To ask how you manage your household financial paperwork?

[LizzyBennettIsMyAlterEgo]

More of a wwyd than aibu.

My grandparents had a massive book where they wrote every single last little purchase and all their income so it totted up and then saved receipts in an envelope.

My parents saved every bill and letter and contract etc in a metal fireproof filing tin.

I keep most of my files on my computer and backed up via the cloud and the few things I have on paper in a tin and also a spreadsheet on my computer for the main monthly bills but not the day to day stuff.

How do you manage your paperwork?

I spend my days as an accountant - so am a bit crap at home with it! Bills paid by DD, and any post filed in lever arch file per year.

Can't really be bothered to keep changing gas/elec etc for 'deals'.

We have a combination of physical filing cabinet (mainly for older pre-digital paperwork) fire safe (for passports etc) and digital files.
We don't track every purchase but all our bank accounts (regular payments and income, and savings) are tracked via a massive spreadsheet. Most of our spending is on a cashback credit card (paid off every month) so we have good monthly record of what we're spending.

I cull the filing cabinet occasionally but DH and I have a lot of paperwork from the 80s and 90s that we still need (certificates, house purchase, life insurance etc) so can't get rid of it entirely.

Spreadsheet on computer at work with monthly breakdown of where my money is going.

Folders at home for paperwork and cull occasionally to put stuff up in loft if not needed asap.

However my DH is a cash man and what he does with his money after paying bills is a mystery. Also loves to put his important mail back in the envelope and shove in wardrobe

Everything paid by direct debit where possible. A file where most recent bills, statements and payslips are stored. Can't see the reason for much else to be honest.

DH does it all, I have no idea how it's managed. Bills by direct debit I think, business receipts in envelopes of quarter/year and in filing cabinet but also scanned & stored digitally. Non business receipts thrown away, no need to keep them. Online banking. Aside from that, haven't a clue what he does with it all.

Filing cabinet, as few paper statements as possible. A spreadsheet listing the accounts, backed up to a USB stick and hard drives. Absolutely not the cloud!

Most accounts joint and we each have our own paper system for managing passwords, not plain text of course. And we both know where the money is because if one of us is hit by the proverbial bus, the other doesn't want to be left clueless.

Oh yes, there is a sticker by the meter showing the current electric supplier and house insurers, and a card in the glove box detailing the car insurer and breakdown company. I have a good phone with a two week battery life, but would never rely on it to store details.

Use DD for most bills and one of those expanding files to keep the paperwork where needed.

Direct debits or credit cards repaid in full for all bills. Bills themselves kept online. Policy documents in a metal file.

I keep it all in a mess really! We are not organised at all. Hope to get some inspiration here!

I do all ours in my head.
The council tax, water, car, utilities and sky are pretty fixed, so it's just the shopping and credit cards etc that need to be monitored closely.

Spreadsheet for fixed income/outgoings and credit card balances. All bills paid by direct debit. We update monthly.

Box in the study for things like council tax statements and P60s that we might need to look at or use.

App on my phone to track daily spending.

Online banking.

Kitchen side for everything else!

I have a notebook and a detailed spreadsheet. A lot of bills are paid by direct debit. However, annual bills are divided by 12 and saved for monthly so thr

Pressed post to soon
...so the money is there for the bill but I've earned some interest on it. I prefer paperless where possible but do have a drawer where bills are kept that I cull periodically.

I also spend my days as an accountant. I have an extra QuickBooks subscription for our personal money. All accounts automatically download and I categorise transactions. We never bother categorising any cash though so each month there is between £500-1000 cash withdrawals which are not accounted for (apart from being cash).

It is eyeopening how much we spend on groceries with little top up shops and confirms my suspicions that nearly all our money is spent on holidays and going out. We hardly spend anything on clothes or house stuff! We're happy with that.

All paperwork is scanned and then shredded. Scans are backed up to the cloud automatically.

Sound a bit anal don't I?! But it's nice to know what we have, what we owe and where we are financially.

All bills DD too.

Small drawer brightly painted filing cabinet labelled for each family member with things like passports, birth certs, certificates, etc
A house drawer, for council tax, insurance, etc. Same for holiday home.
Guarantees & warrantys in another
Car drawers, containing all the docs, spare key, etc.
Old fashioned receipt spike (with small safety cork on top)
Most bills by direct debit
Online banking
DH has own small filing cabinet in his man cave for his business.
Then the system falls down by our (my) habit of piling any post in a basket & opening it weekly/monthly/ahem, quarterly.....

On trees app which I check most days and categorise things.

Piles of bills scattered through the flat, about three box files to keep things like birth certificates and passports and uni diplomas and the like, but can never remember what goes in which. It all leads to a lot of swearing and frantic rummaging when things are needed.

I used to be better but stuff like this went out the window after having DC. Any bills I receive, I pay straight away by online banking, then write the date of payment on the bill and stuff it in the cupboard. Every 6m or so the papers might get filed. I used to keep track of all my purchases on a spreadsheet when I was at work, but only because I didn't have enough work to fill my hours (and I felt really bad doing it on company time ). My current job is super-busy so no chance of that. It didn't serve any massive purpose anyway as we don't budget - we're lucky enough that our joint incomes are enough that we don't have to pay close attention to our spending. If I do skint myself one month for some reason, DH just transfers some funds to me (he earns 3x what I do).

A spreadsheet to track income, all outgoings, dd and so.
I track our savings and budget for large spends etc.
Have 3 files that are crammed with the paperwork. But most insurance and utilities are online only so have less of them to store.
I have every pay slip for the last 15 years. Think I can probably shred those!

All bills are paid via direct debit, we put enough money into the joint to cover all bills & food. Paper copy's of bills get shoved in a folder but that's mostly council tax bill and water, as most things online now anyway.

Any money left in our accounts we spend as we please and don't monitor.

We have a box in the hallway marked '2017'. Everything gets opened and put in that in date order. When it becomes 2018 I will tie it up and put it in the loft, and we'll start a new box called '2018'.

For monthly budgeting we have a spreadsheet, three accounts each (bills/spend/save), and as many direct debits as possible.

In files according to year and type of outgoing.

Microsoft Money micromanaged down to the last penny for the next 10 years DH not interested and glazes over when I show him so he just leaves me to get on with it.
I sort paperwork same day and then file it or shred it. It all fits in a small box file - its surprising how little you actually need to keep. My dad used to have a whole office full of old bills and receipts. I could never quite work out why? He could never find anything in there so it was a bit pointless really.