We found the perfect filing cabinet last weekend at
Target when we weren't even looking (that's when you find the best stuff). We wanted a two-drawer filing cabinet, because it would fit perfectly under the window. However, most are either three-drawer or one filing drawer with one little pencil drawer. We had pretty much given up (i.e. Ikea didn't have one) when lo and behold:
Now we have some space to spread out our files from the bottom drawer of our desk. I sat down last night to start loading them in when I realized that I have no idea how to arrange the files. Right now, I'm using some hybrid filing system that puts all the files I use often to the front followed by things loosely alphabetical by topic. So "banks" includes all our bank accounts and "cars" include all our cars, as opposed to filing, say, Honda under "H." What that results in is a system where I can never find anything...
So my dear readers, you've lurked long enough and this relationship is feeling too much like a soliloquy than a dialog. I need advice--if you organize anything on paper, how do you do it. Please take the poll below and leave suggestions in the comments. Anything will be better than my erratic methods.
3 comments:
I have a 2 drawer cabinet. In the bottom drawer I have the bank, househould/monthly, and credit card paperwork. The top is for stuff like insurance, car stuff, tax returns, pay stubs and random/yearly things.
I have a sort of hybrid non-system, where I mostly put frequent to the front and rely on large, labeled tabs and group stuff together. Lots of stuff. I've got bank statements, pay stubs, etc in the same folder ("$$"), everything car-related whether insurance stuff or the pictures of the charred remains of my old car in another folder ("car"). I didn't go quite so far as to put all "utilities" in one folder, but I did start one called "house" with repair receipts and roommate rent receipts and subcontracts.
Of course, I've gone paperless for nearly everything now, so I haven't opened my filing cabinet for years except to dump instruction manuals in the bottom drawer :-)
Tara said on Dec 09 2010, 05:12 PM:
I would suggest using a combination of both Alphabetical by subject, and then within that subject, most recent document first. For example: BANKING -Checking Account --December --November --October --etc. -Savings Account --December --etc. UTILITIES -Cable -Electricity -Garbage Removal -Heating -Internet -Water/Sewage Something like that. Most businesses organize their files in a similar fashion, by subject and date.
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