Do you keep paid utulity bills or throw them away?

[catmandu57]

I was keeping things like electric, gas, phone, insurance etc for at least a year, why? I don't know. After thinning out the files I got to thinking why in the hell am I keeping this for?
From now on two months then into the recycle.

[azmouse]

1. I usually keep paid bills for one year.

Sometimes, though not often, there can be useful info on a bill.

[Midlodemocrat]

2. I do all my banking online and pay all my bills online as well.

It is pretty easy to print off a copy of past bills for tax purposes.

[Left Is Write]

3. I don't even receive bills for my utilities (except cable).

I receive online billing and I pay them online.

I do, however, keep pertinent insurance papers until the policy is no longer valid.

[anarch]

4. I'll let you know just as soon as I come up with some money

to pay my bills. In the meantime, I've been throwing away the unpaid ones...I wasn't going to pay them anyway.

[trackfan]

5. I keep them for a year - and now it is of necessity.

I used to just keep them for no apparent reason, then throw them away after a year or so. Now we take a deduction for business use of the home, so I use them to calculate the expense, a portion of which I'm allowed to claim.

[catmandu57]

6. Just about everything

is taken care of electronically, I get statements telling me the ammounts, that's what I've been keeping.

[sbj405]

7. I do. I've checked them recently.

With the rate hikes, I was interested in whether we were using more or the cost/unit increased. Discovered it was a bit of both. I've also managed to recover some lost friend's phone numbers by consulting my cell phone bill.

[pitohui]

8. keep it for a year at least

years ago landlord claimed i had not paid the water bill in months, because i had good records i was able to show he was just trying to defraud me

i did not pay again and the water did not go off

but if i hadn't had the proof, who knows, when i called the water company, they pulled up some weird and incorrect stuff, such as water bills going out for $300 (the monthly bill was actually $16) which were not correct, so apparently "someone" hacked the program or screwed it up anyway

this is prob. never going to happen to anyone ever again but i'm all paranoid now i guess

[seaglass]

9. I keep them, I probably have many years worth of utility bills

in my file cabinet.

I have no idea why.

[catmandu57]

10. That's where I was

The cabinet drawer was hard to open it was so heavy, once they went into their folder I never needed them again, hence the get rid of it. Now watch me need one.

[wain]

11. er, yeah, I have records since 1999

I kept my electric bill to track usage. You never know when you want to know what the cost was 20 years ago!:-)

And I may have earlier copies in the attic.

Anyway, I transcribed the monthly electric bills to Excel, so now I throw the bills away after I pay them. In seven years the cost per KWH of electricity has only gone up about 2 cents - amazing.

I've tracked my fuel oil cost on Quicken since 1993. The price per gallon has risen from 94 cents to $2.12. I can remember switching fuel oil companies when one company was two cents higher than the others!

:bounce:

[xmas74]

12. I keep them for one year.

I also keep grocery receipts for a few months at a time.

[Left Is Write]

13. I keep grocery receipts...

this is related to my penchant for making lists, though. It's helpful to have old grocery receipts, especially when restocking staples. I also like to compare current prices to last year's prices.

[brook]

14. I keep 'em 1 year.

Just in case I want to track back & make sure I don't pay twice 'cause some months the paid and new bill cross in the mail and my check register isn't always reliable. Seems I'm more organized some months than others.

Does anyone dislike filing all this stuff as much as I do? Where's that paperless society they promised us?