Creating Your Own Basic Filing System
Creating Your Own Basic Filing System
Filing papers can be a challenge and each individual’s system can be unique to them. When working with clients, we start with a basic system (explained in this video) and then customize it to work for them.
Let us know your paperwork and filing questions by email at info@BasicOrganization.com
Start with Broad Categories and then group smaller categories within these.
Active Paperwork (You will use these folders most often)
Bills to Pay, Correspondence, Coupons/Gift Certificates, Addresses and Emails, To-Do Tasks, Reconcile Receipts, Notes, To Read, School, After School, Projects, Events, and Appointments, To File
Financial
Checking, Savings, Credit Cards, Savings Bonds, Loans, Mortgage
Utilities
Cable/Internet, Electric Company, Gas, HOA, Mobile Phone, Water
Personal
Birth Certificate, Education, Employment/Resume, Health, Military Service, Passport, Pets, Religious, Social Security
Health
Dental, Medical, Vision, EOB, Bills
Investments
Annuity, College Fund, Mutual Fund, Real Estate, Retirement, and Other Investments
Remember all of these categories can be specified to your own personal needs.
Insurance (for policies that you own)
Auto, Boats, Dental Vision, Health, Home, Life, Medicare/Social, Medical Claims
Vehicles
Auto, Boat, RV
Taxes
Property Taxes, Business Expenses, Donations, Home Improvement, Legal and Accounting, Medical Receipts, Mortgage, W2s and 1099’s, School and Childcare
Legal
Claims, Death, Divorce, Home Deed, Living Will, Marriage, Mortgage, Power of Attorney, Trust, Will
Manuals/Warranties
Electronics, Household, Personal Property, Yard and Garage, Receipts
Old Taxes
Keep for a minimum of 7 years on file.
We hope this helped you in creating your own personal Basic Filing System.
Check out our additional blog post titled ” To Keep or to Toss your important Documents”
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Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Broad categories with folders for subcategories is how I file. I use a different color of folders for each category to easily distinguish them in the drawer without extra labels.
I do the same thing. It works for my brain. I’m setting up a filing system for my mom right now , and it seems to work for my siblings who need to file papers for her as well.