The EOB (Explanation of Benefits) forms and pay stubs I keep for at least 7 years. Old habits die hard, I guess.

I weed out the EOBs every year. If I had kept all of DH's for 7 years, I'd be buried in them :-0 I figure if they haven't asked for $$ after a year, we are OK. Our secondary EOB's are online, if I ever need to have one.

No more paystubs for me, but keep all of DH's retirement ones, as they are future annuity-related. W-2 and all tax-related year-end stuff is kept with each year's tax return. The monthly stuff is shredded once we have all that.

I've been through 4 plant closures. I kept ALL the pay stubs from ALL those places and when I applied for a job they said they could not confirm a past employer of mine. SOooooo I brought in an old check stub. :0) 26 years ago....

A year.....same with monthly bills.

Wow. I don't keep anything. Once paid it is tossed (unless it is tax deductible, and that is rare). I don't even receive a pay stub, we are all electronic.

We're electronic, too, so what I'm calling a "stub" is actually a notification that money has been deposited in my account.

I keep paid bills for years, and have had many occasions where I needed to look up something. But I never look at the pay statements. (Maybe I should!)

I am almost embarrassed to admit I found paystubs in my desk drawer from 1983. All nicely stuffed in an envelope! I was 17 that year. I have two banker boxes in my garage of "stuff". They span about 10 years or more. I really should just shred it and be done with it.

Trish

My dad has every bill, credit card, receipt, and pay stub since my parents got married in 1971. We have always picked on him but he still hangs on to all the nicely inventoried boxes.

When he retired in 1999, the GA Teacher Retirement System could not pull up their old system showing he had worked for another university in the 1970's. They basically told him that since they didn't have a record then he couldn't claim the time. He asked if his "severance letter" would serve as proof, they said yes, if you still had it. He promptly went home and pulled it out of the box and took it back up there... got his extra vacation/sick time he lost when he left that original position and happily retired.

After moving 6 times in 10 years (only moved 4 times in the first 27 years of my life!), I made drastic cuts in the amount of paper I keep. I now scan tax forms and W2s into the computer. Bill are shredded after I get the next one. Mortgage, car payments, paystubs, and credit card paperwork are all electronic- I download them into the computer and save another copy on a CD. Home purchase papers are scanned in and kept electronically... AFTER we no longer have the house, I shred the paper copy. Insurance papers are scanned in or an electronic copy is downloaded.

Any other important papers are scanned and kept electronically.

I don't keep any of it. With most bills (mortgage, utilities, etc.), my billing history for the life of the account can be found online. With anything else, or for anything I think it important, I scan the item and attach it to the corresponding Quicken entry.

I love the digital age.:)

From Suze Orman, a list of "Things to Keep"

Here is a link that might be useful: Things to Keep