It was time for a change at my house. With my oldest son out of the house I was able to take over his room and turn it into an office. Of course since it hadn't been redecorated for 14 years that was a top priority. Then with a new colour scheme on the walls the redecorating necessarily spilled over into the next couple of rooms. You know how it goes.

With clean new walls I was determined to take this opportunity to make a fresh start in other ways as well. I didn't just want to move all the accumulated piles of stuff from one room ito another. It was the perfect time to make a clean sweep of all my papers and things that have been growing into ever larger piles around the house, in closets, bins, baskets and file cabinets. I was determined.

I found lots of "paper"--bank statements, receipts, tax returns, bills, etc. Of course I couldn't get rid of everything. We do have to keep some of our paperwork. But how long do we need to keep all this stuff?

Of course you know that I went to the experts to find out what I should be keeping and how long I need to hold on to it. This is what I found out.