Today I’m putting my professional organizer hat on. How long do you keep documents pertaining to taxes? The IRS website says: Generally, you must keep records that support an item of income or deductions on a tax return until the period of limitations for that return runs out
But what about all of the other stuff? Bills? Receipts? I was looking through my file drawers only to realize I needed to rethink my attachments. So today I start the process: Duke Energy bills from three years ago? GONE. Visa bills from 2007? GONE. Now, I don’t have a shredder, but I do have a pretty little chiminea in my back yard. It’s better than shredding – and certainly provides a lovely ambiance (ahh the glowing embers of bills paid and past). Now it’s your turn. Pick something in your home that has been mentally weighing you down and make the decision to go through it, file it, recycle it, donate it, or take it to the dump!
Here’s the page from the IRS web site telling you how long to keep documents that pertain to taxes: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98513,00.html