How do you keep on top of your mountain of filing and paperwork?

[krisskross]

Has anyone got any tips for how to sort the mountain of paperwork we never get round to filing?

I am too much of a luddite to do banking etc online, but we are swamped with papers- lots of which get shoved in carrier bags.

we have got 5 full expanding files- how do you keep on top of yours?

Agree with gipfeli. Don't invest too much time making it perfect, be realistic about (a) what you actually need and (b) how you will keep it up!

Eg we have all utilities in together as we get bills quarterly, and things like payslips and credit card statements are just bunged in the folders, if one day I actually need to go through them I may put them in order but ATM I dont see the need to!

OMG, I love this thread. I am going to file and rad it properly later

I am working from home and my office has a massive pile of paper to the left and it spends all day annoying me.

I'm pretty much like you, Jung, except I use a filing cabinet as there is enough clutter in DH's office on shelves in our house already.

All receipts including utility bills are in together, but then there are separate files for different bank account statements, plus a file called 'investments' which holds details of eg shares and pension schemes together.

I spent a whole weekend clearing the backlog and setting up the files a few years ago; I'm not the most organised person but feel so smug knowing I can easily put my hands on important documents - as long as DH hasn't mis-filed them!

OMG- this is inspirational! I am going to file,,,,i am going to get some staples and punched pockets!
Thank you all!

No staples or plastic wallets required. Seriously, get a pretty wooden filing cabinet. Job done. No messing around with bits of paper, just bung it in.

Thanks for all the inspiration and useful tips.

So how long do you hold on to various documents?

I've recently discovered I need to prove to my current employer that I've served 15 years in public sector employment and am therefore entitled to redundancy based on 15 years' service. Good job I've kept all my payslips and employment contracts since I started working 25+ years ago.

So ... worth keeping some stuff, but I guess most stuff could be discarded much earlier.

P.S. to the person who wants a PA, I'm about to be made redundant so might be up for a job

Actually though, I really hate paperwork and have to agree with the poster who said there is such a thing as over-filing. I have been a bit exuberant with my neatly divided folders.

15 YEARS?????

You have to keep proof? It isn't accessible anywhere else?

Blimey.

Public sector HR departments are pretty incompetent Ponders - my service has been contracted in and out a lot and paperwork has got lost along the way.

I don't think it's normal to have to keep stuff so long though.

I should say not! The norm for financial stuff is 6 years, isn't it?

Really, if you didn't happen to have kept all the bumf for 15 years you would get less redundancy? That stinks

Yeah, there is a lot about public sector employers that stinks at the moment. The massive cuts are bringing our their dark side - they will do anything to preserve the top jobs while shafting their loyal frontline employees.

I'm going for voluntary redundancy and am glad to be getting out.

I have a combination of filing cabinet and box files - the box files are for papers which would take up too much space in the cabinet, eg bank statements, tax papers, papers related to buying our house etc. Filing tray which gets sorted out when it threatens to topple over and intray for stuff to action. Every now and then chuck out the older papers (I tend to keep about two years worth).

System works ok even for a disorganised person like me.

Gipfeli, our systems seem to be much the same! I also agree that you can waste many hours on a too-perfect system if you're not careful.

Online bank statements and utility bills cut down a lot on what you need to file. Worth getting that set up, then there isn't much daily stuff that needs keeping.

I bung all post and random papers, receipts, etc that come into the house in a nice wicker basket kept in the kitchen, then once a month or so I go through it, open all the post, deal with what's in it, bin most of it, and file the rest. I only open handwritten envelopes and anything that looks like it might contain a cheque the rest of the time!