JDPFu.com 2025

Many people still have credit card receipts from a dinner in 1985. Do you?

Personal records management is simple and need not be complex.

1. Get a 3"-5" expandable simple 1-section filer.
2. Write the year on the outside.
3. Put most financial transaction paperwork (bills, receipts, bank statements) into the folder in the order they occur, approximately.
4. Keep paystubs, brokerage account statements, and other critical data filed separate. Things that show start/end dates for insurance, residency/citizenship.

If you later need a receipt for a warranty, you probably know which year/folder it is in. It happens so infrequently, that searching through a folder isn’t too much trouble AND the filing isn’t too much trouble that you won’t do it. If you enter transactions into Quicken, you can search and find the purchase date – a good hint for which part of the folder the receipt is located.

If you pay your personal bills, there’s little reason to keep bill records beyond 7 years (in the USA). Tax returns too. The last loan payment statement for big items (car, home) with either a current balance or payoff is all that is needed beyond 7 years. I’ve needed a car payment “thank you for your business, paid in full” letter to fix incorrect credit service information. Having that letter easily available made it simpler.

For electronic transaction data, the same method applies, file by year. It makes annual clean up trivial. Anything more complex requires a REAL need to justify it and you won’t follow it unless it is part of job.

Email – same thing, file by year. That’s close enough that searching isn’t too big and will probably prevent the 2GB issue that Outlook has. For about a month in January, you’ll probably use both year folders/PST files (current and last year).

Simple, effective, easy to do records management is yours. The most important part is to delete/shred them later …