Records Retention

Lately I find myself spending more and more time digging through boxes upon boxes of mundane papers I've collected over the years. Cancelled checks (just to be cute, I labeled most of my envelopes full of these "Cancelled Czechs"), bank statements, credit card statements, paycheck stubs, etc.

The objective of digging through all these papers now is so I don't have to pack and move them later. I'm surprised, though, that the experts in analrecords retention recommend destroying most of these -- bank statements after three months, pay stubs at year end (or once you receive your W-2), etc. I have papers that date back 20 years in little envelopes, filed for posteriorposterity.

The shredder will be busy this weekend, let me tell you.