How long do I have to hold on to papers?

Some people are directionally challenged.  Others are physically challenged. Still others are (you name it) challenged.  I consider myself PAPER CHALLENGED.  What I mean by this is I can't figure out how to organize my papers and what to save.   Yesterday I hit on an idea.  I am using a hanging folder box and going to all the paper places in my house and sorting the papers. Several of my hanging folders quickly filled up.

So this morning I stopped by my insurance agent and asked what I needed to keep. I took the thick folder shown here:

Then she sorted through everything and said that I only needed to keep the most current stuff. Take a look at the trash/shred vs the keep papers:

 

 

So I am pretty happy! 

Stopped by my bank this afternoon and the guy said, "You don't have to save any of it." 

It was a 1" thick folder. He asked if I wanted him to take and shred it. At first I balked, but then agreed to hand over all of the statements. I saved out my duplicate check copies but I can get rid of them as well. FREEDOM!