Keeping records

[b5blue]

  Record keeping, what to keep and how long to keep it. I just shredded 30 years of assorted records. Last year I filtered through/disposed of 12 shoe boxes of receipts from 16 years of raising my kids AKA single Dad so this year was pay stubs, checking, taxes and divorce documents. 
  With the kids all up/out and running well it was time to clear out the "never know what you'll need" files. Boy was that a trip! Finding piles of sales slips from when I first bought my 70 Charger 20 years ago I hesitated at first then decided it all had to go, just a few things like first registration saved.
  What records do you keep and for how long?  (Now that I'm starting fresh!  )   

[polywideblock]

 I for one would never get rid of divorce docs  , what if you need a reminder somewhere down the road   
                                         
                                                                              once was enough

              that's life history the "little head " forgets awful quick        some mates going on 3rd or 4th divorce 

[b5blue]

I saved the "original" and my last partition to the court for Indirect Criminal Contempt. 

[myk]

Scan it all and save it to a computer.  This way you have your cake and it eat as well...

[Lennard]

I for one would never get rid of divorce docs  , what if you need a reminder somewhere down the road  
                                         
                                                                             once was enough

             that's life history the "little head " forgets awful quick       some mates going on 3rd or 4th divorce  

Fool me ones...shame on you. Fool me twice... shame on me!

[cavemanno1]

So if you got divorced once you would never get married again?It's like saying i got screwed over buying this charger and i won't buy an other one again!
There is nothing wrong with the institution of marriage just people can't tolerate each other and no respect for anyone!.You have chosen the wrong partner that is all if you get divorced!Fu.k me marriage is hard just because people make it hard!


Sorry for the highjack Neal!

[b5blue]

  Not a highjack at all Pete!    I'm questioning the reasons for "what" to keep. Yesterday's "file purge" started as a normal yearly thing I do but went much deeper. Certain paper work is still very valuable, upon reasserting my claim to the Dept. of Revenue that the ex owes 33,079.57 in child support I found "they showed she owed less than 25.00". After producing countless documents from them marked "Save for your records" and a fresh "Florida Affidavit of Arrears" (Gotten one hour before my visit.) they got busy. (So yea, divorce issues can linger.)
  The purge continues with all aspects, not just files. I'll be doing a remodel here soon so to be ready for demo every thing has gotta go somewhere. 

[AKcharger]

Scan then shread...a lot of work but worth it...then save to 2 hard drives stored separately

[c00nhunterjoe]

I keep paper copies for 7 years, have everything scanned and stored on an external harddrive, and a thumbdrive as a 2nd backup

[b5blue]

I finished compressing, I have a 2-3" thick set of files fitted into a zippered case. A few years of taxes, divorce related stuff, titles and such.  Now I've got one 4' and two  2' high empty file cabinets to dispose of.  Next will be hundreds of assorted nuts, bolts, screws and what not. 

[RallyeMike]

Other than tax returns, car maintenance files, and warranties (which I keep forever), I just use a chrono-file which is limited by allotted space. As long as the file space allows, I just keep everything and file it by chronological order. When the drawer is full, a handful of the oldest stuff get tossed to make space for the new stuff.

I spend almost no time organizing papers and I can always find things by date order. The space you allow can be matched with how far back you are comfortable saving things.  Its a system that would drive a bean-counter crazy ("My god! You can't mix the credit card bills with the mortgage statements!!!"), but its simple and it works.