Our retention policy is 5 years, so boxes don’t pile up too much.

How far back would you keep bank statements, house and car insurance policy and bills, utility bills, and credit card bills? Some of these things I don’t get in the mail anymore, it’s online, but I still have some of it through the mail. I don’t want to scan everything going back a few years. What should I keep?

@Jaxk Ok, you win the who has the most files games. You also reinforce why I need to keep some of these files. I’m dealing with the IRS for my boss, and all the info I needed was in our online QuickBooks and bank statements, but if she had closed the business already it would have been a pain to figure out the problem the IRS is bothering us with. I probably should be printing more, or saving more into online files.

I figure I might be able to get rid of two file drawers worth of files right now, but the rest I’m probably stuck with for now.

@JLeslie: It sounds like you kee a lot of papers. I keep zero bank statements, zero house and car insurance paperwork unless it’s specific to a claim, zero utility bills and zero credit card bills. It’s all online anyway so why keep it? If you need something specific, you just go to your account and print it up.

@jca2 I don’t have any utility bills coming to the house anymore, so I just need to get rid of old files on that. I do have insurance paperwork and bills that I think I should throw out. Maybe I’ll keep the current year if my husband insists.

I have a file drawer full of medical. It’s actually slightly over one drawer. Some of it is lab information and charts that I will not ever throw out, but some is insurance stuff I can trash. I probably should scan some of the medical even if I keep the paper too.

I’m going to work on throwing out files next week. I did get rid of two files drawers worth a year ago, and I switched some billing to no statement autopay, but I want to do more.

@JLeslie: I have my labwork results printed and in the files, and this reminds me I can and should throw it out. What is the purpose of keeping old lab results from ten years ago? Most recently this is all online, too, in the doctor’s portal, but still, even without that, I am thinking there’s no reason why I would need to look at vitamin levels and TSH from ten years ago.

@JLeslie – I have a lot of files I probably don’t need anymore more but here’s the problem. I sold my business in 2019. One week after I filed my taxes for that year, my accountant had a heart attack and died. I got a notice from the IRS 3 weeks ago that they want $25K in in back tax for the year 2019. Needless to say, with the sale of the business, my taxes were complicated and and my tax liability was huge. With my accountant dead, I am stuck with fending for myself without sufficient knowledge to handle the task. Things like depreciation go all the way back to the day I bought the business. So what will I need to fend off the IRS? There are several other things that went wrong but I won’t bore you with those details. I simply can’t trust that others will have the records I need to handle IRS, State, or Sales Tax audits. Hell, I still pay monthly for the on-line Quickbooks even though I no longer use it, just so I have access to those records.

IRS only goes back 7 years, unless they are looking for outright fraud.

@RocketGuy – That’s all well and good but the basis for those tax returns may well go back much further. For instance profit on a house uses the purchase price which means closing documents when purchased. My last house I lived in almost thirty years. Stocks work much the same in that you need to show the purchase price which may have been many years prior. It gets complicated.

Yeah, those are the docs I am keeping “forever”. Banks and credit card statements get 5 years. Utilities and receipts get 1 year.

I throw away virtually everything after scanning. The scans are backed up to a home network disk and two cloud services. I have a file folder for the few originals I care about like birth certificates and auto titles.

@Jaxk That is a nightmare.

@jca2 Some labs are forever like some genetic testing I had done for clotting factors would be an example. CD of my mammogram, of my heart scan, and some others.

I do use Quest labs online and it’s great, graphs out two years of test results for a test. It’s a huge help. I print it every so often and write in what drug I was taking or an explanation for why I had low, normal, or high numbers. Just for things like my cholesterol, and my kidney function, not for every test that was run. Two hard to remember it all and doctors don’t chart well. They often dismiss things patients say.

I probably could get rid of some of the documents, but I’ve been through a very bad time with medical care and it stresses me just even thinking about throwing away proof I’m not crazy or making things up.