Document retention has been a marital tug-of-war for me and my wife ever since we’ve known each other. She wants to throw away “useless” documents as quickly as possible, from every place including the computer desktop. I, on the other hand can’t throw away the $3.56 receipt from Starbucks I visited in March of 2004, especially if I paid for it using my credit or debit card. I reason that maybe, just maybe, somewhere down the line I’ll need to reconcile this with the super-detailed IRS auditor bent on my destruction, EVEN if I didn’t claim any deductions on it.
Have we found the answer to this issue in our marriage? Well in any happy marriage you learn to pick your battles and not sweat the small stuff. I relented to a degree. But now I have a weapon. Jennifer Furrier, organizer extra-ordinarier, owner of Essential Organizing sent me a newsletter (see link below) which contains the definative answer on what you need to keep and for how long.
Filing-Notes: “How long do I keep this stuff?”