Absolutely Essential Organizing Tools Part 3

This is the third article in a series detailing the essential tools necessary to have on hand as you are starting to get organized. Monday we talked about calendars. Yesterday we talked about notebooks. I mentioned that as you start organizing you will find many pieces of paper.

When a piece of paper can not have the information transferred to a calendar or a special notebook, it is time to either file or toss the piece of paper. Today we are going to talk about file folders for long term paper storage. We will talk later about other types of file options for the items you use often that may work better for you than a vertical file. For now we are going to focus on getting the many seldom used papers out of the way.

You can buy a huge box of tabbed file folders very inexpensively. They even come in a wide range of colors so you can color code your papers into specific categories. Every home has documents and papers that need to be kept long term whether we want to or not. Nothing works better for tax records, warranty papers, and others that you touch only once or twice a year if ever than a vertical file.

You do not need a filing cabinet just yet. A box wide enough to hold the folders with the tabs facing upward and large enough to hold many folders will work fine. If you already have a filing cabinet, it has probably been a while since it was cleaned out, so even for you a box may be better at first.

For now, just get some folders. Find something to put them in as you declutter and organize, and find a fixed place for the box to go.

Then what?

If you have a lot of paper piles, when you first start to declutter a space you will save time by having “In” boxes to sort the paper into. You will need one for each type of item:

Information that can be transferred to your calendar or notebooks – sticky notes, address return labels from envelopes, quotes, recommended book titles, etc.
Items to be filed long term for reference purposes- financial and legal files, sentimental cards, letters, etc.
Regularly used items – personal or business papers that you use at least once a month
Hobby paper – scrap booking, clipped magazine articles, how to booklets, etc.

By sorting your paper this way instead of trying to file as you go, you will be able to focus on decluttering when decluttering and on filing when setting up your files. You will be able to do both faster and more efficiently.

General File Sorting Recommendations

Select header categories that make sense to you. Some examples are financial, legal, medical, warranty, personal. Within the header categories, continue to select sub categories until there are not any more categories available. For example, within the financial header, you can pick sub categories of bank statements, investment accounts, credit card statements, etc. Then you can select subs for each individual company or institution. That may be as far as you can go.

You do not need to make tabs for each header or sub category. When you are making the tabs just keep the sections in mind. Keep like with like as much as possible, so everything will be easier for you to find.

There are easy ways to keep headers or sections separated. You can obviously use colored file folders. If you have selected plain files, you can use all right hand tabs for one section, middle tabs for another, left hand for another, and repeat again. Make sure to put the header categories you reference more often toward the front.

General Recommendations

I do have some other suggestions when it comes to selecting folders. Only use dark colored folders if you have a white pen, white labels or label maker to mark them. Look for files that are closed on three sides and expandable when possible to keep paper from slipping out.

Ready Made Filing Systems

There are several good filing systems available if you are having a hard time making your own. Here are a few to get you started:

And some neat folders:

Your recommendations

Do you already use long term paper storage? Do you prefer using a vertical file or do you use another method? Did you purchase the file system or make your own? Let us know in the comments.