How to store paperwork, folders etc

[xsquared]

My study is next in my decluttering project and the bookcase is chock full of old college work, documents in folders, letters from the doctor, dentist, optician etc.

I would like them to be grouped together so that the shelf is'nt just rammed with folder after folder of paperwork and initially, I was thinking of getting a couple of box files for the medical letters. I don't look at my degree notes anymore but don't feel ready to throw them away either, how do you store yours? I was thinking of getting archive boxes.

Matching set of archive boxes. Mine are all black. Label each box in the same format and style so they look neat.

Also you need much less paperwork than you think you do, most of it can go!

Thank you. Do you have recommendations for sturdy archive boxes please? I've had a look on Ryman, Staples, Wilko and even The Works and there's so much choice.

I use the really useful filing boxes (amazon and others sell them). They stack well, the lids clamp down OK, they take hanging files OK.

I use an ikea kallax and find that those cardboard documents wallets fit in the ksllax boxes perfectly when stood up. So I have a wallet for each category and can rifle through them like in a filing cabinet, but looks much prettier from the outside

Most of that doesn't sound like it needs keeping.

Stuff that I'm hoarding because I don't feel able to let go yet just goes in cardboard archive boxes out of the way until I shred / chuck it.

Stuff that genuinely needs keeping goes in a handful of box files and each time I add something new I remove anything that no longer needs keeping.

Decluttering is about reducing how much stuff you keep, not just changing your storage solutions.

put them in folders, in a cardboard archive box, and put in dry storage, labelled "stuff for my kids to throw away when I die."

@PigletJohn

put them in folders, in a cardboard archive box, and put in dry storage, labelled "stuff for my kids to throw away when I die."

😆

@legoriakelne

Most of that doesn't sound like it needs keeping.

Stuff that I'm hoarding because I don't feel able to let go yet just goes in cardboard archive boxes out of the way until I shred / chuck it.

Stuff that genuinely needs keeping goes in a handful of box files and each time I add something new I remove anything that no longer needs keeping.

Decluttering is about reducing how much stuff you keep, not just changing your storage solutions.

I've already checked two bin bags of worksheets I had as a teacher but still looking cluttered!

I have a high chest with about a dozen narrow drawers in the hallway, all labelled with different categories. As documents that may need keeping come in I immediately put them in the appropriate drawer.

In my study I have a shelf with file boxes, same categoties. When one of the little drawers gets full, I go through the documents and decide what needs keeping and put it in the corresponding file box.

When a file box gets full, ditto. Only few things need to be kept 'forever'. Tax and related financial stuff: 7 years - but keep your P60s.

The beauty of the small drawer system is that most things that I'm likely to need to refer to are immediately to hand.

@Shurl

I use an ikea kallax and find that those cardboard documents wallets fit in the ksllax boxes perfectly when stood up. So I have a wallet for each category and can rifle through them like in a filing cabinet, but looks much prettier from the outside

This is useful to know! @Shurl When you say cardboard document folders so you mean those cardboard wallet folders with a big flap?

@PigletJohn

put them in folders, in a cardboard archive box, and put in dry storage, labelled "stuff for my kids to throw away when I die."

I might just do this with some of my old things

Ikea white aluminium magazine files/ document holder thingys.
One each for me and dp and one for household things.

Scan it into electronic form and keep it in files on a separate flash drive.

@rummikub, those cardboard wallets with the big flap over the top, yes. They're the perfect size. And you can get loads in a single box, which plays into my "I'll keep that paper just in case" tendancies a bit too well. But the wallets are a few quid in the supermarket for multiples, so dead cheap just to buy more when needed

@Shurl
Thanks so much for that I will definitely be doing this

I’m almost excited at sorting out paperwork
It’s all over my house currently
Ideally I’d have a filing cabinet but no space nor money. I do however have a Kallax and keep wishing that IKEA would make a filing cube- it can’t be that hard can it. ??
But this solution may be the answer!

@Rummikub - there’s a product you can buy to put files neatly inside the drona boxes in your kallax - see here ikeahackers.net/2020/12/kallax-filing-cabinet.html

Also you can adapt the IKEA boxes to be better for hanging files - see here

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.instructables.com/IKEA-Expedit-Filing-Cabinet-Hack/%3famp_page=true

[quote Rummikub]@Shurl
Thanks so much for that I will definitely be doing this[/quote]
You are welcome!

[quote Fredoftheforest]@Rummikub - there’s a product you can buy to put files neatly inside the drona boxes in your kallax - see here ikeahackers.net/2020/12/kallax-filing-cabinet.html

Also you can adapt the IKEA boxes to be better for hanging files - see here

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.instructables.com/IKEA-Expedit-Filing-Cabinet-Hack/%3famp_page=true[/quote]
Thanks for the hack those filing drawers look awesome!l

I used to have a three drawer filing cabinet and I filed everything. Including menus from takeaways. I loved how organised I felt.

I’m going too get rid of as much paper as comfortable and organise as I go. Well that’s the plan.

We have the Alex drawers from IKEA and have a drawer for each category. If the drawer gets full then we chuck out the oldest stuff.

Why not scan them in and file them electronically on an external hard drive? Then shred all but the most important things that need hard copies like certificates.

I don’t have a scanner nor a pc nor the time to scan plus I cba to scan. My ex scans all his documents immediately!
I liked the op suggestion (on this thread or another?) that mentioned dealing with the post that arrived that day and developing a system for that. Then tackle the backlog once you know your system works.

@Rummikub

If you download the Microsoft Onedrive app it has a scan function on it. You can literally take a picture of it on a phone and it will save it as a PDF

@Spandang

Now that sounds useful.

If I have other Microsoft apps on my phone linked to my work email then can I use a different email for the app you’ve suggested?

I do take photos of passports when ive been going on holiday and just save on camera roll.

@Twinkie01

Scan it into electronic form and keep it in files on a separate flash drive.

That's my solution too. I keep paper birth certificates etc (also scanned to be on the safe side). I've reduced the paper storage down to one folder!

An entire 4 drawer filing cabinet is waiting to go to the tip (can't recycle - it's war-time issue and hasn't the safety feature that stops the set overbalancing).