How many years should we keep paperwork?work

socks_uk

I'm not a hoarder as such but, how long do you all keep historic paperwork for bills, old cars, house repairs, etc.
I'm not talking about legal paperwork such as insurance, house purchase & solicitors and current documents.  I'm talking more about previous gas and electricity companies, Virgin media,  and insurance documents for previous cars.  I've got all the household bills going back to moving here in 2006.
Thankfully most things now are online and I download them onto my computer for my husband to have access to, should anything happen to me and he has to sort things out.
Any thoughts anyone?

kazwookie

I would keep 2 years, and shred the rest, as you say it is all online, just list out the companies and your account number etc and keep it in a safe place where your husband knows where it is.

Nathalia

I asked our finance officer this before I retired from teaching and she said six years for everything, unless it was online.

Floss

I shred insurance documents once I have the renewed / new policy, ever since my ex-husband tried to claim on an expired policy because it was the first one he found.

Paper or online household bills such as gas, electricity, broadband are kept for as long as I am with the company, water rates & council tax I keep online as that's how they come.

PollyWollyDoodle

Ask yourself these questions:  what would I use it for?

Did I know this was here?

Would I be able to find this if I wanted it?

Obviously some things (receipts, proof of purchase, anything that might impact on tax) needs to be kept, as you've already identified.

Most things are only useful to show yourself how much prices have gone up ... if you're really not sure whether to keep something then scan it and destroy the original.  I speak as someone who had instruction booklets for things I no longer own, receipts for electrical goods that went to the tip long ago.  I went from a two-drawer filing cabinet to a couple of ring-binders, I have a pocket for each item (cats, car, travel insurance, etc) and go through the polythene pockets every year and chuck out anything that's expired.  It's liberating!

-taff

seven years for tax, three for pay slips, chuck when you leave the company except for the last bill to check, insurance as soon as you don't own the car and have dvla confirmation it's gone or sold, credit cards three years or two or one, receipts for electrical stuff until it breaks or you get rid of it. I keep bills from any company we're with or stay with but more than three years gets binned regardless. Council tax for two years just for id purposes. No bank statement gone paperless for the rest of everything including pb's.