Do you keep copies of bills you've paid, and if so, for how long?

[Earlybird]

I spent an hour this weekend sorting out piles of various bills from the last year - electric, BT, water bill, gas bill, cable, credit card, bank statements, etc - so they could be filed away.

But then the thought occurred to me - do I really need to keep this stuff?

Do you? And if so, for how long?

I keep bank stuff for about 7 years - council tax stuff I ditch after the last payment.

I only keep other statements for that financial year then shred.

Thanks for the respsonse.

I've now consulted with my accountant, and he advises 7 years for everything - all copies of monthly bills in addition to bank statements. Urgh!

Was hoping i could ditch alot of papers rather than spend time filing, and/or using the room in the file cabinet..

I get alot of these by email or even just get an email telling me they are ready to view on their website.

Saves alot of space and faffing time.

I am paperless for everything, which is a gip if I need to prove my id. No utility bills [eek]. What could possibly happen that would necessitate you finding a gas bill from 2003?

I have a copy of a bill for each address that I have had for the last 10 years (security clearance reasons). Then I can prove my address. Then I also have the tenancy agreements for those houses so if I need exact dates of moving I can prove those as well. Then DP has the same. Then we also have a copy of bills for the last 10 years with our joint accounts on it, or tenancy agreements etc - but this is for immigration purposes. We keep TAX records for around 7 years, although at the moment I think we have more. Anything excess to that I generally shred after a year or two - basically any thing now is accessible online if really needed. Oh! General bank statement I only keep if they fall into the above categories.

It is actually quite interesting to look at bank statements from way back, they remind you what hobbies etc you had going on. Or maybe that's just me