How do you store all your paperwork on mortgage, investments, savings etc

[choux]

I want to get more organised - do people use leaver arch files which means you have to hole punch every page before you can file it or do you put the sheets loose in a folder?

Or is everyone else now in a largely paperless society and it's just me who has to decide this?

I have as many things paperless as I can. Other than that, I use a box file which I've put A4 envelopes in, and they are each labelled eg car (so has insurance, driving licence etc); work (payslips, p60 etc); house (mortgage statements, ground rent bill, home insurance) and banking (the occasional statements I've requested, loan paperwork etc).

This means it doesn't take long to get documents put away, but still fairly easy to find!

Rockchick.

That is such an easy solution but so clever. I'm going to pinch that idea :)

We have a filing cabinet with different sections for mortgage, water bills, phone bills etc.

We seem to have about ten separate box files (bank/car/mortgage/savings/pensions/tax etc etc) - now where do I file the box files - and we still can't find our birth and marriage certificates .

I am always amazed at people who just seem to have one file or even none - where do I go wrong - and I do 'cull' stuff regularly

I've got a filing cabinet in the bedroom. Everything is neatly stored in suspension files, alphabetically of course it's a small one so it doubles as my bedside table.

Old documents that cannot be shredded - eg the children's previous Statements, paed reports etc - are archived. - boxed up and stored in the loft.

Every so often I go through the cabinet and remove old documents. eg bank statements, utility bills and so on that are more than 6 years old etc. (6 years being the time limit for disputes, afaik)

oh, but passports etc are kept in a locked fireproof box in the wardrobe

I try to be as paperless as poss, but I have a little filing cabinet with draws like this: bisleydirect.co.uk/small-storage/39-series-multidrawer/bisley-39-series-multidrawer-15-drawer-cabinet-in-black-089 (I think it's like this anyway - the drawers hold A4 sized sheets)

I find this really useful as my box files kept breaking. I have a drawer for important documents (passport, birth certificate etc), insurance, the car, banking, mortgage, credit card, and so on. Mine is a nice blue/grey colour and I've always managed to find a little space for it wherever we've lived. I also have a drawer for "active mail" which basically means stuff I haven't gotten around to filing yet - it's my favourite draw!!

I know it's a bit of outlay, but I was buying box file after box file (my brute of a husband ill treated them), and my filing cabinet should last pretty indefinitely - I hope!

another plus is you don't need to punch things - although I do subdivide the drawers by putting things in plastic wallets.
I'll leave it there - I'm starting to sound anal - I'm not - without my filing cabinet it'd be a disaster!

Folders in a filing cabinet. Where there is quite a lot in a folder, plastic wallets which hold A4 sheets (e.g. credit card bills, bank statements). No need to hole-punch.

A steel filing cabinet, if habitually closed and locked, gives surprising good protection in a typical domestic house fire (which is usually put out fairly quickly, very few houses are totally destroyed). A 2-drawer cabinet is smaller than a kitchen unit and could even be put inside one (but will be very heavy when full).

Whatever your filing system, it is essential to have it next to the chair and table where you work, or you will procrastinate in putting things away. Mine is under the computer.i

Don't forget to safely store the CDs or DVDs where you back-up your computer files. When the hard drive fails, you will be very distressed at the lost of all your photos and that novel you were writing.

Filing cabinet, box files. Fire-proof safe for the most difficult to replace documents (passports, driving licenses). DH tries to make accounts in his name paperless which makes me TWITCH. If he doesn't even write down his password(s) & account numbers or the institutions the pots of money are with, what happens if he suddenly dies? Eh, eh, eh?

We used to have a filing cabinet but we cut that down recently to box files labeling them car, mortgage, loans etc. They're on a shelf above the computer as stuff that comes in often has to be responded to via email and then the paperwork can be filed immediately. You can try and be as paperless as poss but you always have to keep some documents. A friend of mine has a sort through twice a year (2 Jan and 2 April). On the same day, she turns all the mattresses over as well - i think her dh dreads those days!

I've got tons of folders. Some labelled and some not. Still can't find important stuff ever. So reading this thread for hints.

Filing cabinet in the study. Then every couple of years I spread it all out across the sitting room floor, crack open a bottle of wine and have a cull. Half gets shredded and half gets archived into level arch folders and shoved into boxes in the loft.

Folders- not sure what they are called = but the envelope ones that you can just stuff things in - but the sheer amount of paperwork does overwhelm me.
i have lots of warranties etc; various bills; medical stuff; insurance details (for house/me/car), bank statements, pension details. payslips , tax returns, tax certificates, expenses for a house I rent out, lease agreement for house, mortgage details, nursery contract/invoices, credit card details, loyalty card stuff, savings things, investment returns - I don't know how people get it in one cabinet...
I am trying to be more organised re tax and to put all stuff i need for a tax return in one file but it always seems to be spread everywhere.

Another filing cabinet girl here. Just 2 drawers. Argo and tesco direct do very cheap ones. Keep for 6 years then bin or stash in loft.

I've got a fab filing box, cant remember where I got it from though.
Its like a storage box with carry handles then has 10 flip top boxy/envelopey things inside that lift out and slot in. They are even colour coded, five colours, two of each.
woo hoo me!!!
When we moved about two years ago I had a ruthless clear out and now I operate one in/one out for anything we couldn't go paperless on.