At
certain times of the year, whether for you it’s annually, quarterly or monthly
you can become overwhelmed with the documents which have mounted up.
If you run a small
business do you find these documents are turning your house into a paper-packed
‘office’. Shelves, drawers and cupboard space fill up with papers that you
might just need one day, creating clutter as you struggle to find space to
store things you use more frequently.
Even offices can get so
clogged with paper that finding places to store them all become a problem.
You end up with a “clutter room” packed with boxes and boxes of old files.
It’s very tempting throw
all those old files away, but what if you have to prove you didn’t play fast
and loose with the tax man?
Generally speaking, you
can divide your paperwork up as follows:
· Papers to keep for one year max: Bank
deposit slips, credit card receipts and ATM slips need only be kept until
you’ve reconciled your accounts. Insurance and investment statements can be
kept until you have fresh ones. When you discard documents, shred them to avoid
identity theft.
· Papers
to keep for longer than a year: statements on loans should
be kept until the loan is paid off. For big loans, this can be quite a long
time. Car papers have to be kept until you sell the car, and proof of
investment purchases should be kept until investments are sold.
· Papers
to keep for five years: Keep your tax records for
five years to be on the safe side.
· Papers
you should never throw away: Birth certificates, death
certificates, divorce decrees, your copy of your will, life insurance details
and other insurance policies are among the papers you will keep indefinitely.
Archive information safely
for next to nothing
To help you solve the problem
of document storage, Storage King has a handy archive box that lets you store
your documents neatly in an organised way.
Sort the documents according to date
and according to how long they need to be kept so that you can thin down the
accumulation of documents you won’t be needing again.
And since Storage King
lets you store small as well as large volumes of things you don’t need all the
time, it won’t cost much if we tuck them away for you.