Calling Minimalists - how/what do you do with household paperwork?!

[Minnieisthedevilmouse]

I'm at my wits end. I have moved a couple of times in 12 mths. We are now finally settled. We have accumulated 3 boxes of paperwork. And we shred!

I know there are lots of very organised people here and some minimalist types. How do you keep on top of yours? How do you store? What to keep? What to dump? 3 boxes is a joke!

We have no loft now. I'm looking for as paper free as I can. Or as organised with "homes" neatly arranged. Where able bills are online.

Help me find nirvana please....?!

scan to PDF and backup to a memory stick all that you do not need to keep in hard copy.
The two or three remaining box files : buy the nice ones you can and put them in a book case, with the contents tidily in plastic folders

I'm an accountant : I have 76 boxes of paperwork in my loft

If you only lived in a house for a short while, then put all the paperwork in one folder marked with the address so you can easily find it again.

When you plan to live somewhere more long term, use an expanding briefcase with dividers and label them for each bill, insurance, etc. I use 2 briefcases, one for bills and the other for things like medical stuff, Wills, employment stuff. I try to regularly go through and take out unnecessary stuff, like the council's booklet on how they would spend the council tax in 2010! When it's getting overfull, I shred the oldest bills.

I use A4 folders (card or plastic) for things like paperwork related to a house sale or purchase and savings accounts and I've got quite a few A4 folders on a high shelf. I go through and take out the trivial stuff and shred it, only keeping the really important stuff. I try to be both organised and minimalist but I probably keep unnecessary paperwork.

My paperwork is on bookshelves, in a cupboard and under a chest of drawers. I don't have a loft and I don't want paperwork somewhere where vermin might attack it.

We scan everything, really easy on an iPhone or similar. It has revolutionised the state of our home! No more piles of paper, no more groaning filing cabinet, and because we have everything saved in folders we can always find things easily.

Bin bin bin. Most accounts are online billing now. Obviously keep very important paperwork. When are you really going to need to know what your phone/gas/tv bill was 12 months ago?

I'm a tiny bit behind at the moment - but I will sort it.

Did I mention bin?

How do you scan from iPhone? That sounds like a great idea

I was wondering that unicorns

remember that if you scan, it has to be to HMRC standard : photo something, save to USB (DO NOT TRUST THE CLOUD) and then reprint
backups are just bins if not tested