Getting paper under control

aamadore

Can you share with me your system for getting paper (in the office) under control?  This has been an ongoing issue for me for years, and I'm really tired of it.

What do you keep?  What type of bins/files do you use?  How often do you purge?

Thank you!

lmdbww

We have a filing cabinet like this that everything gets filed into.  I dont go into our office very often now that we dont have our desktop computer, so I usually make a pile of stuff to file and do it once a month.

I keep everything. I'm really bad about it. You just never know when you need something.  Once a year (usually sometime in January) I go through the entire cabinet and have a shred-fest. Utility bills, stuff that I didn't need afterall, old statements, etc.

101709lovey

Crash Into Me:

I don't keep much.  I do keep medical statements, co-pays, etc. and anything tax related.

Otherwise, all of my monthly statements (cell phone, gas/electric, etc.) all come online and are paid online.  Each company keeps the past 12 months or so of bills online, so there's absolutely no reason to keep them.  All of our bank statements come through email.  

I keep one month's worth of paystubs for each of us since we are looking to buy a new house and this is something a mortgage co. would need, but I shred past pay stubs as I get new ones.  

The less you have coming into the house, the less you have to deal with.

We also don't keep much.  Generally I will only keep a receipt for a purchase or dinner out until it clears our account, then I shred it.  Most of our monthly statements/bills come via email, but I still have a few that I haven't switched over b/c I'm kinda lazy about it.  The only time I will generally keep a receipt for example is for a clothing item just in case I don't like it or it doesn't end up fitting or something.

aamadore

Crash Into Me:

The less you have coming into the house, the less you have to deal with.

This is an excellent way to think about it!

 

Once I pay my monthly bills I put them in my "to-be shred basket".  I should just switch these all to online.

What about monthly mortgage statements?  Any reason to keep these in paper form, or switch these to online too?

101709lovey

aamadore:

Crash Into Me:

The less you have coming into the house, the less you have to deal with.

 

This is an excellent way to think about it!

 

Once I pay my monthly bills I put them in my "to-be shred basket".  I should just switch these all to online.

What about monthly mortgage statements?  Any reason to keep these in paper form, or switch these to online too?

I don't see any reason to, no.  My mortgage statements have been coming online for about 2 years and I've not had any problems/issues.  For mine at the end of the year they will send a paper copy of the interest statement for tax purposes but that's it otherwise.

Life&Gwen

I don't know quite what or how to do it yet, but I know how not to; we went to a friend's house a week ago, and they've screwed into the middle of their living room wall two giant plastic storage bins. Her explanation (because I think I was staring..) "Yeah, it keeps it out of reach of the kids" all I could think of was "ever heard of a filing cabinet with a lock??"