Past paid records of bills and old paycheck stubs, and bank statements, filed tax forms, etc, etc, etc.

What is the general rule of thumb for keeping these old documents. I had always thought it to be seven years but I am getting tired of the accumulation. I go thourhg every year and shred then burn the ones that need it but is it really necessary to keep the forms for that long?

Disclaimer: Mods, If this isn't the right place for this please move it.

keep it as long as IRS can audit you

Past paid records of bills and old paycheck stubs, and bank statements, filed tax forms, etc, etc, etc.

I keep tax returns for 5 years.

Paystubs you can toss once you get the W2 from your employer, but keep your last 3, see last paragraph.

Bank statements you can toss once you get the 1040-INT form from your bank if you had an interest bearing account on them and claimed as income on a tax return.  Then they become part of the tax return kept for 5 years

Any check, receipt, etc that was used to calculate an expense beccomes part of my 5 year tax return stash.

Current bank statements I keep for 3 months, once I get the latest one I toss the 3 month old one.   I do this because if you ever have to apply for a mortgage for example, they want 3 months worth of bank statements, paystubs