Cleaning & Organizing
jasarah
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
File cabinets - how do you organize them?
We currently have two filing systems - mine, and my husband's. 
In one file cabinet, we have a folder each month, which stores all receipts, bills, etc. When we hit that month for the next year, we shred everything in the folder. In the other cabinet, we have a folder for each bill (pets, house, insurance, gym, utilities, etc.).
Both of us file stuff, which typically ends up with paperwork on the same thing in two different places. It's driving me nuts! Trying to figure out what the easiest option is - what does everyone else do?
Re: File cabinets - how do you organize them?
I guess it depends on how you access your files.
Personally, I find I need to access things by type rather than time. Ex: I want to find a comcast bill so I can get the acct number. So I file everything by type (house, insurance, utilities, etc.)
My system is somewhat similar to PP's. I have an AT&T file for the phone bill, a file for auto insurance, etc. I always file the newest at the front, so the older ones are at the back, in chronological order.
But as of lately, my filing system has been -- cluttered all over my countertops, coffee table, etc.
Thanks for reminding me to get on it!
My Planning Bio
123
and I have sub categories, like UTILITIES, BANKING, INSURANCE, etc., the individual folders for the companies.
That way All-State isn't in a different place from State Farm, if you know what I mean.
However, I know someone who gets audited a lot, so they keep everything by the year. They might have subcategories for organization sake, Bank records, business info, etc., is with the year.
This is how we organize our files as well.
As for financial information, there's a great filing system in the book Smart Couples Finish Rich. I think the book (or workbook) is worth buying or checking out of the library just for that one thing. I've been using that system for the 6 years of our marriage and it works well for us. I tend to be paperless on my monthly bills other than credit cards, but I still receive paper statements for my retirement accounts, credit cards and bank info.
At the end of the year I go through all of the files and pull what I need to support our tax filings for the year and shred anything that I can (like monthly mortgage statements once I have the year's 1098 form). I can't remember what he says about tax years in the book, but I plan to keep all tax records forever. Those are in hanging file boxes in the attic. It's looking like I'll be able to fit about 10 years/box, so they aren't too bulky to keep.
In addition to the folders listed in the book, I keep separate files for our dog with his most recent and important records (license, shot records, etc.), our car (maintenance records, warranties) and my professional license. I try to be judicious in what I keep in those so that I don't end up with massive amounts of paper.
I keep a separate hanging file box in the attic with all of our warranty and product manual information. I keep the manuals for everything and the receipts for the things with warranties. I have separate hanging files for categories like "Electronics" "Furniture" "Tools" "Appliances." I periodically clean it out and throw away warranties that are expired or manuals for things we no longer own.
On a day-to-day basis, we have one "filing pile." When it gets too big, I file. I need to get a basket or something for the stuff pending filing.