Records related to income and deductions on tax returns - 6 years from when the relevant returns are filed. For assets acquired or improved (like a house), keep such records until 6 years after a return is filed in which such assets are sold or otherwise disposed of. Reasonable estimates can be used in the absence of records. In the absence of fraud.

General household records - no reason to keep at all

Medical records - ask your docs. After not too many years old records really can't be that useful, other than things like inoculation records. .

I think my hub by has every bill we have ever had. I will have to admit it came in handy one time but so many boxes, He has the bills from when our son's were born 54 years ago. 1 49,00 total for 3 days in hospital and nursery.

For medical records, I would keep those that are not negative....so if a mamo came back with you're ok, no need to keep other than the latest so you know when you last went. I'd keep the latest on vaccinations, but no need to know that you had a tetanus shot in 1995. I'd not bother keeping records on things that were minor such as stitches for a cut thumb or a stomach flu. I'd definitely keep records on surgeries and medications that you took, and especially those that caused issues for you.

Ten years would be more than adequate on bank records or anything associated with your income taxes. However, keep financial records if you need to determine the cost basis on any stocks you bought a long time ago that you still own. We had a heck of a time with calculating cost basis for DRIPs...dividend reinvestment programs where the dividends would be used to purchase more stock on an on-going basis....had one stock DRIP for over 20 years. Not fun.

However, house-related info I'd keep for tax purposes...not maintenance, but anything to do with upgrades to the house, remodels, additions, as they can be added to your cost basis and lower your taxes when you sell, whenever that is.

Utility bills, we tend to keep at least a year's worth just for comparison with prior year if we want to, but they can go. The phone company isn't going to come back to you and say you never paid your bill in June 2018.

If you have a My Chart set-up with your Health Provider, just keep a copy of

that going All your test results, meds, health concerns,vaccinations, etc., etc., are on that...no

need to keep extra records of that. If you have personal correspondence

with your Dr., etc. keep if you feel the need. After the current tax year and you

have used receipts for health issues, insurance, etc., just keep those with your

tax return copy files until the time you can destroy them. My brother had duplicates of all kinds of nonsense. What a mess.

My parents saved sooooo much paper. I did find the hospital bill from Mom’s 5-day stay in the hospital when I was born. $134. So that was fun.

Less fun is the employee records from the family business. While it is interesting to see that injury records included the person‘s nationality, it all now has to be shredded. Also, the yearly financial records. Business started in about 1890. The business was sold and sold again in the past 35 years, so I’m pretty sure they can be shredded.

I have been purging paperwork lately. I worry that maybe I am tossing something I will need some day, but I doubt it. Now I get as many statements as I can electronically. What a burden lifted! I keep all records having to do with home improvements and even some purchases. I was glad to have the receipt for a faucet I bought ten years ago when the one in my tub failed. I sent a copy of the receipt to the manufacturer and they sent a new one, free.

I hang onto medical records. Sometimes they are helpful, but mostly not.mThere all,in one folder which can be picked up and tossed when I get my final medical record.

My mother has so much paperwork saved I’m surprised the house has not collapsed into the basement. Sad thing is, if there is something of hers I may need some day, I will never be able to find it.

Make a spreadsheet of your vaccines then you can destroy the paper copies.

Most necessary paperwork can be scanned or downloaded and the hard copies destroyed.

Things to keep hard copies of include birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, social security cards - anything that government offices require the originals.

And that’s the exact thing. Unless all these papers are filed in a way that they can actually be found, they are useless.

However, there could be entertainment value, as Bpath mentions with her hospital bill.

My DH is very organized with his filing system and has shared some fun stiff, like a re riot for a car from 50 years ago. That said, everything is in a file and in a file drawer and can be found.

As we switch over more and more to paperless, he has been tossing.

Having recently switched doctors and discovering the doctor's office no longer sent records to other doctors but use a charge service to do this having kept the lab reports for a number of years saved me the base $150 plus cost per page. No amount was given for the cost per page. Taking them with me allowed my new doctor to review without waiting. While normally I would agree about tossing the negative reports for routine things like mamo's if you have a special test such as my catherization and you actually have a report not just a letter stating things were normal you need to keep it. Although if I had kept the letter I would know when it happened.

Over on the Buying and Selling group it is often suggested that people keep information on things like when a roof was added or a sewer line replaced to provide when a house/condo is sold. Buyers do like to know rather than just a guess when things were upgraded.

I've gone paperless for most things, like banking and payment of utilities. I haven't seen a paper credit card bill or bank statement in years. Property tax records I keep for the current and previous year. I keep invoices for warranties in a box, and shred them as the warranty expires. Tax returns and documents have to be kept for 7 years here, so that's another box.

I do keep some medical records, probably more than I need. All the X-rays, CT scans and MRIs I've had in recent years are available on line to medical professionals so my GP, orthopaedic surgeon, neurosurgeon,physio, etc all have access. I have my old international vaccination certificates from years gone by, but the vaccinations I've had in the last few years (flu, shingles, pneumonia, booster DTaP) are also on line so no paper records of those. I get the lab that does the annual blood tests to send me a copy and keep those (not sure why I do that).

Obviously, things like birth and marriage certificates, passports and house deeds need to be retained, as does my paper copy of car registration. I don't have paper copies of car, home or medical, insurance: that5 all on line as well.

I agree with the above advice. I did a purge years ago and it felt great. I have a handle once policy for the mail. I never want to be in a paper hoarder situation like my late FIL.

I did download all DH's and my recent test results and lists of medications and saved the file on flash drive. I take it with me when we travel, just in case. I could access them online, of course, at any time if I would have the presence of mind during a health crisis far from home. DH would have no clue as to how to find those records online.

Mine findings on this topic is not every thing you read pertains to everyone,it seems to vary,I once called the IRS hoping to find out how long to save records,invoices etc when your self employeed,and have cattle as well,and I never did get a straight answer,so I guess your on your own,also everyone's situation is different and personal to their ownself so sure keep everything you want to,once you get rid of papers sure enough you will need them,the more properties you own the more documents you own,I would never go with 6 yrs and then destroy them.

No, you're not on your own. Record retention requirements tie in to statutes of limitations as prescribed in the law. Documents needed to determine proper amounts for income and deductions must be retained for as long as any remains individually relevant for that purpose for any item. Federal and state statutes are different and so record retention rules for each usually differ too.

Most of the time when calling general federal or state individual taxpayer assistance phone numbers, the person on the other end of the phone is little more than a phone call center worker. They have a short menu of things they can say and do and giving tax advice or guidance is usually not on those lists. The IRS publishes a number of helpful booklets that are available online.

Many may have heard the old adage that "any person who acts as their own lawyer in court has a fool for a client". The same is true for tax matters, someone lacking proper training and background is not likely to find their way to correct answers when doing tax research on their own. Those with important tax-related questions or with issues involving more than a small amount of money should pay for professional advice.

I’m surprised at the number of people who keep old bills.

Unless they are needed for tax purposes, I shred mine as soon as I pay them.