Credit Card settlement paper...what do you do with what you have to save for years?

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domsmom

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I have my credit card settlement paper for the 5 years I have been in business. I feel like I am drowning in paper as it is. Yet I have to keep this in case of an audit or something. I am unsure of the best way to store it. A shoebox? I use to keep a file folder, but it takes up a lot of space (it was a 31 day folder and I tried to be very organized about it) and it seems that it is a waste. Any ideas would help.
Thanks!
 
Sorry I don't have any brilliant ideas but you do need to keep records in case you are audited.
We have stuff back 7 years at least..you should see all the boxes in our basement. I just have them all sorted and rubberband in a box with all my other records.
You could always scan them and keep that file I guess..but who wants to go back that far...too much work.
 
Thanks, might just take that idea. rubberband them and store them. I am not taking the time to scan them. I have 5 years already stacked up.
 
Is it your merchant account statement or a daily settlement that prints from your cc machine? I only keep the monthly statement, since it shows every transaction, so at the end of the year there are just 12 statements and they fit in a folder with other taxes and fees I keep.
 
Scan it to a pdf file and shred the paper. I periodically email a copy of my scanned documents (as a pdf file) to my mother who keeps them in a folder on her PCin the event something happens to my data - fat chance that she and I both would have a PC failure at the same moment, as well as the back up CD getting broken in two at same moment also. In my very limited space, I don't have room for paper storage.
 
Its worce in the Uk we have to keep everything (and I mean everything credit card slips and anything business related) for 10 years! receipts all sorts I have it all in monthly labled boxes in my dad's double garage!
 
I keep the CC signed receipts in ziplock bags, seperating the months with a rubberband, as well as my purchase receipts. Scanning them is a far better way as the paper they use today allows the print to fade to almost being non-existant within months.
If you begin scanning (there is no way I would do years past, start fresh) there are many ways to store those documents to make your life less cumbersome: CDs, zip drives, and online storage sites to name a few.
 
I have stacking file folders of settlement paper divided by month and year in folders.
Unfortunately, as you probably know, they deteriorate quickly. I looked back on my collection and past about 2007, you can't hardly read them.
Scan em if you can. I hate to keep anything that is a fire hazard. All this paper eeek!!!
 
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