Is your house a pack rat’s dream come true? You’re not the only one who feels this way. Are you unsure what to retain and what to discard as you begin your spring cleaning? We’ve developed a list of how long experts recommend preserving key documents based on their recommendations. As a guide, keep our handy image near your shredder.
Keep records of key life events such as births, marriages, divorces, and deaths. Securely close the door:
- Adoption documents or birth certificates
- Cards for Social Security
- Passports or citizenship papers
- Decrees of marriage or divorce
- Family members’ death certificates
Keep auto titles and home deeds in a safe place for as long as you own the house.
The main question this time of year is: what kind of tax records may you trash, and when can you shred them?
- Returns on taxation What’s our cautious advice? It’s better to store these for as long as possible.
- Pay stubsShred them after double-checking your W-2.
- Expenses for home improvements
- Keep these receipts until you sell your house since certain expenses may qualify you for a capital gains tax reduction.
- Other tax documents include tax receipts and cancelled cheques.
- Before shredding, wait seven years. Why? While the IRS normally has three years to audit you, in some cases it has up to seven years. (The IRS can audit you at any time if you submit a fake return, but for the ordinary honest taxpayer, seven years is plenty.)
Consult an accountant or call IRS Taxpayer Assistance at 800-829-1040 if you’re unsure what tax records to maintain.
Many other records, according to most experts, can be shredded far sooner than seven years. Shred credit card and utility bills as soon as possible after paying them. Also, unless they are connected to warranties, taxes, or insurance, shred sales invoices. Shred bank statements, pay stubs, and medical bills after a year (unless you have an unresolved insurance dispute).
If you’re thinking to yourself, “Perhaps I should retain everything just in case,” keep in mind that identity thieves can’t find documents you’ve destroyed. By shredding documents containing personal information, you can lower your chances of becoming a victim of identity theft.
Should I shred all documents containing my name and address?
Your name, address, phone number, and bank account information, as well as your habits, transactions, and financial history, are all included in those statements. Even if the account is no longer active, shred it.
Without a shredder, how do you get rid of paper?
Shred everything by hand. This is the most straightforward approach, but it is also the most time-consuming and inefficient. Instead of a recycling bin, dispose of the paper in a compost bin or the trash. This is due to the fact that recycling facilities cannot properly process very small pieces of paper.
If you have a little hole-puncher on hand, punch holes where any critical content is on the page!
Use scissors that can shred paper. Yes, shears can accomplish the job faster than you can by hand! Consider ordering a pair from the comfort of your own home. They’re safe, convenient, and simple to clean up afterward.
It should be disposed of. This is another another tried and true method of getting rid of your documents. Please burn paper safely and avoid making bonfires in dry conditions, such as those found in Alberta during the summer.
In a bowl of water, dissolve the paper. This might not be as simple as you believe! Muriatic acid, commonly known as hydrochloric acid, is frequently used to totally destroy commercial paper. However, soaking your documents for a couple of hours in a pail of water with some baking soda may suffice. Vinegar, boiling hot lemon juice, and even bleach, which should be used with caution, can be added to the liquid solution. As the paper dries after soaking, it should disintegrate into a wad of crumbled debris. You can then shred the paper by hand into smaller bits.
What makes shredding such a bad idea?
Despite its advantages, shredding is not a smart idea. This is due to the fact that shredded paper’s fibres are shorter, making it less suitable for recycling.
Furthermore, shredded paper cannot be recycled when it is mixed with other materials. This is because, during the mechanical recycling process, shredded paper is frequently combined with minute bits of glass. It is possible that it will pass through the filter screen. Recycling centers are unable to retrieve the paper in this situation.
Is it necessary to destroy old credit card statements?
Do you have a stack of bank statements dating back several years? You may be ready to get rid of them, but you don’t know how. Is it okay to throw away old bank statements without first shredding them?
To protect oneself from identity theft, the Federal Trade Commission recommends shredding documents holding sensitive information, such as bank statements. To help you decide what to shred and when, follow these tips.
Is it okay if I just throw junk mail away?
Never throw away any correspondence that has your address! Any mail with your address on it should be shredded before being thrown away. You can protect yourself from identity theft with an inexpensive paper shredder or a pair of scissors.
STATEMENTS:
In general, you should maintain a digital or print copy of your monthly bank and credit card statements for the previous year. The protocol for shredding papers like statements, on the other hand, differs by financial institution. Find out more in the sections below.
Credit card statements: Unless evidence of purchase is necessary for warranty or tax purposes, these statements can be shredded once they have been inspected for mistakes. Keep these statements safe until you’ve double-checked the charges and have confirmation of payment. You should keep them for three years if you need them for tax deductions.
Bank statements should be reviewed and stored every month for year-end accounting purposes. Documents can be shredded once taxes are filed, and your banking institution should be immediately available if needed. If your bank provides online statements, you can opt to receive your bank documents digitally instead of receiving them on paper.
Investment statements should be kept on file for the annual valuation until the end of the year. Keep the document for at least three years, as you may need it for capital gains tax purposes. When you sell stocks or properties, records like these help you keep track of your cost basis and the taxes you owe. You can trash your monthly and quarterly statements once you receive the annual summaries and your taxes have been filed.
VOUCHERS:
These documents contain any information you could need to defend yourself against potential litigation in the future. We’ll also cover important but frequently neglected details like how long a landlord should preserve old leases.
Investment acquisition: Documentation should be retained as a purchase record and should only be deleted after taxes are sold and submitted.
Landlords must know how long to preserve papers such as leases in their possession. Keep these papers in a safe place until the conclusion of the mortgage or lease term.
Payroll documentation: Because this sort of document contains a lot of important information, it should be saved as soon as it is received. Pay stubs can be shredded after they’ve been checked to employer data at the end of the year. Keep your pay stubs as well, so you may use them to double-check the accuracy of your Form W-2 when tax season approaches.
Manuals and warranties should be kept for the duration of the ownership period and then shredded.
Keep only the receipts you need for tax purposes and shred the rest. Nonetheless, you can keep your warranty or return it once it’s been filed.
Tax records: Tax returns and any supporting documents should be kept for at least seven years. Also, maintain your tax records for eight years if you file a claim for a loss due to an erroneous deduction. Before shredding, you might make digital copies of the crucial papers.
BILLS:
Bills are another type of document for which you should know how long to retain them. People often believe that once they have paid their bills, they may throw them away, but this is not the case. Because certain bills have a time limit, you should know how long you should hold them before shredding them.
Utility Bills: Keep these bills for a year and then throw them away. Only if you’re claiming a home office tax deduction are they required to be kept for three years.
You may require tax-related bills for your utility, cell phone, and cable if you own a business. However, as soon as you check that your money has been received, you can delete them. Furthermore, after the confirmation, you can utilize your monthly statement to dispose of bank withdrawal and deposit slips.
Medical Bills: Save your medical bill receipts for a year in case your insurance company asks for proof of a doctor’s visit or other medical claim verification. You can deduct medical expenses if they were more than 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income in 2017 or 2018.
There have, however, been recent advancements. You can only deduct the amount of unreimbursed eligible medical expenses that exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income for the year. If you want to take advantage of this deduction, you must keep your medical documents for three years, according to tax records.
CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION:
Any documents containing private information, such as social security cards, should be shredded to ensure that they do not get into the wrong hands.
Insurance policy: Records should be kept in a secure location for the duration of the policy. You may shred as soon as the policy is no longer valid.
Cheques can be shredded or destroyed after a year, depending on your financial institution’s regulations. In other circumstances, if the documents have been documented with your bank, you can shred them with you.
Although knowing how long to store records is crucial, there are some fundamental standards to follow when it comes to documentation. They are as follows:
Procedures For Converting To Digital-based
You don’t have to worry about deciding what to shred and what to save when you use digital records. After you’ve used our chart to determine how long you should store documents, you should complete the following:
The first step is to:
You must make the following preparations:
A safe place to keep it: It’s best to keep it in a folder on a computer system. You can also save a copy of the file to your cloud or an external hard disk. This is the solution we offer because it’s time to go digital and conserve space!
The second step is to:
Create distinct folders for various types of documents, such as certificates, records, and legal documents.
Then scan and file each document in a folder according to its content. To describe it, make sure to give each one a distinct filename so that it can be found quickly using your computer’s search feature.
Several apps are also available to assist you in quickly recording and storing a range of documents. Many can be operated using your smartphone or tablet, so you can get rid of paperwork even if you’re not near your home computer. Your business associates and banks must also be informed of your shift to the digital platform.
To keep your account information safe, use complicated passwords that you change frequently. Make sure your username and password are unique from those you use for personal email, online shopping, or social networking accounts. It’s also a good idea to install antivirus software on your computer. Godspeed!
Burning Paper in a Fire Pit
Incinerating sensitive papers in a furnace, fire pit, or metal trash barrel may appear to be a quick and straightforward way to get rid of a lot of paper, but there are a few things to keep in mind. To begin with, most cities and municipalities, including Toronto, do not allow open-air burning unless a permit has been given, which is not always possible to obtain. This method takes time since documents must still be broken into smaller bits before being fed into the fire to guarantee that intact papers burn completely and do not blow away. After the fire has been safely extinguished, inspect the ashes to ensure that no readable pieces remain, which may be easily reassembled by identity thieves.
Soaking Documents in Water and Bleach
Another method of rendering information unreadable is to soak private documents in water for an extended length of time. However, this type of destruction requires patience, enough space, and can be untidy. Papers must be soaked in a plastic garbage can with a water and bleach solution for a few days before being mixed together to turn into a pulp. After the documents have completely decomposed, the water in the pulp must be pushed out before it can be discarded.
Composting Sensitive Documents
Unwanted paper, like food scraps, coffee filters, and other organic waste, can be placed to a compost pile and slowly decompose over time. Documents should be shred before composting, similar to the fire process, and the waste must be well mixed into the pile to avoid upsetting the carbon and nitrogen balance. While composting may appear to be an environmentally good alternative, it is not a secure method of document destruction and takes a long time. Composting is not possible with some types of paper, such as those with harmful glossy coatings.
Cutting or Shredding By Hand
Paper can be torn by hand or destroyed with multi-cut scissors, which work like a cross-cut shredder, for modest amounts of shredding. However, this form of destruction is time-consuming and insecure, especially since identity thieves can easily recreate individual pieces of papers. A hole punch can also be used to destroy confidential data, such as an employee’s social security number or anything containing sensitive financial information. However, this method of destruction takes a long time and offers no protection against a data breach for you or your company.
Attending a Community Shredding Event
Many local businesses, such as banks, credit unions, and recycling companies, organize free paper shredding events for their consumers. Typically, this form of destruction is a good choice because documents are shredded and mixed with other shredded materials using expert crosscut paper shredders. The disadvantage is that you may be forced to save sensitive information or keep it for an extended amount of time while waiting for a paper shredding event. This could increase the danger of a security breach or identity theft.
Hiring a Professional Paper Shredder Service to Destroy Paper and Sensitive Documents
Scheduling a shred with a professional service provider is the simplest, easiest, and most efficient way to entirely get rid of unneeded documents. Using a mobile shredding service is particularly convenient since you can see your secret documents being destroyed on your premises in an industrial paper shredder truck. It’s also the safest technique to shred sensitive data because it’s shredded into little crosscut bits and combined with other shredded documents, meaning it can’t be reassembled or read by someone attempting to steal it.
You’ll also receive a Certificate of Destruction at the end of each shredding service, which is an official document that gives precise information regarding the destruction of materials to ensure that the shredding procedure complied with privacy regulations. Other media types, such as backup tapes, optical media, CDs, computer hard drives, recalled products, or damaged goods, can also be destroyed by a professional service. Best of all, there’s no need to worry about a fire, ashes, pulp, or potentially toxic water and bleach!
What’s the best way to get rid of old bank statements?
We’ve all heard about the risks of discarding old bank statements. They’re encrusted with personal information, and no one wants to be a victim of a scam.
Unfortunately, this often leads to another issue: stacks upon stacks of old bank statements. While it is worthwhile to save old bank statements for a while, they eventually become a nuisance. Is there a method to get rid of them safely?
It is feasible to properly dispose of old bank statements; all you have to do is make sure you do it correctly. That implies the bank statements can’t just be torn in half and thrown away. It is necessary to make them absolutely illegible.
There are three simple strategies to potentially employ if you want to safely dispose of your bank statements:
1. Shred your documents with a shredder.
This is the most common and widely used method of eliminating old bank statements. Any information on the documents will be fully obliterated by a reliable shredder, allowing you to properly dispose of them in a garbage can.
After you’ve shredded everything, you’ll want to dispose of it in a few different ways. This simply makes it less likely that someone will attempt to put it back together. Alternatively, you can compost the fragments.
You can hire an industrial shredder if you don’t have a shredder but have a significant pile of old bank statements. Otherwise, look for a company in an area where you can use a shredder.
Shredders are frequently available for free or for rent at FedEx and USPS locations. A recycling center is another site to visit. Alternatively, inquire at your local bank. They are likely to have shredder capacity and can be surprisingly accommodating.
Finally, contact your local library to see if they have a shredder that is accessible for public use.
Multi-cut scissors can be used to achieve the same effect as shredding, but they aren’t as effective. Use these scissors only on the bank statement’s little but significant bits of information.
2. Set them on fire.
Check your state’s regulations to see if fires are permitted, but burning is the most complete way to get rid of old bank statements. Use the statements to build a campfire in a metal garbage can, then feed any remaining pieces in.
Before burning, make sure to shred everything up so that no larger parts get caught in the breeze and fly away. After you’ve completed burning, go over the ashes with a rake to make sure nothing is left.
Burning bank statements is an effective way to get rid of them, but it isn’t particularly healthy for the environment. Only use this if you haven’t come up with a better solution.
3. Soak them in water for a few minutes.
This is one of the best strategies to employ if you aren’t in a hurry to get rid of your documents. Get a metal bucket to start withthe more assertions you have, the bigger the bucket you’ll need. Water should be added to the bucket.
Drop your documents into the water with a little tear. Tearing the paper just makes it easier for the water to get through. Mix the paper in the water to separate the leaves once it’s in there.
A drill with a paint mixing attachment is a suitable tool for this. Now all you have to do is wait.
This isn’t rapid, but the paper should be illegible after 24 to 48 hours. Use a small bit of bleach to expedite the process. This can help break down the ink more quickly, exposing your documents to curious eyes. When using bleach, always use caution.
When the water has completed its task, carefully empty it outdoors. It’s not a good idea to flush it down the toilet because it could clog your pipes. You should now have paper pulp, which you may dump in the garbage.
It can be a time-consuming and frustrating procedure to get rid of your paperwork, but there are a few things you can do to make it go faster.
Sort through everything you have first. One or two pages of basic information are frequently included on bank statements, and these do not need to be shredded. Remove the essential components and toss the rest in the trash.
Determine how much of the page has to be destroyed after you’ve sorted out the key bits. Occasionally, all of the writing appears at the top of the page, leaving the rest blank. Remove the parts that must be shredded, and the rest can be recycled.
Finally, keep an eye on your financial accounts and go over them on a regular basis. A bank statement should be kept for at least three years. Some papers, such as tax returns, should be kept for seven years.
If you find yourself wondering what to do with old bank statements on a frequent basis, a shredder is a good investment. They may be purchased for a low price and will save you a lot of time in the long run.
Otherwise, find a local company that provides shredding services. It won’t be nearly as tough the next time you’re looking for a location to go once you’ve found one.
The most secure technique to avoid receiving bank statements is to never receive them in the first place. Some banks now allow you to go paperless entirely. All statements will be emailed to you, or you can access them through their website or app.
This is beneficial for the environment because it decreases paper waste and eliminates the need for shredding. Speak with your bank to see whether going paperless is an option.
It may not be easy to get rid of old bank statements, but it is vital. Invest in a shredder or immerse your documents in water. It’s not much fun, but it’s a lot better than identity theft.