On Friday’s post, Julia asked …
I would love to know your favourite storage solution for things that can’t be tossed aka things that need to be filed for at least 2 years. Do you use an actual file? A box? A concertina thing? What’s your favourite and why?
and then Patty said on Facebook that she can’t decide what she needs to keep and what she can toss.
Great questions
First of all, I keep very little paper … and I could still throw out some more (I’m eyeing you, old workshop materials!).
The only things I think you HAVE to keep are tax records for 5 years in South Africa (please check with your accountant though – who knows if your situation may be different) and the obvious important documents like birth and marriage certificates, deeds to your house, car, etc.
And of course, I keep everything from the City of Joburg 🙂
A quick aside about the tax records… my colleague received a letter from the South African Revenue Services last year wanting to audit her from 2003. I would go into a flat panic but she picked up the phone, told them they’re only allowed to ask for the last 5 years, so were those years in question, they said no, and that was that.
So while I’m very tempted to let it all go, I personally keep about 7 – 8 years (depends how many years fit in my lever arch file) of tax records.
I have a lever arch file for all my tax and another file for all the other stuff but that’s it. My receipts for BIG purchases also go in that second file.
I don’t think there’s anything other than these types of documents that HAVE to be kept for any period of time.
For regular accounts like Telkom/ Cell C, I keep one til I see my payment appear on the next one. So I really only have 1 – 2 at any given time.
And concertina files, boxes and such are way too “loose” for me – the loosest I get with my paper is stapled together and kept in a plastic project sleeve for a few months (like the Great Pre-school Search of 2012) until such project is complete.
Have I missed anything?
If you’re thinking about something specific, let me know in the comments and I’ll answer there for everyone to see.
I keep all my regular accounts and still have some Edgars accounts from more than 5 years. I think a serious clean up is on the cards for me. P.s what would you do if telkom calls and say you have not paid for say April a year ago?
Easy, it reflected paid on my account and I can go into my fnb payments to prove it 🙂
I keep all our warranty and instruction booklets for appliances, etc. in a big 3-ring binder (in sheet protectors if it is small enough). I try anc purge the old things at least 1 time per year. (alphabetical, of course – I’m a librarian!)