It works, doesn't it Suz? it's what we do with medical reports on the kids, so if someone asks to see a copy, we can easily print one out instead of searching through our files to see if we have a spare... that's what we used to do, and a couple of times I had to ask the doctor to photocopy the file for me and give me back the original... every time we took the original out of the file, we risked not getting it put back and getting it lost.
This way, they stay in the filing cabinet much more safely.
And for pay stubs - once you get your whole of year summary (whatever you guys call it, it varies between countries) you should be able to dispose of the old ones. We always keep a few, because sometimes if you're going for a loan they ask for the last few pay stubs. Our welfare people often ask for them too.
If you have to, you can always go to the accounts dept of where you work and either ask for a statement of income letter, or back copies of pay slips.
Marg