Minimalism: Papers In Our File Cabinet

I shared the files in our desk drawer yesterday, today you get to hear and see what is going on in our file cabinet. And this is after the latest purge of paper!

This is the top drawer of our filing cabinet. Here's what it contains:

• Furniture receipts and manuals (only keep ones I can't find online)
• Birth and Wedding Certificates, Passports
• Oldest Daughter School papers (Preschool through High School)
• Youngest Daughter School papers (Preschool through 9th grade)
• Wills
• College transcripts, military courses completed
• Husband non military work documents
• Health records (one for each of us, includes dental and vision) 
• Tax records (7 years)

If I push the files tight, this drawer is only 1/4 full. 

I have some thoughts on what is left. The girls school papers are actually more sentimental at this point. I did cull them about two years ago, so they have been minimized. I would like to keep their writings and drawings over the test scores. I will ask them before I toss any further. These files are not the only memories we have.

During the recent purge of papers I let go of my old work documents. I did scan some for reference, but they were all shredded in the end. I want something similar to happen for my husbands file. Of course, I will need his help. 

Health records may be able to be minimized or scanned as well, but for now I feel okay keeping these in their current form. Luckily, we are rarely ill, so the amount of records we keep is limited for each of us. 

Furniture receipts might also be worth scanning. They are for items we own and could use to prove ownership in the event of loss. They were helpful for claiming damage to some furniture during our last move. The manuals we have left amount to about ten that I could not find online. The odds of needing to reference them is slim. 

On to the lower drawer of the file cabinet. Here is what it contains:

• Military records
• Military health records
• Military pay stubs
• House ownership documents for three homes

These papers take up 1/4 of this file cabinet, maybe slightly less. 

The military files are probably as slim as they are going to get, unless my husband double checks for more duplicates or gets rid of more things that are not entirely needed. He has been accumulating these papers since 1991, so it is expected there would be quite a bit. 

The mortgage files. (We currently rent, and do not own a home.) When I just think about it, I'm ready to let go of the ones from our first home which we sold in 2006. However, when I look at the documents I get a little sentimental! Our first home!! However, if I keep any it should be far less than I have now. The other two are more recent sales and since we deducted mortgage interest on at least one of them, I feel the need to keep as a sort of supporting document. Honestly, with these documents I am erring on the side of caution and keeping what seems right. But boy, legal sized documents are a pain to store because of their size.

And yes, you have now seen all of our files. Do we have mementos and keepsakes that are likely paper? Yes. Those are stored elsewhere and will likely need some work to minimize someday when we are up to the task. 

So tell me. What documents do you keep? Do you keep things I have not listed? I'm especially curious, if you tend toward minimalism, what documents you have.