Berry,

For the most part it is not safe to throw away past papers, receipts, tax information!!! Keep your papers, receipts and tax information for at least 6 or 7 years! Why? Well it's primarily for an audit. You don't know when you will be audited and when you are audited, they won't just check the current year, but they can go back multiple years. If all these receipts are gone - you are going to have a very hard time proving everything and likely will be paying more in taxes at that time.

Then there are thing you should never throw away. Medical bills / receipts can be useful to have with you for life. It's your body and you want future doctors (even in 20 years) to be able to know what has gone on with you. Tax records for houses / property need to be kept until at least you sell the house or pass away.

So, in short I think the answer is this... For the IRS, those little receipts for tiny X, Y, Z things - keep them for at lest 6 or 7 years in case of an audit. After that is up to you. Personally I would keep for a longer time - there is no reason to not store them in a box somewhere. As for medical, it's just common sense to keep these records for your own information and for future doctors of yours. Keep everything mortgage related, or any other assets you currently own too.