How to Create and Organize a Personal Filing System

You know it’s time to start a filing system when you have piles of paper on every surface of your kitchen; or, if you are organized enough that you stack the papers in one place only, it’s still time to file if that stack is more than one-inch tall. Here’s how to start, and more importantly, how to keep your system going.

First, look through all your papers and see what types of categories you have. Are there bills, receipts, forms to fill out, offers to respond to, legal notifications, or tax papers? As you go through each paper, keep a stack of index cards at your side. Each time you come across a paper that belongs in a new category, write the category on an index card, and place each paper underneath its corresponding card. These will become your file folders. Don’t be afraid to make a lot of categories; create as many as you need. (Just be sure to do this where you have a lot of room… the living room floor might be best!)

Categorizing Tips. Create the categories in a way that makes sense to you. Some people will want to file their children’s school papers under “School” while others might think that the category “Kids” would fit better. When you are looking for that paper in the future, what category are you most likely to look under?

Don’t be afraid to subcategorize either. Let’s say that you want to file your past utility bills. If you have separate bills for gas, electric, and water, you probably won’t want all of these in one folder. Create three categories; one for Gas Bills, Electric Bills, and Water Bills.

Also, as tempted as you may be, do not make a category called “Miscellaneous.” Although it’s a great cop-out when you don’t know where to put something, what ends up happening is that you end up finding all sorts of papers that could belong there. The folder gets so full that any paper inside will be hopeless to find. Instead, if you come across a paper that simply doesn’t seem to fit in the other file folders, create a new category. It’s OK to have an occasional folder with only one paper inside.

Files that everyone should have: Now that you’re getting your system going, it’s time to be sure that you have folders provided for all the basics. This is a great time to sort out your taxes. Create a folder for each year, labeled “Taxes 2006” (or appropriate year) and keep seven years’ worth of your taxes. When tax season comes around, it will be easy to grab your last year’s taxes if you need to see what you’ve done. Even if you file your taxes electronically, you should always print and keep a copy of your own. Other folders you should have are utility bill folders, as mentioned above. If you’ve opted for electronic billing, it is still a great idea to have hard copies. Whenever there is a question you need to ask about your bill, it is much easier to pull your bill out of your folder rather than fumbling around for your username and password for the company’s website. It’s also nice to have for budgeting purposes.

Also be sure to have file folders for manuals. This is one of the most useful categories in anyone’s filing system. Any time you buy a product that has a manual, you can simply file the manual away. Months later, when your product has broken, it’s easy to pull the manual out of your files to get phone numbers or instructions. You may need to subcategorize here, using categories like “Kitchen Appliance Manuals,” “Toy Manuals,” etc. Or, if you find it easier, you can also alphabetize your manuals, e.g., “Manuals A-E,” etc.

Other file folders that you may find useful are files labeled “To Do.” With this you will need to be disciplined; pull the folder out each week and do what needs to be done. File folders for “Magazine Subscriptions,” and “Important Receipts” are also nice.

Create Your Files. Once you have created as many categories as you need, and each paper is sorted into a pile, you can begin labeling your file folders. Be sure these are good quality, hanging file folders. Hanging file folders make it easy to flip quickly through your files and find exactly what you need. Label each file according to the index cards you created, and place the papers inside. Done! Well, almost.

Keeping Your System Updated. Do not neglect your file system. Now that your papers are put away, don’t just leave them there for years. Every time you receive a gas bill, put it directly in the Gas Bill folder. If you have a stack of older gas bills inside, remove the oldest one and throw it away. Likewise, if you are putting away your tax papers in a file folder, and you have eight years’ worth of taxes in your filing system, remove the oldest one. This is rotating your files. Also, if you have a paper you need to file, but doesn’t seem to fit into any categories already in your system, CREATE A NEW CATEGORY. Keep a stack of empty file folders in your office or inside your filing cabinet, and make as many new file folders as you need (without going overboard). It will not help you at all if you just throw the paper in a folder, only to search for it months later and not be able to find it because it is mis-categorized.

Even more important, every few months go through your files. If you have been rotating and categorizing correctly, this will not be a long process. Just go through each folder, and throw away outdated papers, manuals that you no longer have the product for, or old bills. Consolidate file folders and create new ones if necessary. If you regularly use and clean your filing system, you’ll never have to sort through a huge stack of papers again.