Old Paperwork - Keep or shred?
 

Well its almost 3 months til we start our life in melbs and its sorting out the cupboards time! We have Lots of old paperwork - bank statements (about 5 years worth), credit card statements, utility bills, insurance docs ect. Do I need to keep any of it for when I arrive in Oz as proof for anything or can I just shred it all?

Also did anyone else get nervous about the move 3 months before? Can't help thinking we are doing the right thing or not! ( Guess its like before you get married! Hehe)

Re: Old Paperwork - Keep or shred?
 

You can get rid of most of it. Your bank statements you'd probably have online for just in case, but you'd only need 6 months even if you were buying a house straight away. If you have a recent mortgage statement, one year is what we've been asked to show for a home loan application.

Insurance, we did bring our car insurance renewal, but it wasn't really necessary. NRMA (albeit expensive) gave us full no claims, no questions asked.

We got a print out of immunisations from the doctors, turned out only really important for the kids, but free so why not.

Other than that, just keep the usual I'd say... birth certificates, passports, etc.

Re: Old Paperwork - Keep or shred?
 

Ahh thanks Tubbs! Guess I got a lot of shredding to do! Hehe

Re: Old Paperwork - Keep or shred?
 

Take digital photos of documents before you shred them, then you have a record if you do ever need it.

BB

Re: Old Paperwork - Keep or shred?
 

My advice would be to keep at least six months' worth of statements, car insurance and the like. It's no trouble and might just save a lot of angst.

You can easily get car insurance without proving your no-claim record - but if you do have a claim you may well be asked for it before they pay up.

Re: Old Paperwork - Keep or shred?
 

I have sorted the insurance no claims - I have to request proof and they will send to me within a week or so.

Good idea about digi photos - would save some space!

Re: Old Paperwork - Keep or shred?
 

Or you could scan them.

Re: Old Paperwork - Keep or shred?
 

Scan, burn to CD-ROM, shred, keep CD-Rom somewhere safe. All hard drives fail eventually.

I am doing this at the moment - it takes a bloody age!

Re: Old Paperwork - Keep or shred?
 

CD-ROMs are not always a long term storage medium either.

I will take the opposite view to most on this thread - KEEP! Too many cases out there where people were unable to prove something critical about their residence/presence at a given point in time because they had decided to trash all their documents. There are other reasons, tax or legal compliance, to keep documents for a long time.

I don't suggest keeping junk paperwork but bank statements should always be kept. As should any proof of having paid off a debt (keep that for life) and at least some utility bills.

Re: Old Paperwork - Keep or shred?
 

True - they do (eventually) degrade and you have to be sure they actually work.

I'm wading through ten year old itemised phone bills at the moment - complete crap that I've carried with me for no reason!