Mamas- With the holidays coming, I'm getting more and more mail and catalogs and it's quite overwhelming. I try to be good at filing away bills, etc, and wondering what you all do with your bills. I can't go paperless because I'm the type of person who needs to read a paper bill before I pay it, and I like to keep it in case I need to refer back to it. I know, everything's online now, but I just feel more secure with having my bills and paychecks and bank records handy. So I was keeping everything for 7 years, and have significantly downsized and only keep records for 3, but I'm now wondering if that's even too much. I can't keep up with the filing, and when I go to other people's houses, I don't see the massive amount of paper that I have at home (don't get me started with all the paper and homework and artwork that the kids bring home from school that I can bear to throw out.) So, what do you do? How long do you keep bills for? Is 3 years too much? Any advice would be really helpful. Thanks!
When Im on my A-game... I have a binder with tabs they all go in. It's really easy to just drop each in the slot w/ the appropriate tab.
The rest of the time, they go in a plastic tub that I hide under my laundry table. Just being honest.
We do 3 years too! 1 year for backup, 1 year for research and 1 year for good measure, just to be safe.
We have a file for each month and all the bills, corresponding receipts, records for that month go in after they are paid. We keep those files in a locked bank box on a storage shelf in the garage. Doesn't take up alot of space at all. We throw/shred everything else.
Go out and get a portable file case ($20). Buy a pack of 12 file folders ($5) and hanging folders ($5?). Label each folder by month and then throw them in the hanging folders. Now you are all set for next year!
I keep a bin in my kitchen where I keep magazines, coupons, and ads. I clean it out once a week. As for my bills that come in, I keep them in a magazine holder (plastic stand up one), until they are paid. I shred it the statements once I pay the bill. If for some reason it ever becomes where I need a bill that I have shredded, I just call up the creditor and get another copy--but, that hasn't happened often.
Have you seen that new scanner type thing that is advertised on tv? It's called "neat", I believe. It lets you scan your papers so that you don't have clutters of papers everywhere. That may be worth looking into.
I can't stand clutter and paper everywhere. We pay most of our bills online, but anything we get in the mail that has our name on it, goes into the shredder. We don't keep anything unless it's something important. Even bank statements are online now, so we have no need to keep them. I would go ahead and get rid of most of your papers
About the only things I worry about keeping on paper are my tax returns. Regular monthly bills (electricity/water/garbage/cable) I toss after a couple of months. There is really no need that I can think of to hold on to them for years. Once I know the payment has been credited, out they go.
As for school papers, after one daughter, two stepsons and now grandchildren, I am SO OVER all of the artwork, etc. I keep it for a while, but when the next thing comes home, the former is tossed and the new one put on the frig. Of course, I don't toss in front of the grandkids. And they never seem to notice that the old one is gone (if they do, they don't comment.)
I hate paper. I have trouble throwing away stuff also. I only keep the bills a year and then they go in the shredder.
My H is the bill payer and keeps piles on my dining room table.
I hate that.
I pick up the mail and put it on a folder on the fridge if I don't have time to go through it immediately. Catalogs I may want to peruse go in a basket. The junk mail, ads and unwanted catalogs go straight to the recycle bin. If we start to notice we are getting inundated with junk mail (oriental trading, I am looking at you), we call and either ask it to stop or slow it down so we don't get so much from that company. We have called our insurance company and requested that they stop sending us "information" on life insurance. That helps the clutter a great deal.
We have a mail holder we put current bills into. The envelope stands up horizontally and the bill is vertical. That way we know it has not been paid. (Sometimes hubby writes checks and wants to wait to send them, so sealed envelopes stay horizontal with the due date written on the back). Paid bills and we keep every single reciept get put in hanging file folders in a three drawer file cabinet (bought used on craigslist for next to nothing).
After taxes have been completed for the year, everything gets boxed in bankers boxes and put in the attic. After 7 years, they get shredded.
For the art stuff...I bought one of those milk crate file folders. Stuff I think I may want to keep forever I stack on top of that (it's in my closet). When the stack looks big, I go back through it. Then toss the stuff that I realize isn't really worth keeping for all eternity. Then the stuff I know I want goes in the file folder marked for that school year. Everything is in one box. Most everything fits fine. I also have framed art work in my dining room. When the kids make something interesting, we switch out pictures. That is another way we enjoy it without getting buried in it.
Anything related to your taxes needs to be kept for at least 7 years - itemized deductions i.e. property taxes, charitable contributions.
The rest of the papers can be shredded. I usually shred the unnecessay papers at the end of the year.
I have file folders for each tax year with the necessary back up.
Yes, three years is too much for regular bills. I keep my bills (I like paper copies too) for approx. a year. Most bills you rarely need to refer back to, with the exception possibly of credit card bills. But even them you probably won't have to refer back to after a year.
Keep a bin for each of your kids artwork, and date and name the stuff before you put it in.
