More than a year ago, I wrote a post about 10 ways to get rid of excess paper in your life. Although I have gotten rid of something like 30 inches of paper in that time (from magazines to useless paperwork that was laying around, but not including all of the random free newspapers or other junk mail items that we receive every week) I have still yet to tackle the filing cabinet which I know is just full of junk that we no longer need. But believe me, it is one of my next projects to be completed in our upcoming move to Berlin. Because the last thing we need is to move more paper. And now that we’re nearly finished with all the small projects we had planned to complete to make the house really sparkle and shine, I can get on to these sorts of projects again.

Where I Went Wrong

A few years ago (I want to say about two but I fear it was probably more like 4 when I was “nesting” and awaiting the arrival of Mackenzie), I began to run out of room in our filing cabinet. Instead of running out and buying a new one (which would have been impossible here in Germany anyway since most people use 2-ring binders instead), I sorted through everything and packed up a bunch of stuff into two boxes. They were things which I thought were important at the time; but we came across them about two weeks ago while cleaning out the attic and I had to ask myself why I saved some of the things.

For example, old credit card statements. Really – what was I thinking there? Even 4 years ago, one could call up their credit card company and requests old statements – in the off chance that you actually needed them. As far as keeping them as proof of payment, in most cases, as soon as the payment has hit your account and been processed, you don’t need to worry about keeping the statements anymore. You might want to keep the last 6 months or even 12 months of statements for tax purposes – but anything further back than that is just taking up space.

I also saved things like old articles of incorporation for Stefan’s first company – which hasn’t been open or current since I met him 12 years ago. So clearly, those were vital to keep.

Basically, I didn’t have a clear game plan of what I needed to keep handy and what I could part with. I also kept a bunch of stuff that pertained to my old job and the work I did there, which I thought could later come in handy for things Stefan was working on – but out of all those things, only about 5 sheets of paper ended up being useful. So clearly I overestimated what was potentially going to be useful down the road.

What You Need to Keep

When it comes to sorting paperwork and deciding what sorts of financial statements and other paper stuff to keep, do remember that just because you need to keep a lot of this stuff does NOT mean that you actually have to keep it in paper form. Most of the time, you can just scan it into your computer and go from there. You may already have some of these things in electronic format. But do make sure that you’re backing up your data somewhere or you could end up losing everything.

  • Tax filings for the last 10 years – You never know when the IRS is going to decide they need to delve more deeply into your life. And you’re supposed to keep old tax filings for 10 years according to them.
  • Information which backs up tax returns and write offs from the last 6 years
  • Insurance policies – Whether it’s life, home, car or any other type of insurance, you always want to keep your policies handy. I have actually had the intention of scanning our policies for the last year or three. Perhaps I’ll actually get to it before the move (now that our scanner has one of those awesome feeder functions), just in case something goes awry with our paperwork along the way. But if it’s just receipts for paying the monthly rates, you don’t need to hold on to them long term.
  • Deeds, titles, etc – Anything that shows proof of ownership is absolutely important to keep in its original format.

What You Should Trash

  • Old utility bills – We have kept many of our utility bills from year to year (the billing system here in a bit crazy for things like water and electric) just so we can make sure we’re decreasing our consumption on a regular basis. But the moment we close on our house, those things are going in the trash. In fact, I will probably throw quite a few of them away in advance of our move just because they’re useless to us now.
  • Credit reports from 15 years ago – They’re no longer relevant or helpful. Make sure you get a free credit reports each year to keep an eye on your standing and make sure no one is stealing your identity, but you definitely don’t need the last 20 reports you printed out over the years. And if there is nothing on your report that needs to be fixed or changed, you don’t really need to hang on to the most recent report either.
  • Old pay stubs – Yes, keep the most recent ones because they’re often necessary to prove your income status. But if you’re no longer with an employer, already closed out your taxes or otherwise know you’re never going to need those statements again, just let them go.
  • Paperwork for things you’ve paid off — Loans, insurance policies, etc. that you’ve paid in full can be trashed shortly the bank has acknowledged that everything is paid in full.

How to Do It

First rule of advice – file all the stuff which is laying out, in a stack somewhere or otherwise waiting to be filed. There may be some of it that you’ll end up trashing anyway – but it’s going to be easier to identify what you need to trash if you’ve got everything sorted.

My second best piece of advice is to go folder by folder in 15 minutes increments. The 15-minute rule works for just about anything, from cleaning your home to getting work done. If you put all your energy and effort into tackling that paper pile head on in 15 minutes, but allow yourself the opportunity to walk away after that if it just gets to be too much, you can still be extremely productive without getting bogged down. If you want to keep purging and decluttering after that, great. But if not, you can walk away for now and come back when you’re feeling motivated again.