How many standard filing cabinet drawers of life admin paperwork do you have?

[notnowmarmaduke]

I had 5. I have spent the day sorting and shredding and have got it down to 4 and a bit. That still seems a lot.

Insurance documents, receipts, instruction booklets, certificates of training, exam results, bank statements (only 6 months worth) loan agreements, work contracts. A few (very few) sentimental drawings and cards, payslips, a few records from years ago I am requited to keep for legal reasons. And so on and so on and so on.

I was hoping to get it down to about 2 or 3 and reclaim some space, but that has not happened.

What do you have? What should an adult have?

In the poll, all drawers are standard filing cabinet size.

No they don’t!

They have the facility to find out what’s available by entering someone’s name. When dm died, all sorts of stuff came to light which we didn’t know about. All in different things. Solicitor just accessed them all via her name.

They’re in box files but would be at least 6 drawers. I have children with SEND and medical problems!

I have just rejigged mine. I have a drawer with 8 clear perspex folders. That's it. I have no paper statements at all.

One. It's a 2 drawer filing cabinet. Bottom is life stuff. Top was meant for work stuff but most of that is online now so its full of stationary.

I have a separate folder for training courses. Never thought of putting them in hanging file. Might do that.

The one drawer is pretty full. But the fact there is one encourages me to annually clear it out.

The main thing that takes up a lot of paperwork is home ownership documents. My goodness there is a lot of that. Massive documents of goodness knows what that I will probably need to move house again.

I don't have a filing cabinet. But does a Kallax box of doom that has paperwork and many scented tea lights in it count?

One small fireproof box with passports, driving licences, V5s and birth certificates.

Everything else is online in a password-protected Google drive, along with a spreadsheet containing details of wills, bank accounts, insurance, investments, social media / email accounts etc which my OH, sister and solicitor can access, if need be.

I've learned a few hard lessons over the years - my father died intestate when I was a teenager, I lost a whole load of stuff in a house flood about 25 years ago, and we've recently had to take of my mother's estate as she is increasingly losing capacity. As a result, I am very, VERY organised.

Keep it lean and online.

I also have a separate box file with all instruction booklets. Useful if / when I sell things.

I wonder if that’s the difference between those of us who try to preserve as much as possible online Vs mostly paper copies. I also lost a lot in a flood so prefer to have online copies of most things and as little as possible in physical only form.

Dh has one drawer’s worth our mortgage stuff, building plans from house, marriage certificate and his stuff. I have a drawer’s worth, pension info, certificates, tbh I could probably prune it down to a couple of A4 folders….

a lot is kept online and relies on my email search on a very old email platform to find…im more worr About that tbh.

I have one metal box with about a dozen A4 hanging folders. I sort it out at the beginning of April every year. It’s much easier now that so much stuff is done online.

None, everything is online

come on! birth certificates! exam certificates! a little note your granny wrote you once! tenancy agreement or mortgage! employment contracts! passports! driving licence! you can't have "none"!

I don’t need exam certs, no grandparents, mortgage doesn’t require any kept paperwork after the initial signatures, work stuff is online never printed it off, licence is in my purse, passport is in a tiny drawer with an old charger cable.

Free yourself of this flammable, unnecessary crap. Then you’ll have more space for fun stuff.

why don't you need exam certificates? How do you know that you won't want to apply for a job next year?

😱

But... but.... where would I put my lit bedroom candle or the snacks I don't want the lazy cat to get if I had to get rid of my tall and metal filing cabinet?? 😕

I have a concertina type folder….and that’s not even half full….I’m 59….can’t imagine what you have to store?
live worked probably 12 jobs over the course of my working life ….haven’t got a single contract copy….never been asked for one at an interview
all I have is birth certificates…..car log books….a handful of certificates….a few receipts…..a copy of last years council tax letter ….vaccination certificates for dog…..passports…..ehic cards…and that’s it
lots of stuff online ….but even that’s kept to a minimum and deleted soon as

I have a piece of paper for a degree certificate, so teenage exams are obsolete. I will not move jobs. No one has ever asked to see a piece of paper that shows old exam details.
@Pixiedust1234 turn the unit into a snack station.

I'm the same. Everything is in one small drawer in a chest of drawers. I only get one, occasional, paper bill that I can think of, everything else is online.

How do people have so much paperwork these days?

I used to have 3 filing drawers. But that had to go when office was turned into a nursery.
I miss that filing cabinet!

Paperwork is all over the house and I must purge and organise.

Though it did amuse me to see that in Mr Bates and the post office he had boxes and boxes of archived records luckily!

One.

Payslips, bank statements etc are all online, downloaded and printed when needed then shredded.

No longer bother keeping medical letters for dd, I've never referred back to them as every consultant starts from scratch and re does every test as if they will magically get a different result.

Insurance etc. is all online.

I have original driving licence, exam certificates and current mortgage paperwork, that's about it.

I have no car and no bank statements and have the equivalent of two drawers,

Bought a new paper shredder earlier this year and five recycling sacks were filled including documents from the 90s not needed anymore.

well, you have inspired me to whittle down and shred some more!

Filing cabinets? All bills etc. are electronic nowadays.

I have one cardboard folder. It contains passport, birth certificate, uni degree and that's pretty much it.

I have a concertina file a bit like this one just for me. That's it. I only keep the bare minimum for reference, and prune frequently. Most things are electronic.

I recently helped my mother consolidate a couple of decades/drawers/stacks worth of chaotic paper for her and her husband into a single Really Useful Box, with these tabbed file dividers. Easy to see, move, access, and for anyone else coming in to make sense of. Separate tabbed files for each of his and her medical records, personal finances etc, as well as the files grouping house/car/joint finance stuff - so easier to disentangle the two when the time comes. (I've wandered a bit off piste, but this has been a surprising and great success, for anyone supporting elderly parents.)

One divider folder? Why on earth do you have months and months of bank statements? What do you use them for?

I just have everything online for paying bills and then “important documents” e.g. birth certificate, wedding certificate etc goes in the important folder.