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Last week, we spoke about spring cleaning your home. But it is also important to get your financial records in order.  We’ve compiled five tips for spring cleaning your finances.

Organize Current Records

According to usa.gov, the web portal for the U.S. government, you should create an “active” file of important documents. That file should contain the following items: Appliance manuals, warranties and service contracts

• Bank statements
• Bill payment receipts
• Bills awaiting payment
• Credit card information
• Education records, diploma, transcripts, etc.
• Employment records
• Family health records, including vaccination histories
• Health benefit information
• Household inventory
• Income tax working papers
• Insurance policies
• Loan statements and payment books
• Password list
• Receipts for items under warranty
• Safe deposit box inventory (and key)
• Tax receipts, such as those received for charitable deductions

You may want to organize it further into these six categories:

• Monthly Bills, Bank Statements, and Pay Stubs
• Investment Statements (pension updates, 401(k) statements, brokerage and fund statements, and so forth)
• Tax Returns and Supporting Docs
• Policy Documents and Deeds (insurance policies, home deed, car title…)
• Warranties and User Manuals
• Forever Docs (things like marriage license, will, birth certificate)

Discard Old Records

Most of us have filing cabinets and drawers full of old paperwork. I know that I’m always nervous to get rid of anything that looks important, so I end up hanging onto things for much longer than I probably need to. But you can discard old paperwork.

You can discard the following items:

• Cancelled checks for cash or nondeductible expenses
• Expired warranties