While I’ve been walking around whipping my house into shape, one place I haven’t wanted to touch is the enormous stacks of papers lying in my office drawers. But, if I don’t get it dealt with now I can only imagine what I’m going to have to deal with in just a few months’ time.
In order to tidy up all of my financial paperwork here are the steps I’m taking to spring clean my finances.
Shred Documents You No Longer Need
This is my number one most dreaded task which is why I’m starting with it first.
I have a stack of old bills and other unimportant financial documents that I need to rid myself of. Things like old bills, receipts, and other miscellaneous paperwork are on the shred list.
If you don’t have a shredder another option is to burn these items.
Make a Spot for Important Records
Since I’ve been organizing the whole house I want to keep my financial belongings in nice working order as well.
I plan on purchasing a few binders – one for taxes, one for important papers like mortgage documents, and a third for personal information like birth certificates and social security cards.
A simple system like this will (in theory) keep everything nice and neat.
Come Up with a Good Filing System
Next is an easy to maintain filing system. In order to keep this caught up I’ve decided that I’m not going to keep regular paper statements.
I can access almost all of my old records online so at this point I see no reason in filing a phone bill, for example. I’m only going to keep the important papers like receipts and bills I may need for tax purposes. Everything else will be immediately shredded.
Setting Up a Bill Station
Last on the list is something I’ve already done!
There’s a drawer in the coffee table next to “my chair” which contains a container full of pens, stamps, and a calculator, another container for receipts, my coupon pouch, checkbook, and my daily planner.
Keeping this drawer nice, neat and easily accessible has made paying bills less of a dreaded task!
Keeping Up With It All
In the past I feel like I’ve tried to make my filing systems a little too complicated. By dealing with papers as soon as they come in rather than stacking them up into a monstrous pile is half the battle. Hopefully my decision to stop hanging onto the things I don’t really need will nip this problem in the bud.
How do you organize your financial life?