Organization/receipts About This Page:

[RunningPrincess]

Last night I was looking for the receipt to our TV until 1:00am. We paid a lot of money for it to be having problems with the screen! Anyway I was Going through all my credit card statements, to find out when we bought it since I couldn’t find the stupid receipt.
How long does anyone keep cc statements? My husband was getting mad because it was so late and asked why I kept them at all since everything is available on-line. He was right on that one, I found out we bought it August 2009 after we got married. I have paycheck stubs from 2005!
It’s nice that I’m organized, but starting to feel like a hoarder! Should I shred them every 6 months or every year?

[KMB733]

I only keep my Credit Card Statements for about a year. And actually I pay all of them online, and I think only one actually still sends a paper statement each month.

[JoanneS]

I have you beat. I still have credit statements from 2002. Somehow, my husband has it in his head that you need to save everything for 7 years! It's easier just to stow them in the basement than to argue about it.

[revral]

For receipts I shred them as soon as the purchase posts to my account (checking or credit card) unless it's for something like a computer/tv/dishwasher etc. than I staple it to the inside front of the owner's manual & the owner's manual goes in to a page protector (if it fits) in a notebook. For the most part I don't get paper statements/bills & for the few I do get they're shreded almost immediately since I can access all that information online.

[chezp]

I only keep ours for a year.

[Ashli]

Originally Posted by chezp

I only keep ours for a year.

(as far as credit statements/billing statements go)

For the actual receipt, if it is an expensive item with a warranty, I keep the receipt in a special file for warranties until the warranty is expired.

[RunningPrincess]

Originally Posted by revral

For receipts I shred them as soon as the purchase posts to my account (checking or credit card) unless it's for something like a computer/tv/dishwasher etc. than I staple it to the inside front of the owner's manual & the owner's manual goes in to a page protector (if it fits) in a notebook. For the most part I don't get paper statements/bills & for the few I do get they're shreded almost immediately since I can access all that information online.

EXCELLENT idea! Thanks
Found the book for the tv, but the problem is that Best Buy put the tv on sale like $200 cheaper than what we paid a week later and who knows if my husband kept the receipt when he got the adjustment.
I already told him he would be so lost if I passed away since I pay all the bills on-line and keep track of everything.

[Cam22]

We used to keep ours for a year, but we do all our payments and billing on-line now. We don't have any printed records to keep track of.

[Teresa]

Originally Posted by JoanneS

I have you beat. I still have credit statements from 2002. Somehow, my husband has it in his head that you need to save everything for 7 years! It's easier just to stow them in the basement than to argue about it.

Actually, he's right. If you itemize your taxes, you need to have 7 years worth of receipts, etc. to back up your claims if you're ever audited. And, we have stuff from since we were married (21 years +), but it's nicely organized and boxed.

[Colexis Mom]

We keep them much longer than you (DH still has paystubs from the 80s)! He's been scanning things into PDFs and then shredding the actual stub/documents. We too had credit card statements/receipts for many, many years. He actually just went thru and shredded the receipts from I think 2008 or 2007 and under (we staple the receipts to the statement (in order of course) and keep them that way)!

[Tigger71]

7 yrs for us too! However we have a yearly tax file and a file for manuals with receipts stapled in.