I shred my water bill and electric bill right after I pay them and I don't get any credit card or phone/internet bills any more- it's all online. I Shred my bank statements right away, too.

I have a couple of years of medical bills. Your right, I don't know why I need to keep more then the current years bills.

In Canada you are supposed to keep tax forms for 6 yrs. I keep every thing that long we had a friend audited and they had to prove their giving/donations with bank statements and cancelled checks.

I don't keep copies of bills either, unless it's something related to taxes. I print out a copy of bank statements yearly to go through for tax deductions and keep that copy with my envelope of tax return and documentation. Tax info we keep for 7 years.

I do keep investment, retirement, insurance policy/updates, etc.

tina

3 years is as far as the IRS goes back in normal audits. (Their audit FAQs say that they can go back farther if they find significant errors but usually limit it to 6. But it also says that the statute of limitations is 3 years from the latter of when it was filed or due.)

3 years for medical bills might be because one might have taken medical deductions based on them.

I generally keep the IRS related forms and receipts for 5 years - I thought they could go back 5 years but the FAQ says 3.

You need to keep records on the basis for your house (e.g. receipts for any home improvements that can be added to the basis) for as long as you own the house (plus the 3 years after that that you might be audited on income tax forms where you reported the sale.

We keep a snapshot of our accounts at the beginning of each year (in electronic form) - just so we can look back and see how that has behaved over time.

I keep all my medical bills just because it helps me remember what went wrong and when. Silly, I know.

I keep everything related home improvements and big household purchases.

Most of my bills arrive via email, so I never have any papers for credit cars, utilities, etc. Bank statements are electronic, too.

Of course I keep tax statements for income tax purposes. I have hung onto one copy of all my taxes mostly because it is interesting to look at them.

Once a year when I do my taxes, I go through my files and purge stuff. It is one of my most hated tasks.

I only keep tax related materials. Everything else is on line-even my bank statements. In fact, my bank WON'T send paper statements.

I just requested a print out of our medical bill statements and copayments made for our HSA reimbursement (I've forgotten to claim it in full some years and lose that!) so I don't keep that either.

Monthly bills are generally electronically received, and I can get copies of them on line also. Only our garbage and water provider still send an actual bill, and neither one of those is on the electronic bill pay-my bank has to send them a check, everything else is electronic.

IRS materials-3 years is max. IF fraud is suspected, there is no statute of limitations. Generally if you're claiming income that you get an IRS form for, keep those receipts. If you're making medical claims, keep those, but for the most part, most of the stuff can be retrieved on line any more.

We sold our business in 2004, and I JUST shredded the last of the boxes of records a couple months ago. What a bittersweet moment that was! I had them all in plastic tubs in my shed taking up sooo much room! I would destroy a box every year once it had passed 10 years.

First of all, I try not to receive any paper bills or use physical checks. Drives me crazy when the school wants, like a $12.50 check for a field trip or somesuch nonsense.

As for taxes, we have been audited more than once. In once case they started out looking at something 3 years old, but then they went back 4 years, too. Personally I keep 5 years now, but our tax accountant has it all electronically for as long as we have used him.

I still prefer paper bills to e-bills. We had three week-long power outages from storms in a 15 month period. Even when we had power again, Comcast wasn't back up, so I still couldn't receive or pay bills online. Mail was restored before internet service.

In some cases, some places WON'T send paper invoices or statements. We do a lot of work with PayPal, for example-and its all paperless unless we print it.

Curse of the newest technology I guess.

My credit union is entirely paperless, and my MILs bank charged her for paper statements. Really made her upset that they would not send her back her cancelled checks.