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What can I shred?


Jerico
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I go through these brief hours of insanely purging stuff... But I don't want to live with regret later on. I will keep all of our taxes but can I shred medical bills, insurance updates etc. from previous years? I have everything going back to 2007, do I need it?

 

Also, hubby is out of town and this is my chance to get into our office :) lol.

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I did a bit of googe research when I did this last month.  Apparently you can get rid of anything older than one year aside from:

 

tax documents - 7 years

 

mortgage & auto paperwork (not including the statements) - keep until the year after they are no longer in your possession

 

marriage, birth, & death certificates, and original life insurance policy documents - keep forever

 

I scanned all of my tax documents and then shredded them.  I keep it all backed up on an external harddrive in a fire-safe.

 

I had papers going back to 1995!  :huh:

 

 

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If you have an HSA and made withdrawals, if you claim medical deductions on your long form, or if do something else of that nature that involves your taxes, you do need to keep your medical receipts for as long as you keep the tax forms for that year.

 

To reduce medical paperwork, you can ask every doctor's office and pharmacy for a "patient or family ledger" that lists all charges and payments for the calendar year and what they are for--most offices can generate these without any trouble, but you might need to speak to a central billing location or manager. Make sure they include all family members that use that practice or pharmacy. Keep any receipts that are missing from the ledgers. If your insurance company's statements agree with your doctor's office statements, and you've paid the bills related to those statements, you can probably shred those after a year.

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