Which personal documentation should you keep ?

mrsfawlty

Hello all, I am having a regular downsize on my paper mountain, and now I am wondering if I can get rid of more.
I know I need to keep all my P60's (and other inland revenue letters)
I have kept all my bank and credit card statements for the last five years.
I am keeping my council tax bills.
I keep a note of the different household insurers that I have had, life insurance etc
Do I need to keep anything else?
I feel the above can prove address history etc, so it wouldn't be neccessary to keep other utility bills would it ? Could I be asked for anything else at a later date?
Any advice gratefully received because I just want to dump more !!!

BWZN93

I only keep Bank/Student Loan statements, Utility bills for 6 months only then they get slung out (after being shredded of course!) and anything that may need to be referred to at a later date, e.g Insurance Docs and T&C's, Warranties, and reciepts for important things.

I get rid of all misc letters as soon as they hit the doormat, although, if it might be needed later, I keep it for 6 months.

I have a box file, and it has separate sections for all individual areas, e.g reciepts, Insurance, car stuff, bank stuff, loan stuff, education and certificates, and then have 12 sections for each month, I have a filing day once a month, and go through the 6 month previous section, and sling anything that turned out to be irrelevant.

Although, of course, if you have a scanner, you could always make copies of anything you think mght be important, e.g stuff with reference numbers on, sling the original, and have a file on the PC incase it turns out you DO need it.....


HTH

Jo xx

mrsfawlty

Thankyou - mostly the same as me and confirming I don't need all those utility bills !!!

scml

Wow, can u believe it never crossed my mind to scan, my office is a nightmare for paperwork but scan, shred and its done.
Brilliant, thanks

Squidgy

I only put away all me paperwork occasionally, I try and do it before theres loads as I can't stand sitting on the floor all day with piles of paper all round!

I use a concertina file for everything, and apart from important documents usually only keep three to six months of everything else. You can always get copy statements if you need them so I'm not too worried about them, as long as I've enough for anything I need to apply for!

sneekymum

I'd recommend keeping all bank statements and cheque stubs FOREVER.

Sling them in the loft.

Only last week I had to read through fifteen years worth of Mother's statements until I found the name of that pension policy she used to contribute to and then forgot all about...

Some people will wish they had this information in the event of divorce or separation when it may be important to prove that contributions were made to the mortgage - or that extension/conservatory was paid for.

In any case - It will be interesting reading one day.

catsonic

anyone else do what i do?? decide to go though the paperwork that is in a bin liner and has been for the last year.

Put all this years stuff in a pile like morgage statements and house insureance documents in one pile and all the rubbish in another pile.

Sounds fine dosnt it? Pick up the pile of rubbish and put it in the bin put the bin out the next day for collection. All the rubbish gone.

Put the important stuff on the side for sorting another day.

3 days later the cooker door brakes and i need to find the house insurance document. Its ok its in the pile of important documents! I know i saw it there.

Go to the important document pile... erm why have i got old envolopes and old gas bills in this pile? i chucked all them out!! i hunt though the pile of important documents errrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmm id only gone and chucked out all the important stuff in the bin!!!!

erm i dont think hubby will let me do that again!!