Document Purging And How Long To Keep Your ‘Important’ Papers

Utility, cable, and phone bills can add to the clutter in your home, but this is completely unnecessary.

According to Consumerist.com, "Once you know the bill is correct, toss it."

The only exception for this is if you deduct these bills for tax purposes, in which case you need to hang onto them for as long as your tax returns.

ATM receipts can be particularly annoying since they are so small, and hard to keep track of.

Fortunately, you don't need them for longer than a month.

Suze Orman writes, "When you balance your checkbook each month, throw out the ATM receipts."

You don't need to hang onto your credit card or bank statements for very long at all.

According to Bank of America, "Keep either a digital or hard copy of the past year's worth of your monthly bank and credit card statements."

After that, you should be in the clear to shred and toss them.

Pay stubs also fall into the category of "one year or less."

Suze Orman says, "You can get rid of [pay stubs] once you have compared to your W-2 and annual social security statement."

Just make sure to shred them before disposing of them.

Medical bills are one thing you may want to hold onto a little bit longer, according to Suze Orman.

While some financial experts may say you don't need them, they may be useful for tax purposes, and can be helpful if you have any problems with your insurance company.

Many tax experts will say that you should hold onto old tax returns for seven years.

However, according to the IRS, you should "keep records for three years."

There are a number of exceptions, though, like if you filed a fraudulent return or did not file a return. You should check with the IRS website to make sure none of these exceptions apply to you.

But, of course, there are some documents that you should absolutely never get rid of, such as life insurance policies.

According to Consumerist.com, "Keep your life, disability, or long-term care policies as long as they're in force."

A marriage certificate is one of those documents that can be a huge hassle to replace, so make sure to keep it in a very safe place.

According to ConsumerReports.org, marriage licenses are one document that "should be kept indefinitely."

Like marriage certificates, birth and death certificates can be very difficult to replace and should be safeguarded.

Suze Orman recommends hanging onto each of these important documents for good.

Anything dealing with "end of life" issues should be kept permanently and should be stored in a safe place, likely with copies given to your attorney.

Consumerist.com writes that you should keep "wills, powers of attorney, and health care proxies."

And then, of course, you should always hang onto your passport and your social security card.

To ensure that nothing happens to these all-important documents, ConsumerReports.org says to "invest in a safe-deposit box" or "use a fireproof safe."

Knowing which documents to keep and which to throw away can finally mean an end to the paper clutter in your home!

Do you constantly find yourself drowning in paper? Which documents will you be tossing right away? Let us know in the comments.

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