My sincere apologies for the disappearing act! The last few weeks were busy with work, family and enjoying the few bouts of sunshine, and I hardly had any time for house-projects. But I am back...this time with ideas on managing and organizing paper...
As the world continues to get digitized and all our important stuff is accessible online, our house continues to be overwhelmed by paper...think statements, notices, coupons, invitations, 'for your record' items etc.
While living the single life, I had all my paperwork organized in dedicated folders, that was tucked away in the back of a closet. But with being married and then moving 3 times, our piles of important documents have doubled! We both have our sets of bills, pay-stubs, college documents, tax returns, employment histories, car records, medical records..and to top it off...house papers! Even though a lot of stuff went through e-sign, we have binders full of documents that we have to save 'just in case you need them' to prove that we REALLY do own this house!?
Pre-requisite: Before we embarked upon this journey of paper management, we went ' green' on all our monthly statements. Our cell phone, utilities, HOA, mortgage, TV/internet bills are all online-only. We even opted for paper-free versions (read: PDFs) for credit card and bank statements. That was half the battle won.
To tackle the remaining chaos, I broke it down in 2 steps:
1. A single station to manage intake
2. Sort, File and Store
Step 1: Intake Process: We have a dedicated spot in the kitchen where all the mail comes in.
Step 2: All the paper that needs to be stored for future reference goes through its own sorting and filing process.
In the new house, as I was trying to make sense of the fastest and cleanest way for filing and storing paper, I decided to hit Staples in search of inspiration. I came back equipped with things that were easy to put together as well as sustainable for storing more documents in the future. This was my ammo:
As the world continues to get digitized and all our important stuff is accessible online, our house continues to be overwhelmed by paper...think statements, notices, coupons, invitations, 'for your record' items etc.
While living the single life, I had all my paperwork organized in dedicated folders, that was tucked away in the back of a closet. But with being married and then moving 3 times, our piles of important documents have doubled! We both have our sets of bills, pay-stubs, college documents, tax returns, employment histories, car records, medical records..and to top it off...house papers! Even though a lot of stuff went through e-sign, we have binders full of documents that we have to save 'just in case you need them' to prove that we REALLY do own this house!?
Pre-requisite: Before we embarked upon this journey of paper management, we went ' green' on all our monthly statements. Our cell phone, utilities, HOA, mortgage, TV/internet bills are all online-only. We even opted for paper-free versions (read: PDFs) for credit card and bank statements. That was half the battle won.
To tackle the remaining chaos, I broke it down in 2 steps:
1. A single station to manage intake
2. Sort, File and Store
Step 1: Intake Process: We have a dedicated spot in the kitchen where all the mail comes in.
- The promotional stuff, along with any other junk goes straight to the recycle bin (the black bin on the left). Anything that has our personal information (address, account info, etc.) is taken to the shredder. I get such a high when I hear those promotional credit cards dying an early death...sorry for making paperwork gory :P
- The stuff that needs further attention (bills, invitations, etc.) is stored in the back slot.
- Address labels, stamps and empty envelopes are stored together in the middle slot.
- Coupons go in the left-most slot and pens and markers in the right-most.
- For a higher success rate on this process, ensure that the husband follows this process and call him out if he doesn't :)
Step 2: All the paper that needs to be stored for future reference goes through its own sorting and filing process.
In the new house, as I was trying to make sense of the fastest and cleanest way for filing and storing paper, I decided to hit Staples in search of inspiration. I came back equipped with things that were easy to put together as well as sustainable for storing more documents in the future. This was my ammo:
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| 3 inch filing folder |
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| Assorted colored filing folders in bulk |
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| a plastic filing tote where I could tuck all the paper away |
- When we moved, we had a massive cardboard box, full of documents. First I laid it all out...then made 'recycle' and 'shred' piles and got rid of a bunch of unwanted paper.
- I used the wide, 3 inch folders, one for each of us, to store personal documents - transcripts, certificates, education histories, etc.
- I used the assorted colored folders and gave each one of them a dedicated tab. This was used to store more of the common paperwork - car records, tax returns, health and medical documents, new house paperwork, bills, etc.
- I brought out the 2 plastic totes; the wide folders went in one and the assorted folders went in the other.
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| These totes have a lot of space, the box on the left is still half empty, allowing for 'future expansion' |
- I shut the lid and neatly stowed them away in the office closet. As a result of this, I was able to get rid of all the disparate and random collection of folders and binders that I once used to store paper.
This hardly takes up any room in the closet 
random folders that can now we used for something else
