Paperwork - how much do you have

[OutOfHiding]

Just doing some decluttering and can’t believe how much paperwork we have. I’ve got better at organising it and chucking it out in recent years, just trying to sort through the stuff from years ago now but even when that’s done there will still be a lot which takes up cupboard space. So just interested to know how much space it takes up in other people’s houses.

I have a roomful! I used to file it years so ago so there are folders and folders that are organised. Then I had children and things got 'filed' in boxes. I spent a large chunk of November/ December shredding and filing and think it'll be my January job.

It'll be interesting to see how much other people keep. I have been shredding things like utility bills and phone bills from the 90s/ 00s but don't know how far to go back with things like payslips and bank statements. My hoarding instinct is to keep them all but maybe just p60s / p45s and annual bank statements?

I'm pretty minimalist with my paperwork. I now shred anything I can find online, like utility bills or annual bank account summaries. Or I keep a digital copy on my laptop if it's a faff to find it online. Government advice says you only need to keep personal tax paperwork for 5 years. Having said all that, I've just started a business and my partner and I hoping to buy a house this year so I'm sure my filing system will be growing!

Family of 4 plus pets and house: one large ring binder and one small one. Think dh has a boxfile too in the loft.

We have 3 box files for 2 of us which mainly contain house stuff for work done on house plus 1 for DS's stuff which also contains paperwork from late DM and copy of MIL Will.

Most stuff is online now so no need for loads of bank statements, utility bills etc. Our P60s and payslips are also online now but I keep the old paper P60s