As time elapses, our world is slowly but surely transforming into a paperless one. Your billing companies may offer you the option to refer to your bills online and opt out of receiving mail.

Other paper documents are legal ones and necessary to always maintain the original copies. Understanding which documents you need to save and which to shred is essential for maintaining the safety of your pertinent information and purging the rest.

Save

There are many documents that we come across throughout our lifetime that should be saved. These documents confirm our identities, tie us to our properties, or prove a connection between us and another person.

Marriage certificates and passports or citizenship papers should always be saved.

Birth and Death Certificates

As mentioned, birth certificates are printed with a seal deeming them legit from the hospital in which you were born. They show proof of citizenship, as well as give you details regarding the moment you were born.

Save these forever and always. If you misplace yours, another can be obtained from the hospital of your birth. Death certificates should also be kept to ensure proof of death of your family members for any reason.

Social Security Cards

People used to carry their social security cards around in their wallets. They have since realized the risk of such practices, as anyone could attempt to steal your identity using your social security number.

These are issued to prove citizenship as well. If lost, you can receive up to ten replacements in a lifetime, but you must jump through some hoops. Thus, it’s better to take care of the one you have and only bring it out when absolutely necessary. 

Shred

Through our lives, we accumulate a lot of paperwork and records. Common questions about document shredding come from not knowing which are worth saving.

Most of them, such as financial and medical documents, have been uploaded into an online database that can be accessed with authorization.

In other words, we’re still holding onto things we don’t even realize we don’t need, as they clutter our spaces and lives.

ATM Receipts and Bank Statements

Anything that has to do with past banking can be shredded or destroyed. Banks keep records and are very digital now.

If you need a statement or to view a past transaction, you should be able to do so through online banking. If not, the bank can pull records for you.

Certificate Copies and Expired IDs

Copies of birth certificates that do not contain a seal can be shredded. Often, people who need to see your proof of birth cannot use a photocopy of the certificate anyway. You still want to be safe and keep them from others.

Similarly, an expired driver’s license or ID card is no longer legitimate, yet has private information on it that should be destroyed once invalid.

When deciding which documents you need to save and which to shred, it’s fairly straightforward; the ones that prove you’re you and that you are connected to this country, a person, or a business legally are the ones you should keep.

Conversely, anything with a digital record can be shredded and disposed of.