How Long Do I Have to Keep All
this !*^@#+$% Paperwork??!!

For those who like to keep their houses and offices clean and in order, and avoid renting warehouses to store papers, the length of time you need to keep things is much shorter than most people imagine. Generally you need to keep only the current year and the three previous years which are open for audit, if you filed on time. This includes invoices, receipts, credit card statements, cash register tapes, utility bills, and the like. Technically, you can also toss bank statements, but I prefer to hang onto them a bit longer since banks change hands so often, and tracking down a cancelled check can be difficult these days. And you have to pay for them.

Exceptions: tax returns, hang onto for much longer, since there are often issues currently that can relate back to an early year. House papers, since you won't know until you sell whether or not you'd have a taxable gain, so knowing the amount of that porch addition or the landscaping will be important later on. Investments of all kinds are usually semi-permanent records, especially for retirement plans and investments. But other investments are crucial as well. You inherit 50 shares of IBM from grandpa. What was it worth when he died? Worse, suppose he gave them to you as a wedding gift? You need his records now. And anything related to legal issues, contracts, payments under contracts, payoff notices and the like are considered permanent records.

The rest? Pitch and ditch.