Filing? How long to keep things?

[loopyloou]

We have a small filing cabinet, but it's just about full and I have a huge pile of stuff to file away when I have time.

How long do you have to keep stuff for, i.e. insurance documents, phone bills? I tend to shop around for insurance, so change provider nearly every year. Do I need to keep the docs from the previous year? Phone bills - do I need to keep them? Car paperwork? Obviously I keep service and MOT docs, but car tax, car insurance?

I feel like I'm drowning in paper sometimes!

3 years.

Or at least the year before last on things I consider important and then bin the rest.

We just have boxes in a cupboard, where do you keep your filling cabinet?

I would keep the most recent years in the filing cabinet and then the older stuff elsewhere, so that the filing cabinet isn't too full and the stuff that matters is easy to find. Maybe put the rest in cardboard A4 folders or a large storage box.

I'm never sure about how long to keep stuff for so I probably keep it for much too long. I keep everything in A4 cardboard folders or plastic envelope style folders or in a briefcase-style box, mostly on shelves.

Thanks. We converted our smallest bedroom into a home office as at one point we were both working from home and the filing cabinet is in there. The whole office needs a huge tidy and de clutter when I have time.