Organizing Your Filing System

Hopefully you have everything gathered for tax season, which is just around the corner. If not, take some time for that this weekend. Then it will be a weight off both your mind and heart.

If you are ready, now is the perfect time to get your filing system in order. It may sound like a long, tedious task, but it will be worth it in the end.

Today I want to share how our filing system is set up, as well as a couple of tips for doing it yourself.

And if you'd like to turn your boring, outdated filing cabinet into a pretty piece of furniture like ours pictured, just click here.

Our filing is set up by month to begin with. I started this two years ago as a way to save my sanity. I am not a big fan of filing each individual piece of paper in a separate folder. That is a waste of my time and energy, not to mention brain power, all of which are often in short supply.

Instead, all of the filing for the month goes in an individual folder labeled with the month and year. This has proven invaluable when we know when something happened because we can flip straight to that folder and there it is. Behind that are individual folders for paperwork we will be keeping for more than two years.

When the next month's bills come in, I take the oldest folder - which is now the current month from two years ago - and empty it out. I shred the old bills because they are now unnecessary and file anything that needs to be saved. That includes house payment receipts, pay stubs and any new paperwork we've signed. This list is narrowed down from a dozen things I would have otherwise filed to just a handful.

The year gets changed on the filing tab and moved to the front of the drawer. I read a comment the other day by someone who doesn't believe in staggered tabs because there is always something new to add, forcing you move all the tabs over and over again. With this monthly system, it never changes, so you can set it up once and forget about it.

Hopefully this idea will help you get your spring organization underway and enjoy that sense of accomplishment that you're keeping your household on track financially.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holland Creme - That Amazing White Stuff In Donuts

Image
I remember going to the grocery store every Saturday morning when I was growing up, and my favorite place in the entire store was the donut case. All the glazed, powdered and filled baked goods drew me like a magnet. My favorites, far and away, were the ones filled with that beautiful white, fluffy creme. At the time I didn't know it was called Holland Creme - I just knew it was the most amazing concoction ever. Ever. Here is my version of this sweet treat. You can make your own fried donuts and fill them, or like I did here, you can cut a crevice into store-bought donuts with a knife and fill them with creme in a piping bag. Either way, you're going to love it. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup shortening 1 cup butter 1 Tbsp vanilla 7 cups powdered sugar 1. Make a simple syrup by combining sugar and water in a sauce pan over medium heat until boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool complet
Read more

Recovering An Old Card Table And Making It Usable Again

Image
This card table recover project has been on my to-do list for months. I've been using it as my workspace in the craft room for quite some time, and it sees a lot of abuse. Here it is now, with a neutral cover on it so I can take better pictures for my tutorials. There were dents and dings in the old blue covering from metal tools. And yes, I've used my embossing heat tool on it several times, leaving pretty good scars. The padding underneath the blue cover also made it difficult to keep paper crafts flat when adhering them together, so it was time for something new. That's where a simple vinyl tablecloth comes in handy. The process to recover the table is pretty simple, but I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. I share them with you now. First, don't do this on any surface but a carpet. I tried it on the deck int he sunshine to get better pictures, but all it did was tear up the cover. Second, get a second pair of hands to help you kee
Read more

Crafts For Teen Girls To Make

Image
In our teen girls Bible study, we're studying our way through the Proverbs 31 woman and it's been such a blessing to me, as I hope it's been to them. Every month we spend an afternoon or an evening together studying Scripture, making something amazing in the kitchen and creating something that corresponds to the verse we're in. Choosing the crafts each time can be a challenge for several reasons. It needs to be something they can completely finish (or do most of) because once they leave they're probably not going to work on it themselves - that's just the nature of teenagers. Remember? It also needs to be a project that keeps they're attention, is age-appropriate and is cool enough that they'll want to keep it or give it to someone special. But hey, no pressure on the Bible study leader, right? Here are just a few of the projects we've done together in the year we've been meeting. * This month's craft will be the adorable cross stit
Read more