Paperwork Organization (Day 24): 30 Day Organization Challenge

Today we get to tackle our paperwork organization! Are you excited? I think a lot of people hold on to paperwork because they aren’t sure what to throw and what to keep. And I think we just get overwhelmed by the buildup. We throw it all in a box and just ignore it. Then the dreaded day comes, when we need some important paper, and we pull it out. Let’s fix this problem.

I have a few ways I like to organize my paper and a few ways I store them as well. I keep the following categories: important/used often papers and documents, old paperwork we don’t access often, and important documents that we access maybe once a year. Let’s take a look at each.

Important Paperwork/Documents Organization

The most important documents and paperwork that we have, marriage and birth certificates, car titles, passports, etc., go in a binder that gets stored in our safe or on our bookshelf. It should probably always be in the safe but sometimes we grab and it and forget to put it back. Real Life. I have each section labeled accordingly for easy access. This has been my lifesaver with everything move. Once we settle, I am sure I will keep this binder because I love knowing it is readily available.

Old, Less Important Paperwork/Documents

Older paperwork and documents, like taxes cards, and notes we have held on to, get stored in manilla envelopes, in a bin. I don’t seal them off in case we want to go back and look through things. I label every envelope, and we throw one year of taxes away, every year. We file ourselves so I keep the paperwork on hand.

Everything Else

The last section is a little harder to define. It’s all of the additional paperwork. My husband’s important papers take up the majority of this section. He has been preaching since he was part of a Christian band at 16-years-old and has held onto MANY sermons. I keep saying I am going to digitize them all someday, but it’s not high on my list of priorities. He has also been in the Army for 25 years and has a plethora of Army paperwork. Very soon, we will be going through all of that and getting rid of a lot of it. I can’t wait 🙂

I also keep a few of our kiddos papers from when they were little, medical documents, and any cards/letters that I have yet to file, in here as well. We store all of these papers in filing cabinet bins. I just replaced the old ones with clear bins today and I LOVE them! I’m here for all of the clear bins.

Paperwork Organization Process

Now here comes the fun part. We are going to go through EVERYTHING! I do this often. At the most, once per move, so every two to three years. But usually, it’s once a year. You’re going to look at every bill, every piece of mail, every medical paper, etc., and decide what goes and what stays. I suggest you make piles as you go through your paperwork. Categorizing as you go makes the paperwork organization process MUCH smoother. Otherwise, you have to go through everything twice. Nobody wants that. If you need your spouse/significant others help, but they are unavailable at the moment, set all of their paperwork aside. My husband has three bins and I asked him to go through them tomorrow, when he has more time.