Organize Your Vital Records

Unlike your monthly bills which really don't need to be kept for any longer than one year, vital records are documents that you need to save for a much longer period of time. That is why it is so important for you to have a system for organizing these important records.

Knowing how long to keep these important records as well as having an efficient way to store them are an important part of your home filing system.

When you are developing your storage system, keep in mind that in the event of an emergency, you will want your family's important records easily accessible so you can get to them quickly when you need to.

How to Organize Your Vital Records

Similar to your monthly bills, you want your vital records to be easily accessible. If they are not easy to get to, you won't put your filing away when you receive it...instead you will wind up with the same paper piles that you have now.

Unlike your monthly bills, your vital records can be stored a little bit more out-of-sight, because you will not need to access them as frequently as your monthly bills.

The trick is to find the happy medium between out-of-sight and easily accessible.

The best way to organize your vital records is to store them in a file box with a handle.

The reason I prefer a file box over a file cabinet is that in an emergency it is much easier to grab your file box and go than it is to sift through a file cabinet drawer to pull out the folders you need to bring with you when you evacuate your home.

Use hanging folders or file folders, whichever your file box accommodates. Label one folder for each category of records that you have. Whenever you have a new receipt or statement that needs filing, file it in the appropriate folder.

At least once per year, the beginning of a new year is a good time, set aside some time to purge your vital records to be sure that you are not wasting space saving unnecessary records.

If you purge your records on a regular basis, you will never have to spend an entire day...or worse, an entire weekend...sifting through a mountain of old documents. Purging your vital records should take no more than an hour or two.

How Long to Keep Your Vital Records

When you are purging your records it is important to know what you should be saving, and for how long. Here is a list to help you make those decisions.

Marriage records should be kept forever.

Birth records should be kept forever.

Death records should be kept forever.

Divorce records should be kept forever.

Estate plan documents should be kept forever. A copy of these documents should also be given to the person named as the executor of your estate.

Insurance policies should be kept for as long as the policy remains active. Once the policy has expired, it is only necessary to keep the last statement as proof that the policy existed.

Your family's medical information Explanation Of Benefit forms from your insurance company should be kept for one year. If you file a claim for payment of benefits, the related EOB should be kept forever with all other documents and notes related to the claim. The best way to organize your family's medical information is in a medical journal.

Receipts for large purchases should be kept as long as you own the product.

Warranty paperwork should be kept as long as you own the product.

Bank, retirement or investment account statements should be kept forever. If an annual summary is sent, keep the summary and purge the individual statements for that year.

Income tax records should be kept for 7 years.

Mortgage records should be kept for the life of the mortgage.

Paycheck stubs should be kept for one year. Discard the stubs when you receive your Form W2 or other annual summary and have verified that all information is correct.