Have decided to have a clear-out of all the stuff I religiously file away each month, - but how much to keep, 6 months, twelve months or longer ?

What do others do with these reams of paper that come through the letter box every month ?

Most of the archive goes back well over five years and I can't remember when I last had to refer to it.

Safe disposal is the problem. We have a small shredder we use for junk mail with name and address details but i'm afraid I'll burn it out getting rid of this lot. :D

I keep P60's and payslips, the odd mortgage statement or other "important" letter. Everything else goes in the paper bin straight away just ripped-up.

I'm a bit anal about this... I keep all my last year's worth of bank statements, and 2 per year or 1 per address before that, going back about 6 years.

Not that I've ever found an actual use for doing this....

Originally posted by RichD
Not that I've ever found an actual use for doing this....

All that lot would be very handy for a burglar if they want to steal your identity too.

if you ever have to do self assessment you might require records going back for the last 6 years.

Or get a mortgage - they usually require a good year or two.

I have cancelled all of my bills and statements that I can and get them on the Internet. Good thing is that you can request paper ones whenever you want in most cases. Although with all that Internet banking I am probably having my identity stolen as I type!

Originally posted by alchresearch
Or get a mortgage - they usually require a good year or two.

The Yorskire Bank only wanted the last few months bank statements and payslips.

The law of sod states that no matter how far back you decide to keep financial records, some institution will always require you to produce one month previous to what you have!! Don't know why - but that's life!

I'm feeling a bit pessimistic today sorry! About a year is usually good and then one per year prior to that date.

Originally posted by march
I have cancelled all of my bills and statements that I can and get them on the Internet. Good thing is that you can request paper ones whenever you want in most cases. Although with all that Internet banking I am probably having my identity stolen as I type!

Yes, I have ditched paper statements in favour of viewing it all online; although I have kept statements going back to 2003.

Anything from the Inland Revenue I keep.

anything related to work/tax ought to be 1 year for mortgages etc, p60s can replace ayears salary stubs.
i save all bills until the next one arrives then bin 'em.
the only thing that lasts longer are council tax bills 'cos they're annual.

I keep things far longer than I need to I'm sure.

I should say that you ought to keep utility bills for a year so that if you have a bill which you think is excessive you can compare your consumption to the same qtr in the previous year.

I keep bank statements for a couple of years and religiously check them off each month before filing away.

I have every pay slip that I've ever earned in a file (sad but true:blush: ) They make interesting reading every now and again.

I used to work in a warehouse and so am very good at storing things away and although I know it's rather extreme I tend to keep paperwork for up to seven years. A few things that I have a warped interest in like the original sales brochure on my house and even the little tags the keys were attached too I've kept for over 25 years. If I ever did decide to have a mammoth clear out I'd probably scan most of it and save it on a disc. [It may come in useful one day!!!!]

I've kept every single bank statement ever. I don't know why, but I can't stop now :P

Well it was worse than I thought. Bank and credit card statements back to 1993, utility bills to 1991 !! :rolleyes:

Decided to have a little bonfire rather than try and shred them.