Paper files - What do you keep and for how long?

[Dave Gray]

I'm looking for a little advice/inspiration on how to manage my paper files.

I have a little file cabinet where I keep tax records year by year, as well as documents for the house, my kids, my medical history, big purchases, etc.

I was very organized at first, but as things get bigger and more time goes on, it is getting messy.

How long do you keep stuff?  Does it ever concern you?

I'll give you a weird example.  I owned a business a long time ago.  The business was closed entirely like 12 years ago, but my data is from like 2008.  Some stuff I know I don't need anymore.  But it had proof of sale and other notes that have my name attached to the business.  Just last year, I found some unclaimed money owed to the business that I had a right to, and was able to prove it.  But that is rare.

I just don't know what to keep and how long.  I bought a new A/C unit and feel like I need the receipt and warranty info, since it's such an expensive purchase.  ...my roof contract, etc.

[Spider-Dan]

Just scan it and you can keep it forever.

[Dave Gray]

I still like to have some kind of paper files for certain things.  Also, I find the concept of having to back my stuff up just as intrusive as paper files.  ...not to mention, there's some things where I need an actual piece of paper, so even if I were to digitize, I can't get rid of everything completely.

Anyway, I did this over the weekend and it was pretty easy.
I set up a file for each tax year 2020-2025
Then I have one for each member of the family for birth certificates, drivers' license copies, and immunization records and stuff.
One for pets.
One for the house and anything that belongs to it.
One for finances, which is really not much of anything.
One for my old company I owned.
One for our cars.

It's pretty minimal and the whole stack is like 5" wide, so it's not encroaching on anything.

[Dave Gray]

Small win: I needed an old file today to prove proof of address and ownership on an old asset.  I was able to immediately find what I was looking for because of the organization, but also because I purged all the useless parts.  I'm really happy about it.

[CF DolFan]

These days all we keep are like house papers, pet records, and information on things we purchase. It's a far cry form the days when we kept every receipt and bill that we had.