Let’s continue our Thursday discussions of SoulSpace! While this isn’t actually “soulful” home reorganization, it is a necessary step in order to have far less paper clutter, which contributes to that yuck factor at home for me.
I had a very organized filing cabinet that I would proudly show off. It sat in just inside an extra bathroom closet next door to our office/craft room, which otherwise houses photo albums, boxes of cards and sentimental items, and my craft supply overflow. Inevitably every year, I’d overhaul the file cabinet, update labels, add files, and shred old documents. And I would (ahem) actually file the towering stack of paperwork on top of the cabinet. That’s right, if something needed to be filed, it rarely made it into the filing cabinet.
What’s the point of having this system if it wasn’t working for me?
So I started watching myself to try to figure out what was going on. A credit card bill would come in the mail, which I open in the kitchen above the recycling bin, and immediately get placed in the “bills” bin for my already scheduled bills/paperwork time on Fridays. (Had to implement that after learning the hard way.)
After it was paid was when the trouble started. (Past tense because I’m hopeful this is a thing of the past.) It would get set somewhere on the kitchen counter so that the next time I was headed to the office, I’d take it with me. Except I’d either forget or be heading to a different room, so I’d just drop it in the doorway of the office for later movement closer to its intended spot. Maybe while I was giving my daughter a bath I’d remember to find it and place the bill on the printer near that closet. Eventually it made it to inside the closet in that towering stack of paper.
You get the idea. I think now I have a workable system and so far, a week in, papers are getting filed right away. I took everything out, streamlined categories, and created a new system.
Problem 1: The files were stored in a remote closet!
Solution: Create a new system close to where we open the mail and where I pay bills. The pull-out drawer in the kitchen was available because I previously got rid of excess there and I have lots of empty cabinet space. You can read that post here.
Problem 2: My filing system was a bit OCD. I would break down a category into subcategories and those subcategories had mini files within. It was impossible to maintain one handed.
Solution: Broader categories. Rather than have a separate folder for medical, dental, and vision for each person for each year (gosh, I was detailed!), I have one general medical file for each person. Whether it’s a receipt for the eye doctor or an annual checkup, it goes in that person’s folder. Period. For home-related files, no more separate folders for electric, plumbing, yard maintenance, one for this or that handyman. There’s one folder labeled “Home Improvement.” Easy.
Problem 3: Items that need to be shredded floated around because the shredder is a heavy behemoth in said old closet.
Solution: New filing area has a folder right in front that’s specifically for items headed to the shredder. And like paying bills, I put a monthly reminder on my calendar to actually shred those.
I have a large bin for investments and insurance policies and a smaller one for home/bill stuff. There are a few other things I am trying with this new system. Dorky, I know, but it’s color coordinated. Green folders are financial, blue are house-related, and yellow are medical. I think it will make it easier to locate them. Most are new and labeled nicely. Might as well make this as pleasant an experience as possible! I’m also keeping various check books in their respective files because I can never remember where they are.
As with any system or module you set up, it has to actually work for you. If it’s lovely but not useful, maybe there are tweaks you could make. In this situation, moving and simplifying my files is working great. I still have the larger cabinet in the closet for other years’ files, tax returns, important long-term papers, etc. Keeping things where you’re far more likely to put things away helps immensely in cutting clutter. Hmm… perhaps I need to move my daughter’s hamper!
Tell me what works for you. Do you have items that never make it to their destination? What can you move around to solve that?
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