The big red box just couldn’t hold any more.

For years I had handled the question of what financial records to keep and for how long by the simple expedient of keeping just about everything.

Canceled checks, bank statements, monthly credit-card bills, tax returns, insurance documents, mortgage papers and receipts of all kinds – most tossed into the box in neat little bundles held together by rubber bands.

A few months ago, I wrapped up the latest little bundles but found the red box overflowing, its top popped up two inches.

A moment of truth had arrived: Clearly it was time to get a bigger box.

But instead I decided to take the effort to sort through the pile of paper.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what to do: Throw away what you can. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Easier said than done. Oh, some of the paper seemed almost grotesquely unnecessary, but I really didn’t get a handle on what’s vital to my financial security.

Canceled checks drawn on Washington’s Riggs National Bank, an account closed in the 1980s, went right into the trash. So did all that’s left of a long-dead credit union account. And there were papers relating to certificates of deposits that I cashed in more than four years ago.

Soon, though, the keep-or-pitch decision got a bit tougher.

How long should I keep canceled checks on the account I’m now using?

What about tax returns?

And what about those monthly statements that come from Fidelity Investments?

Are all the computer records that I routinely access on the Internet a replacement for paper records, or do I need backups?

I just didn’t know.

Common sense told me that all the documents pertaining to the purchase of the house ought to be keepers. My accountant suggested holding on to the tax returns and supporting documents for at least five years – just in case the IRS comes calling.

For the rest of it, hard-and-fast rules were hard to come by. Inquiries at my bank and brokerage can be summed up this way: People are different. Do what makes you feel comfortable.

In the end, what made me comfortable was not spending much more time on what was after all a closet-organizing project. I’d thrown out the obviously worthless stuff. I’d made sure that I had tax returns and house documents in a safe place.

As for the rest of it, I figured I would continue erring on the side of keeping too much paper.

So I’ve still got the red box. However, I did manage to clear a significant amount of space in it – so the lid now fits neatly on top. A small triumph.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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AP-NY-09-08-03 0626EDT