How do you file stuff?

[matt1215 0]

I've finally decided that my junk-bedroom needs to become a junk-closet (or better yet, junk-drawer).

One thing that's catching up to me is I'm very disorganized where paper's concerned. Most of it's in folders, or in a pile under on desk. Really important things like my passport and birth certificate have their own special folder, probably going into a safe. Bottom line is all this paper needs to thin-out and get organized.

Things like old bank/credit card statements are going into a box to be destroyed (tonight, in the fireplace). Things like military documents, significant reciepts, and paperwork on my current apartment are going into another box for filing.

I'm curious how people file stuff. How you decide what to keep and destroy?

[MikeFB2764 0]

I give paperwork to my wife and let her deal with it.

[matt1215 0]

That's a definite advantage to being married.

[sunshine 2]

I put all my important stuff up turtle's ass.

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[Nightingale 0]

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I'm curious how people file stuff. How you decide what to keep and destroy?

If it's something I need a record of, but don't actually need the original (credit card bills, utility bills, bank statements, warranty cards, etc...) it gets scanned to .pdf onto my computer, filed there, backed up, and the cd backup goes into the file cabinet and the original gets tossed, or in the case of car insurance, the original goes in the car since copies can be printed if necessary. If it's something I need the original for (pretty rare... stuff like bar exam registration confirmation), then it goes in alpha order in the top drawer of the file cabinet.

Most of the stuff people keep aren't really things that you actually need the original documents for. You just need a record. When I had a dispute with my credit card company, pulling out the scanned statement was just as good as the original. You just scan them, label them by company.month.year (edison.02.2007), and file in the appropriate computer folder. My file structure looks like this:

Records Folder--->
year folders--->
company folders--->
scanned files

At the end of the year, I take the scans from three years ago, burn them again onto CD, and then delete the scans from the hard drive, so I've only got three years at a time on the computer itself.

The really nice thing is that most companies will now send e-bills instead of paper ones, so I just save those to the appropriate folders and don't have to scan the paper anymore. My phone bill, credit card, internet, bank statements and student loan statements all come that way. My computer pays those bills automatically, so once a month I download the bank statements and bill pay confirmations and file those away on the computer also.

The only trick is that you have to make sure that your digital copy is backed up before you can throw the original away. As reliable as my mac is, sometimes hard drives do go bad.

[ladyskydiver 0]

Here's a good website that discusses what to keep and for how long (recommend for those in the US).

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

[LisaM 0]

um.... well... just.... wow.....

~ Lisa
~ Do you Rigminder?

[lauras 0]

Could you please come over and re-org my entire life...and Oren's too? I offer a whole bunch of jump tickets at Skydive City, a bedroom while you're busy getting our lives in order (and/or jumping) & free reserve repacks for at least a couple of years!

Please pretty please!!!

[GravityJunky 0]

Same way Muenkel's been storing the old noggin' for the last 14 hrs. I find that filing method highly effective!

*My Inner Child is A Fucking Prick Too!
*Everyones entitled to be stupid but you are abusing the priviledge
*Well I'd love to stay & chat, But youre a total Bitch! {Stewie}

[bdbrown 0]

With a file

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[Nightingale 0]

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um.... well... just.... wow.....

I hate having paper lying around. The more paper, the bigger mess my place is. I am not a neat person, but I'm very organized when it comes to my computer files, so I figured that the computer was probably the best way to keep track of stuff, and it would eliminate most of the paper that was cluttering up my life.

[Snowwhite 0]

When the pile gets too big, we buy a bigger house. Did that 3 times, then the move became too difficult, so we just added on to this house to double the size of it.
I'm figuring the kids will have a big house fire when we die.

skydiveTaylorville.org
[email protected]

[eeneR 1]

I file stuff under "S"

She is not a "Dumb Blonde" - She is a "Light-Haired Detour Off The Information Superhighway."
eeneR
TF#72, FB#4130, Incauto

[matt1215 0]

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I file stuff under "S"

Good stuff .

I've thinned things out quite a bit. Bought some duraflame logs and filed a lot of things in the fireplace. Still, lots of stuff in a big box.