One of the most frequent questions I get is, "How long do I need to keep this stuff?"  It seems that even in the computer age, most of us still have tons of paper to deal with and store.  I have seen several articles over the years about record retention, and most of the recommendations do not change.  Here is a link to a recent article I found on how long you need to keep things and what you need to keep:Record Retention.  This article talks about how to organize your files (which we will talk about in a separate entry) and covers record retention as well.  It covers the basics and does a great job of keeping it short and to the point.

Personally, I have a hard time getting rid of stuff, but I am working on changing that.  I have found that people are either savers or purgers.  There are people who throw everything away, and then there are people like me, who keep everything.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both, in my opinion.  Based on the article above, I am shredding like a maniac and getting rid of as much paper as I can.  I want more room to store fun stuff, not old paperwork.

The key here is knowing the rules, knowing what you need to keep and why; and then having a system to organize it so you know where it is.  Half the battle in record keeping is being able to find what you need.  This is where an organization system is critical, and once you have a system, you just have to be consistent about maintaining it.

If there is anything you are not sure if you need to keep, and you can't find it in the article, let me know and I will be happy to help you figure it out.  You can e-mail me at teresa@winning-edge.net.