{"id":1754,"date":"2025-11-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/?p=1754"},"modified":"2026-08-01T02:33:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:03:48","slug":"what-to-keep-and-what-to-shred","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/27\/what-to-keep-and-what-to-shred\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Keep and What to Shred"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Paperwork accumulates because deciding takes longer than filing, and a few rules remove most of the decisions.<\/p>\n<h2>Three Categories<\/h2>\n<p>Keep permanently, keep for a period, and deal with now.<\/p>\n<p>Most household paper is the third, and it becomes a pile because it is set down rather than actioned. A single tray for anything requiring action, emptied weekly, removes most of the volume.<\/p>\n<p>The rest divides cleanly.<\/p>\n<h2>Store It Properly<\/h2>\n<p>Cool, dry and off the floor. Cellars and garages destroy paper through damp, and lofts through temperature swings.<\/p>\n<p>A lidded box in a wardrobe is better than either. Clear bins with labels, of the kind at <a href=\"https:\/\/bino.us.org\/\">bino.us.org<\/a>, let a shelf hold several categories without becoming a single pile.<\/p>\n<h2>Keep Permanently<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Birth, marriage and death certificates<\/li>\n<li>Passports, and citizenship or residency documents<\/li>\n<li>Property deeds, and mortgage completion documents<\/li>\n<li>Wills, and anything relating to power of attorney<\/li>\n<li>Qualifications and professional certificates<\/li>\n<li>Pension and life insurance policy documents<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These belong somewhere fireproof or off-site rather than in a filing box, and scanning them to a backed-up location is worth an evening.<\/p>\n<h2>Keep for a Period<\/h2>\n<p>Tax records and anything supporting them, for the period your tax authority specifies, which varies by country and is worth checking rather than guessing.<\/p>\n<p>Receipts and warranties for as long as the warranty runs, plus proof of purchase. Bank and utility statements for a shorter period, since most are available online.<\/p>\n<p>Insurance documents while the policy is live and for a period after.<\/p>\n<h2>Shred Rather Than Bin<\/h2>\n<p>The point that matters. Anything with a name, an address, an account number, a signature or a date of birth is material for identity fraud.<\/p>\n<p>That includes prescription labels, delivery notes, pre-approved credit offers and old bank cards. Cross-cut shredding rather than strip.<\/p>\n<p>Bins are searched, and this is one of the routes identity theft actually uses.<\/p>\n<h2>Go Paperless Selectively<\/h2>\n<p>Reduces the volume, and it moves the problem to email unless there is a system there too.<\/p>\n<p>A single folder for statements, and an annual download of anything you may need after an account closes.<\/p>\n<h2>One Session a Year<\/h2>\n<p>Attached to something regular, such as after tax filing.<\/p>\n<h2>Tell Somebody Where It Is<\/h2>\n<p>Documents nobody can find are documents nobody has.<\/p>\n<h2>Back Up the Scans<\/h2>\n<p>In two places.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paperwork accumulates because deciding takes longer than filing, and a few rules remove most of the decisions. Three Categories Keep &#8230; <a class=\"cz_readmore\" href=\"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/27\/what-to-keep-and-what-to-shred\/\"><i class=\"fa fa-angle-left\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><span>\u0627\u062f\u0627\u0645\u0647 \u0645\u0637\u0644\u0628<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tutorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1755,"href":"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754\/revisions\/1755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aghighbrick.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}