Household Filing System Categories
November 9, 2007 by Julie Bonner
Filed under Home & Living
One of the most common mistakes people make when trying to set up a household filing system is making it too complicated.They create too many categories and do not make categories that fit their household needs.
As you sort through all of the papers related to your household, you will know which categories you need and which ones you won’t.
Here is a list of possible category names:
Addresses
This file can hold the anything from your Christmas card list to business contacts.
Bank Accounts
This file can hold items such as checking account statements, savings account statements and safe deposit box paperwork.
Charities
Place items such as receipts and monthly giving statements in this category.
Credit Accounts
This file can hold credit card statements, credit contracts and receipts.
Educational Records
Always know where your important school records are by filing them in this category. If more than one person in your household has educational records, put manilla folders, labeled with each person’s name, inside the main file. This will keep everything separate.
Employment
Place items such as resumes, contracts, retirement & pension plans, social security and benefits paper work in this category.
Health Records
File all health records for each member of your family in this category.
Housing Records
Some possible paper work items to file into this category are: deeds, lease, utilities, mortgage payment schedule, manuals/warranties/receipts for electronics & appliances, furnishing information and household receipts.
Insurance
You may wish to separate insurance into several different files or you can file them separately into manilla folders inside the main Insurance file. File insurance documents for transportation, house, health and life.
Transportation
This file can hold items such as expense & repair receipts, titles, frequent flyer information and lease paperwork.
Personal
File items such as marriage & birth certificates, clothing receipts, membership information, social security cards and save magazine & newspaper articles.
Schools & Childcare
Place anything related to your kids school such as report cards and certificates in this file. You can also file childcare receipts and contracts in here.
Taxes
This is an important file. Some items to consider putting here are income tax returns, yearly deductions & credits, personal property and real estate.
Wills & Trusts
Store copies of your will and trust in this file. Be sure and let other family members know where it is located too if at anytime they need to be able to access the information.
Great stuff. Another way to approach it is in layers of need: keep the need it soon stuff near you, need it seldom a little further, and archive in the attic. Another trick is to use more hanging folders. If you pull a manila folder out but can’t remember where it goes when you return it, chances are you will ether file it wrong or just start a pile with it !
I have a huge filing cabinet (I’m down from three) and it’s organized so anally that if I were to die today people would likely all make fun of my crazy system. Maybe I should clear it down to some basics like this. Hmmm, that’s a big step though. I also keep a chart of where everything in the filing cabinet is (I am a geek).
Julie, will you come stay for a month and organize my house? I will cook for you….
Jon: Great tips as always. I love it when you stop by because I always learn something.
Jennifer: I’ve thought of doing the chart thing but never have. You gotta take a picture of your filing cabinet system some day. That would be fun to see.
Marye: I’ll be there tomorrow and my favorite type of food is Mexican.
I worked many years ago with an excellent secretary. She didn’t share her secret about keeping her bosses files so perfectly, but I recall that she had a “word”, most likely in her head, that she used which explained the sequence of her files. Have you ever heard of such a thing?