Let’s continue our Thursday discussions of SoulSpace! While this isn’t actually “soulful” home reorganization, it is a necessary step in order to have far less paper clutter, which contributes to that yuck factor at home for me.
I had a very organized filing cabinet that I would proudly show off. It sat in just inside an extra bathroom closet next door to our office/craft room, which otherwise houses photo albums, boxes of cards and sentimental items, and my craft supply overflow. Inevitably every year, I’d overhaul the file cabinet, update labels, add files, and shred old documents. And I would (ahem) actually file the towering stack of paperwork on top of the cabinet. That’s right, if something needed to be filed, it rarely made it into the filing cabinet.
What’s the point of having this system if it wasn’t working for me?
So I started watching myself to try to figure out what was going on. A credit card bill would come in the mail, which I open in the kitchen above the recycling bin, and immediately get placed in the “bills” bin for my already scheduled bills/paperwork time on Fridays. (Had to implement that after learning the hard way.)
After it was paid was when the trouble started. (Past tense because I’m hopeful this is a thing of the past.) It would get set somewhere on the kitchen counter so that the next time I was headed to the office, I’d take it with me. Except I’d either forget or be heading to a different room, so I’d just drop it in the doorway of the office for later movement closer to its intended spot. Maybe while I was giving my daughter a bath I’d remember to find it and place the bill on the printer near that closet. Eventually it made it to inside the closet in that towering stack of paper.
You get the idea. I think now I have a workable system and so far, a week in, papers are getting filed right away. I took everything out, streamlined categories, and created a new system.
Problem 1: The files were stored in a remote closet!
Solution: Create a new system close to where we open the mail and where I pay bills. The pull-out drawer in the kitchen was available because I previously got rid of excess there and I have lots of empty cabinet space. You can read that post here.
Problem 2: My filing system was a bit OCD. I would break down a category into subcategories and those subcategories had mini files within. It was impossible to maintain one handed.
Solution: Broader categories. Rather than have a separate folder for medical, dental, and vision for each person for each year (gosh, I was detailed!), I have one general medical file for each person. Whether it’s a receipt for the eye doctor or an annual checkup, it goes in that person’s folder. Period. For home-related files, no more separate folders for electric, plumbing, yard maintenance, one for this or that handyman. There’s one folder labeled “Home Improvement.” Easy.
Problem 3: Items that need to be shredded floated around because the shredder is a heavy behemoth in said old closet.
Solution: New filing area has a folder right in front that’s specifically for items headed to the shredder. And like paying bills, I put a monthly reminder on my calendar to actually shred those.
I have a large bin for investments and insurance policies and a smaller one for home/bill stuff. There are a few other things I am trying with this new system. Dorky, I know, but it’s color coordinated. Green folders are financial, blue are house-related, and yellow are medical. I think it will make it easier to locate them. Most are new and labeled nicely. Might as well make this as pleasant an experience as possible! I’m also keeping various check books in their respective files because I can never remember where they are.
As with any system or module you set up, it has to actually work for you. If it’s lovely but not useful, maybe there are tweaks you could make. In this situation, moving and simplifying my files is working great. I still have the larger cabinet in the closet for other years’ files, tax returns, important long-term papers, etc. Keeping things where you’re far more likely to put things away helps immensely in cutting clutter. Hmm… perhaps I need to move my daughter’s hamper!
How many years of check registers can one person keep?
Tell me what works for you. Do you have items that never make it to their destination? What can you move around to solve that?
Wow is right! Makes me think of it in terms of zoning…everything has a place and the place makes sense. Filing systems are zones and it sounds like you have it in a space now that makes sense and a process that will work well for you. Yay!
Michele Bergh recently posted…Getting Rid of 2015 Items I No Longer Need
Thanks! You are the one that put that idea in my head last week… that something can be moved to where it works better for me.
Love your post here! Paper clutter is one huge problem for me – Since I run several businesses, I most assuredly am creating a new system in place. I like your idea of broader categories here. That looks to make better sense for me and I think I will implement something along these lines. I thank you for letting me see the broader picture here.
I see an ‘Assessing’ Project here in regards to how I handle papers. hmmm/grrr/mubmles under one’s breath…. more work – but alas, I must keep thinking future…
Oddly enough, in my past, I worked for a real estate mgmt firm that had a very strict and rather useful ‘paper handling’ system. So if I was able to wonderfully follow a system like I had in the past, why not now and with my OWN businesses?
I am hoping to follow suit to a new system that not only works for me, but for any one who works for me to be able to pick up where I might have left off the day before.
Currently – no one else would know how to update inventory or where to find said paperwork to update inventory into the system if they knew how – One thing I do, is have a recyclables garbage can right inside my garage which is simply a few feet away from my mailbox. Junk mail never sees the inside of the house if I can help it.
I also open up the mail and get rid of any needless paper, i.e. envelopes, extra fliers/inserts. This is only one way I cut out the paper clutter that comes into my home.
Now if I could only attack and handle the so called organized piles inside and ontop of the desks… hmmmm 🙂
You say nobody would know how to take over or where anything is… I am thinking about that too. If something were to happen to me, I would love to have all my files make sense to someone else so they could access the accounts, pay the bills, etc.
Hi Naomi,
Wow. That is such great work. I am working on my paper too. Funny how we are doing all of these altogether! I think what happens is, one person starts to work on something and others catch on and start working on that. I cannot WAIT to get out in my garage. That is my big dumping zone! It is the only real “storage” space that we have and it definitely needs an overhaul!
I love your color coding. I am wondering if you kept your transaction logs or did you shred them? If you don’t already do this, you may want to try logging into your bank website. For me, they keep track of all that for me. Just an idea! Everyone’s different. Perhaps you could shred one more thing, then? heehee.
I just wished we all lived closer so that we could visit each other and see how it’s going. Michele will be coming over for poker night this weekend so I am excited to share my progress.
Amy Putkonen recently posted…I Ching: Hexagram #20 – Contemplation
I am just working on the garage now! Today is “junk trash” day where the city comes to take away broken storage bins and garden pots, a broken printer, yard decorations, shelves, and whatever else has been sitting in my garage for a few years. Usually, since it’s on my curb, someone else will come by and see something they need and take it, so at least it’s getting repurposed. Just this morning, I went through 2 large bins of clothing in there. It’s now possible to walk around in the garage, so that’s a start.
I tossed those check registers. I read somewhere you’re supposed to hang onto them in case you need to prove a purchase or something, but I’m not holding my breath that’s going to happen.