How did you bring over your confidential files/documents?

I've started packing for my move to England and am wondering how to bring my files?  I'd love to hear how everyone else their confidential, personal files like bank account info, prior taxes, etc.  Did you mail them, ship them with your household personal affects, or bring them on the plane?

I bought a small accordian file and kept it with me on the plane.  Old tax forms, bank statements, etc got left behind though as anything older than a year wasn't going to help me with anything.  My bank statements did help me get my HSBC account.

Envelope in my carry-on

I purged everything that wasn't electronically filed somewhere (taxes were on my computer), and that I genuinely needed (birth certificate, degrees, etc), and brought a small accordion file in my carryon. 

The most important things in my carry on the first time and left others behind with my best friend. Brought the rest on subsequent trips.

I agree with the others though that a good purge is in order. Scan what you can and think hard about the rest. Good luck

I did the same - purged and put what was left in an accordion file, and brought with me on the plane in my laptop case.

I  scanned a lot of stuff on to the PC stateside but didn't get a chance to load anything onto laptop.  (Hoping DS can still reconnect the PC there)  I also scanned a load of family photos (early 20th century vintage).  Don't feel comfortable about discarding the originals of documents/photos though so at some point will have to do something with them.  I only brought last year's tax form (you're supposed to keep 7 years back) and some of my medical and dental records.  I had the last 5 years printed out but it was a massive pile (evidently a lot of duplication) so had to go through it all for most relevant stuff.

Sent them in our sealed air shipment, they didn't come to any harm. None of or boxes were opened by UK customs.

I brought mine over on the plane. 

Be sure to have the storage you want for them (three ring binder or folders).  I brought my papers mainly loose without thinking about the difference in paper size.    We store our doc in a (UK) binder and foolscap and my US-sized docs are too wide for the UK binder sleeves.  I have a few plastic sleeves from the US which I punched UK-sized holes in for the UK binder, but I wish I'd thought about it and brought more.    It's already on my list of things to get next time we're back. 

Sent them in our sealed air shipment, they didn't come to any harm. None of or boxes were opened by UK customs.

Fruitgum,  I'm not sure what you mean by sealed air shipment.  I'm still trying to figure out how to ship my belongings so I'm curious how others have done it.  Thanks

And Congrats KittyJuneberry!  What part of the UK will you be in?

Snowdonia

Thanks for your answers everyone.  I guess after sending my life in documents to England for the visa application I shouldn't be so paranoid, but I was concerned about shipping older tax forms and files with account numbers ... a bit of a Nervous Nelly. 

TFrog -- You're right about the paper size.  Everything of mine is in a file box that I'll be bringing minus the secure paperwork.  I guess over there I'll be starting new files and get a wider box anyhow.

Snowdonia -- Thanks! I'll be up in the Northeast-Durham area. 

TFrog -- You're right about the paper size.  Everything of mine is in a file box that I'll be bringing minus the secure paperwork.  I guess over there I'll be starting new files and get a wider box anyhow.

I've not had problems with the UK foolscap and US paper, just the UK binders with US paper.    All my US docs lived in a UK foolscap until I realised I could punch UK holes in my US sheet protectors (for important stuff like my birth certificate).    Not the cleanest cut holes in the world, but it'll do. 

Be sure to have the storage you want for them (three ring binder or folders).  I brought my papers mainly loose without thinking about the difference in paper size.   

Good point, TF.  Also, I haven't found any ordinary folders (I like the colored ones for different types of docs) only those wallet things which seem too bulky for what I want.

Stuff I knew I would have difficulty replacing if lost (marriage certificate, birth certificate etc.)was just in my carry on. Years of tax documents (a lot of paper as I was self-employed) was just in a 'banker's box' in the depths of the full to the brim 40' container.

I figured if anyone could get in there and find all that crap, then do something with it, well....good luck. This was the 3rd time that we had documents in a container for a transatlantic move.

Snowdonia - we had a container for our furniture and personal items, and a D sized air freight box for valuables, documents and those items we needed before our sea container arrived in the UK.