be careful with the gif format, for important papers you probably want a loseless format such as tif.
Instead of scanning bank and credit card statemets go sign up online and download them, much nicer and easier than scanning.
I've actually switched from USB flash drives to microsd cards. Those have become popular in cell phones so storing my important data on a 2G microsd and sticking it in my cell phone keeps it with me at all times. My phone is also a smart phone so I have the abaility to view most of whats on that card.