One thing I do is keep only a year's worth of any paper statement I want to keep in the filing unit (I use something that looks like a milk crate but is made of metal, and you can stack a few and buy the rolling base if wanted; I had a 2-drawer metal filing cabinet once, but I like being able to roll the metal crate thingie over to where I'm sitting and work from there). If I think I need to keep older ones, they go in a cardboard filing box in the back of the closet.

Also, I checked a few online sites to see what financial organizers (like Suze Orman) say about how long you should keep certain things, and I dumped a lot of old records that really I hadn't needed to look at for years anyway, like utility bills, some credit card statements for since-closed accounts, etc.

And I was keeping a lot of sales receipts for items over a certain amount of money. I scanned them and put them on my own computer (and I backed it up with a portable hard drive). Many of those receipts were starting to fade, anyway. Scanning more of your documents could be a good move for you, too.

That is a great idea Pammyfaye, thanks. I too want the flexibility to move whatever I use around. Not so sure I could do away with all my bill copies though. It seems I'm always going to back to look at one thing or another and it comes in handy having them in the closet.