I’m having a hard time trying to get organized, and creditor/payment papers are a major issue. I’ve been keeping a year’s worth of invoices, bills, payment info, etc. Do I really need to keep this paper? I pay most of my bills online, then put the bill (with notation that it was paid and date) in a desktop organizer, which I eventually get around to filing. I know I can get info from my bank about payments, and I assume I can get “proof” if need be from my credit card company. If I can get rid of the bill-pay paperwork, it would help immensely. So whatcha think? Trash the bills once they’re paid, or keep for a few months or whatever?
Probably a lot of the bills are available online. For major companies (e.g. American Express), it seems unlikely that they would alter their versions of the bill if a dispute arose. For less reputable companies, I suggest you just throw the paid invoice into a bankers box. It takes very little time to do this, the invoices will end up roughly in chronological order, and in the unlikely event that a dispute arises, you can dig up the invoice without too much work. When the bankers box is full, you write the date range on the side and put it in your basement. When the basement starts getting too full, you start throwing boxes out, oldest first.
Keep all financial records if you wish to have evidence of having made payments.