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As per the title really!
I have years and years of stuff and think its time for a big cull. How many years of 'regular' stuff should I keep hold of?
Why do you feel the need to keep them?
Bank statements are all online as are utility bills (except for the water meter, really should get that changed).
I shred stuff whenever I get round to it, every couple of months.
Why do you feel the need to keep them?
When I left home my mum said I should keep hold of stuff like that. Trouble is, that was in 1987... 😀
Surely you could just put all the info into a handy spreadsheet.
Think what fun you could have.
And no way did you wait until you were 30 to leave home...
Cheers Bregante! You're always there aren't you....?!
Yes. In your [s]wardrobe[/s] filing cabinet.
Utility - enough to satisfy anyone who says they need to see a utility bill. The last month for general ID stuff, but stuff like a mortgage application or rental agreement might want proof you've been paying your bills for a few months.
Bank Statements - for mortgage applications and the like you might need several years of them.
I did a remortgage a few years back and they wanted the last year. Plus being freelance they wanted my business accounts for last three years. They insisted it had to be original paper statements also.
Old bank statements can be handy if suddenly something crops up that you need to prove which happened several years ago. Credit card statements even more so if you've lost a receipt / emails etc. Not technically proof of purchase but enough to make it easier to track things down.
Got a scanner? scan them in to a file like PDF. Or you can find places that will do it for you, or use an office scanner.
p.s. Careful with relying on stuff being online. Many don't store more than a year ago, and I've already had one where I needed the past financial year (so April to April) and it had gone beyond by a few months and was missing one from basically more than a year ago, and couldn't get it.
Bank statements are all online as are utility bills (except for the water meter, really should get that changed).
Except they're not. Bank statements are usually available online for 12 months or so. Any older than that and it's £12 a copy...
It's 6 years for a business /tax. Far from all being online some banks don't let you access more than 12 months back.
I keep a bout 3 years of bank statements and utility bills. Long enough to prove purchases if receipts are missing and to spot any oddities in utilities.
3 months.
Long enough that if I need utility bills to prove my address, I'll have them handy. Otherwise everything gets shredded. All my bank statements are online, as are utility bills. Some come through as emails anyway, so that's a permanent record. I could keep them for longer and scrutinise them etc. But life's too short.
4 foot 5.
/dad joke.
Don't keep anything and most of my bills are paperless. If I need anything I can download a pdf/excel usually.
It's not 1972, we live in a digital age! 😆
I was always taught to keep them for six years.
I have never, in my life, needed a six year old water rates statement. Come to that, I have never, in my life, needed a [s]six year old[/s] water rates statement.