Are you a "Shoebox Sally"? You are if you stockpile more than a year's worth of annual reports, monthly credit-card statements, and weekly pay stubs, says Dee Lee, a financial planner in Harvard, Mass. The same goes for most insurance policies, bank statements, and canceled checks.

If that's not enough to get you to fire up the paper shredder, keep reading.

Hanging on to every scrap of paper is not just a fire hazard; it can also be an impediment to heirs or caretakers sorting through your belongings down the road. That said, what you keep and how long you keep it can be just as important as where you keep it.


HIDE AND SEEK

Lee tells of one elderly woman who had sewn about $500,000 worth of stock certificates into her curtain hems, where they could have been destroyed, lost, or stolen. If you're holding certificates, have them transferred to a brokerage account. U.S. savings bonds should be converted to electronic form. If you must keep paper copies, stash a list of the serial numbers and issue dates in a separate location.

Misplaced paperwork isn't the only problem you'll encounter when sorting out another person's assets. After her mother's death in September 2005, Andrea Spatz, a financial planner in Los Angeles, had to wade through reams of canceled checks, annual reports, and other paperwork that had been squirreled away over the decades. Also, she realized that her mother's safe-deposit-box key was missing. Eventually, Spatz found it hidden in a drawer with her mother's underthings, but she had to make repeated trips to her mother's home to find it. The location of her mother's car title remains a mystery. "She had a list showing where everything was, but it hadn't been updated," Spatz laments. "Every one of her friends said, 'I don't envy you.' "


URGED TO PURGE

Spatz and other financial experts say people typically save far too much stuff or in some cases far too little. And the important items usually aren't well organized or easy to grab, as victims of Hurricane Katrina discovered after fleeing their homes without bank-account numbers and other important documents.

The chart below tells you how long to save important papers, including wills and insurance policies, and where to keep them. But before you start tossing, make sure you have a working shredder, or be prepared to start ripping. Identity thieves thrive on account numbers and other personal information on tossed paperwork. Also, organize the documents you keep in loose-leaf binders or in file folders where they'll be easy to find. You might also want to use a scanner to preserve some items, such as tax returns, on CDs, says Evelyn Zohlen, a financial planner with Inspired Financial in Garden Grove, Calif.

Finally, make a list of your important papers and their locations that you or the person you've designated to carry on your affairs can consult for quick access. Include details about how to find your safe-deposit-box key, the combination to your home safe, and your computer log-ons and passwords. Give the list to loved ones and be vigilant about updating it.

It's also a good idea to keep copies of your most important documents in a single location so they'll be easy to grab in case you need to evacuate your home. Some items to include in that pile: passports; account numbers for your bank, broker, and utilities and other bills; family immunization records; Social Security numbers; computer PIN numbers; and photos of your family and pets for identification. "You should be able to grab that stuff, put it in a suitcase, and be out of your house in a half-hour," Lee says.

Document	When to toss	Where to keep originals/copies
BANKING
Bank-deposit slips	After you reconcile your statements	Home
Canceled checks	Generally after one year; 7 years for checks that support tax filings	Home
Certificates of deposit	After matures	Home
Check registers	After one year	Home
Check statements	After one year	Home
Credit-card statements	After one year; 7 years if needed to support tax filings	Home
Loan documents	When repay loan	Home
Loan-discharge notices	Never	Safe-deposit box
Pay stubs	When you get a new one	Home
ESTATE
Health-care proxy	When updated	Safe-deposit box/primary-care physician, attorney, anyone named to make decisions on your behalf
Living trust	When updated	Safe-deposit box/successor trustee, attorney
Living will	When updated	Safe-deposit box/attorney, executor
Power of attorney	When updated	Safe-deposit box/designee, attorney
Will	When updated	Safe-deposit box/attorney, executor
INSURANCE
Annually renewed insurance policies	After renewal	Home
Insurance inventory	When updated	Safe-deposit box
Permanent life (whole life, etc.)	Never	Safe-deposit box
Term life	After the term expires	Safe-deposit box
INVESTMENTS
Brokerage statements	Hold until you sell the securities, then hold with your tax return for 7 years.	Home
Purchase confirmations and 1099s	Hold until securities are sold, then put with your tax returns.	Home
Savings bonds	When matures	Best to convert to electronic bonds at the U.S. Treasury. Otherwise, place in safe-deposit box, keeping a list of serial numbers at home.
Stock certificates	Should not be held	Transfer paper certificates to a brokerage account; consult your financial adviser.
PERSONAL
Birth certificate	Never	Safe-deposit box
Death certificates	Never	Safe-deposit box
Marriage license	Never	Safe-deposit box
Military-discharge papers	Never	Safe-deposit box
Social Security card	Never	Safe-deposit box
PRODUCT PURCHASES
Car title	When you sell your vehicle	Safe-deposit box
Receipts	When warranty expires; after 7 years if needed to support tax returns	Home
Warranties	When expires	Home
RETIREMENT
Employer defined-benefit plan communications	Never	Home
401(k) statements	When you get a new one	Home
Social Security statements	When you get a new one	Home
TAX
Personal state and federal tax returns and supporting documents	After 7 years	Home

    Note: For documents in a safe-deposit box, it's a good idea to keep copies
    at home as well.