Trying to organize some papers that I've accumalated in the past year and half plus. Why do I keep this stuff? Should I just throw out everything?

What do you do?

I have every receipt and credit card statement and bank statement since the day we were married. It works like this. We have a small accordion file marked debit, MC, Visa etc and our receipts go into that from our wallet/purse, filed by type of payment.

The bank statement comes and I take out the accumulated and not-yet-filed debit receipts, check them against the bank statement (subdivided into type of payment), and file the bank statement together with the debit receipts in a larger accordion file.

This larger accordion file is labelled:
2008 Receipts
Jan MC
Jan bank
Feb MC
Feb bank
...
telephone
gas & electric
etc etc etc.

So for every year we are married, there's an accordion file with all the bank and credit card receipts by month, together with all the telephone and utility receipts.

It works amazing.

GAP gets its own slot in the accordion file and the GAP receipts are not filed by month.

Anything you might need for your taxes should be kept for 3 years. If something can be kept electronically too then you don't need to necessarily have it on hand, but be sure you can get a copy if you need to (like bank statements).

what about backups?
and what if you have to search for something, you go through all the papers or you have an inventory list?

I got myself a binder and a puncher, and keep all the paid bills and important papers in there. I try to file papers as soon as possible so I don't have them pilling up. (but I do anyways)

Gosh, Melech , that seems so complicated. Is it really neccesary to keep all the bills since you were married?

What type of situation would have you running to pull out a bill from March '95?

I guess I'm seeing that it is important to keep stuff....darn....

I have a big filing cabinet I save everything in. Once it gets crowded, every two years or so, I put all of the files into a box, store that in my closet and start with new files. It is very messy and probably completely unnecessary, but I save everything. Every receipt I ever used a credit card for.

Question for Melech: You don't actually use the debit feature on your bank card, do you? They charge for that. I just use my bank card as a credit card and it deducts the amount from my account, but I don't get any fees for that.

No backups. Considering I don't really need the receipt for the toilet plunger I bought in 2002 CE in the first place, I thought backups would be overkill.

If we have to search for something, my wife has a knack for knowing dates [eg. the kids' birthdays; that we had the windows cleaned in April 2007...) so it's basically a matter of looking in each month. But since 90% of how we pay for things is either MC or from the bank, it's usually just a matter of looking at the April, 2007 statements to find the item, or at most, a month ahead or back.

But basically it's an accordion file, one per year, with 31 sections, divided by month, and then things like telephone statements in the back sections.

I keep this year's accordion file and last year's accordion file together in a desk drawer. In January, the previous one gets put in the basement, the current year becomes the last year, and I start a new accordion file for the new current year.

I'm just wondering what in the three or four posts preceding this one caused you to see that.

Maybe it's not seeing anyone say 'Yeah, you should go ahead and toss all your papers' that is making me feel that way.

Oh. Don't toss your papers, LTL.

My current method is keeping the bills, bank statements and corresponding receipts. I toss the pay stubs once I get a W2 for that year. We pay some things online so no paperwork for those bills. I'm not sure why I'm keeping the gas & electric bills but I keep filing them ....
I just have 2 filling boxes with hanging folders and that works pretty well.

I like the sound of Melech's system.

OK, I spent the past couple of hours organizing my filing drawer, and seperating the different papers into different hanging folders. I still am not sure how long I'll keep everything but for now theyre at least somewhat more organize and easy to find should I ever need to.

maybe some banks do, but that's certainly not true across the board.

Is GAP that big a part of your life? I haven't walked in there in over 2 years.


I thought it's 5 years.

The way my system works is that there is one box per year for file. (Box tends to be an empty diaper box, but this year it's an empty case of wipes).
I have manilla file folders for each 'subject' and when I'm organized everything gets filed exactly where it belongs.
Examples are 'health insurance - me' or 'health insurance - husband' or 'phone' or 'BANK - checking account' or similar and all gets filed where it belongs.

It sits in a big pile on my dresser until I get around to putting it away.

At end of year, most things get put away, but the 'cash/check' file gets gone through and all expired coupons are deleted and whole file is moved over (this is never saved from one year to the next.

I've never had a bank that charged for using the debit card. They actually encourage it, in fact my bank in the US Citibank bent over backwards to try to get me to accept a keychain doohickey like a "Mobil Speedpass" (RFID) that is even more seamless than a card.

What they charge you for is a cash advance on a credit card, and more and more are allowing that as well (in the hope you will get nailed with interest later).

It used to be. Not anymore really. It's also that I couldn't figure out the receipts. There would be three receipts stapled together with returns and price adjustment and whatnot, and the original purchase could be from three months ago, with two subsequent returns and exchanges and a wack of price adjustments, and part of the payment is on credit card, and part cash, and part gift receipt, and part in store credit - it's too complicated for me, so I just shove all of the GAP receipts in its own pocket without bothering to sort by month. And when my wife has to go back and find a receipt for yet another exchange or return, all the GAP receipts are together.
But yes, GAP at least used to be a major store for clothes for us. Most of what I wear is from the GAP (Or maybe it's Banana Republic. Same thing). I even have shabbat suits from the GAP. My wife buys clothes for the kids years in advance on sale and does very well.

I've never done too well there. (not that I go too often, but enough disappointments has precluded me from returning.)

My wife tell me it's not as good as it used to be anyway.

I used to enter every transaction on Money but I stopped that when I got my Mac, so no electronic filing of expenses.

I have a filing cabinet. Each type of bill has its own folder, and bank statements have their own folder. Right now I have a huge stack going back about 6 months that I've never filed. I don't save receipts once I'm pretty sure I won't be returning it. (i.e. once the toilet plunger has been used a couple times I doubt they'd take it back.) I used to keep them but never had a good system for filing, and many receipts are printed with disappearing ink anyway so within six months they're completely faded away.

You didn't ask, but here's my system for storing kids' papers. Each kid has a folder in the filing cabinet. Before I'll toss any of their school papers I ask them if they want to toss or file. Then around Pesach time we go through that kid's file and ask them what they want to keep.

We do that too. Each kid has a folder in the filing cabinet but also a Rubbermaid container so we keep things like report cards and divrei torah and their picture in the newspaper and cards they made and etc etc etc.
My wife and I also each have Rubbermaid containers with stuff like that from when we were kids - the kids like going through it every once in a while. [Eg. my report cards when the kids have the same teacher...]


Last night we needed a receipt from September 2006 CE - something electronic broke and my wife went to the manufacturer and they said with a receipt they will replace it for free within two years.

Which raises the cosmic issue: When something comes with an instruction manual such as a phone, do you keep the receipt with the manual, or filed by date with other receipts? Do you cross reference and maybe write on the manual "purchased September 2006 CE by Mastercard from Best Buy" or photocopy the receipt and store it with other receipts and keep the photocopy with the manual? Or does one opt instead to get a life?