Organizing Files - Well-Groomed Home

I am one of those weird-os who loves to file paperwork. I chock it up to my days working as a secretary while in college. We all have paper files that we need to keep track of…bills, birth certificates, mortgage documents..etc. and even with everything going digital, there are times when we still need to keep a hard copy stored somewhere. Let me also say that there is more than one right way to do this. This is just what works for me and my fiance. What ever system you choose, the most important thing is that documents need to be easy to find when you need them.

Categories and Sub-Categories:
Pendaflex files are the hanging files I use for my main categories. I like them because they are carried almost anywhere and are easy to find. I’m sure that as my fiance and I continue to merge our lives these categories will change, but right now we seem to have a lot of categories because we still have two of most everything: two bank accounts, two car insurance policies, and so on. When I decided on categories for the file drawer I broke things down into broad groups (Banking, Insurance, Credit Cards, etc.). I chose categories that would be easy to remember and something we would both naturally think of when searching for that item.

I label my Pendaflex with a Dymo label maker so that everything is streamlined. Some people line up their category tabs right to left, but I prefer them all in a row because it makes it easy to add files without having to redistribute all your tabs.

For my sub-categories I chose all green file folders, not only because blue and green look pretty together, but because I wanted to keep my file drawer looking uniform. I use Scotch Expressions Washi Tape to label my files because it removes easily and leaves no residue.

The sub-categories pertain to everything contained within the broad categories. For instance, we have a Category for Retirement and within that category are two folders: one for his retirement account and one for mine.