Just curious how other folks handle their documents.

Do you keep hard copies? If so, what do you tend to keep? For how long?

We have been keeping non-tax related documents for 3 years and tax related documents 7, but we recently got a document scanner and I've been trying to import everything electronically.

For places like banks, or Verizon, who do e-statements. do you typically download and store each one?

6/22/2018 12:42:52 PM

Quote :

"Just curious how other folks handle their documents."

Poorly.

6/22/2018 1:40:30 PM

Tax Documents - I have hard copies dating back to 2008-2009. I have electronic copies in a folder in my laptop (not the best place i'm sure).

Bank and Credit Card statements - I don't keep these. I review them online and if i need one i usually just sign in and print it.

Investment Statements - I download copies of these quarterly. But they're online too so i sometimes forget.

Mortgage information - this is new territory for me, but i have hard copies from my closing and will probably do hard copies of payment receipts and that type of stuff until things get routine.



That being said, i am probably not the most organized for this type of stuff.

6/22/2018 2:24:37 PM

Mine looks like this

6/22/2018 4:08:03 PM

Previously I barely had one. Now that I have a nice color laser printer that has a scanner with automatic duplexing I am now adding scanned document to my archive and tossing paper copies.

6/22/2018 8:06:27 PM

^^That's actually the final phase for mine. I scan -> shred -> burn. Mostly burn because shredded pieces use up too many trash bags.

6/22/2018 8:47:18 PM

Taxes - I have tax documents back to 2000. I keep hard copies of tax forms, supporting documents, and applicable pages from the various state tax instruction booklets. I also keep hard copy documentation of payments I've made.

Banking & Investment - I don't keep bank, credit card, or investment statements unless there's a specific need (e.g., taxes, to show expenses, or canceled checks to show payment). I use gnucash to track financials and typically reconcile once or twice a week.

Bills - I use twelve folders, January through December, to keep a years' worth of bills. When I pay a bill, I write payment information on the bill stub (date, amount, check number, eBill number, etc), file it based on the billing date, and shred the previous years' bill for that month.

Mortgage - We move around a lot and haven't owned our own place in about ten years. I still have closing documents from buying and selling.

Renting - I keep a copy of the lease and move-in/move-out inspections. When we move out, I keep copies of the final bills (water, electricity, trash, cable, etc.) and payment documentation to demonstrate we've closed our accounts and paid in full. I also keep copies of bills for anything we've paid for to fulfill terms of the lease (usually carpet cleaning and sometimes minor repairs).

Things that I keep electronically are backed up off-site.

6/23/2018 7:57:44 PM

I keep damn near everything. (have a full basement) I hope to god I never need to produce a specific item that I did not think was important when it was put in a bin.

My client files are required to be kept for 3 years which luckily there is a technology solution for now.

6/25/2018 9:59:40 AM

might not be what you're looking for but I keep an accordion binder with all of my product warranties, and then all of my tax documents and everything else on my computer / a flash drive.

6/25/2018 10:41:58 AM

boxes of random shit

7/17/2018 5:00:31 PM