The Generous Wife

Paperwork is a necessary part of running a household. Having a solid filing system for necessary papers means you can easily find your important papers when you need them. It’s a stress buster and a practical help in keeping your home running smoothly.

My favorite way of creating a filing system (that will actually work for you) uses sticky notes to help with the setup.

items you’ll need

Gather these things:

• all the papers from around your house (If you miss a few, no biggie. You can add them in later as you find them.)
• a wastebasket
• a couple of boxes (to hold papers that belong elsewhere)
• sticky notes
• pen

Later you’ll need:

• a file box
• hanging folders
• manilla folders
• labels

You’ll need a fairly large flat work area to sort papers on. Your kitchen table would do or your bed. You can use an open area of the floor if you don’t mind working there (or don’t have children or pets that will “help”).

kinds of paperwork

In this article, I’m talking about setting up a filing system for paperwork that needs to be stored for reference or later use. As you are sorting through the papers you have gathered there are some papers that won’t belong. I mentioned having a couple of boxes on hand. Label one “working papers.” This is for anything that you need to respond to, like a bill or an invitation. You may also need boxes for things like photos, children’s schoolwork, or recipes you’ve clipped out of magazines. These items can be separated out and organized elsewhere. They won’t go in your household paper file.

As an example of how this process works, we’re going to walk with an imaginary family and their imaginary pile of papers as they sort and file.

one piece at a time

OK, so “Cindy” has gathered the needed items and she’s ready to sort. She reaches for the first piece of paper on the top of her pile of papers. It’s the latest car insurance bill. That’s a working piece of paper. She or “Bob” will have to do something with this bill and it goes in the “working papers” box. Not a file item.

Next up is her car insurance policy (something she’ll want on hand if she needs to make a claim). This is where the sticky notes come in. Cindy imagines she’s looking for that policy.  How would she find it in her filing system? What word would come to mind first?  “Car,” “vehicle” or “insurance”?  She settles on “car”, writes the word on a sticky note, places it on the paper, and sets the paper down on her kitchen table. 

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sticky notes fun sticky notes :)

A couple of “works of art” go into the schoolwork box. Not file items.

The vet bill gets a sticky note labeled “Sparky,” though it could be labeled “vet” or “pet”. Later Cindy finds the vet bill for her cat and decides she likes the word “pets” better. Out goes the “Sparky” sticky note to be replaced by “pet” on top of a growing pile of pet papers.

An old store flier goes into the wastebasket. Not a file item.

When Cindy came across the life insurance policy, she grabbed her sweetie Bob and they talked about their different kinds of insurance. Would it be easier to find them under “insurance” or did they need “home,” “car,” and “life”? They wrote out several sticky note options and moved the papers around until they were happy with the results. The papers were starting to settle into understandable piles.

Their “medical” pile was getting a bit large, so they decided to break up medical papers by person. “Medical – Bob” and “Medical – Cindy” made the paper piles more manageable.

Paper by paper, each one was examined and put in an existing pile or used to create a sticky note label and start a new pile. When they were all done, she and Bob gave it one more look and declared it good.

Here’s their (imaginary) set of sticky note labels with papers.

BOB
birth certificate
marriage certificate
Social Security card
passport
educational records
service record
work resume
life insurance policy
will

CINDY
birth certificate
Social Security card
passport
educational records
work resume
life insurance policy
will

SARAH (daughter)
birth certificate
Social Security card
educational records

WILLIAM (son)
adoption records
Social Security card

PETS
pedigree papers for Sparky
vet records

MEDICAL – Bob
MEDICAL – Cindy
MEDICAL – Sarah
MEDICAL – William

HOME
rental agreement
renter’s insurance policy
manuals & warranties for household items
household inventory

VEHICLES
vehicle registration or license info
car loan agreement
copy of driver’s licenses
car insurance policy

INVESTMENTS
Bob’s IRA
Sue’s IRA

CREDIT CARDS
credit card contracts
copy of cards or card information

At this point, all Cindy or Bob has to do is label the file folders using their sticky note words, put their papers in the corresponding files, and drop them in the file box. They have a system that uses labels that work for them. They can find their stored papers easily.

gotta love sticky notes

The nice thing about using sticky notes in the process is that they are very flexible. Change them. Add a couple. Move them around. You can arrange and rearrange your piles and sticky note labels until all your papers are sorted and the order makes sense to you.

did you miss anything?

As you are working, you may realize you are missing information that needs to be filed. Write out what is needed on a sticky note and put it on the appropriate pile of papers (a note to self). :) If you know it is somewhere around the house it will eventually show up and you can add it in. If it doesn’t show up soon enough, then you have a reminder to get replacement paperwork. (Checklist of Important Papers)

files within files

Occasionally there are piles of papers that are just clumsy. The pile gets larger, but you don’t want to separate things or labeling becomes tricky. One solution is to create files within files.

Bob and Cindy’s medical paper pile is one example. They chose to create separate folders for each person, but a simple solution would be to put each person’s medical records in a manilla folder and then put the manilla folders in a larger hanging folder labeled “medical.” All the medical papers are still in one folder, but they are also sorted out by individual.

manilla folders hanging folders

your filing system

Now this, of course, is an imaginary filing system. Yours will be unique to you. You’ll likely have other folders and it might make better sense for you to put your medical information in each person’s folder instead of creating a separate file for it. You might want to create a folder for anything to do with your husband’s military service or you may need to create folders for your family business. Your household is unique and your system will be unique to you. Let sticky notes help you create that system.

If your husband already has an important paper file, talk to him about creating a written list of what papers are in each file. This will give you a working record and something of a starting place if you should need to find an important paper.

other helpful items

Home Fire Safe
I highly recommend that you purchase a fireproof safe large enough to handle at least a small filing system.  Some papers can be left with an attorney.  Some papers can be put in a safe deposit box, but generally speaking, there are still important papers you need at your fingertips.  A fireproof safe will keep them safe and available.

Honeywell Fire Safe DYMO Label Maker

Label Maker
I use one of these for any number of office projects. It’s not necessary, but it makes neat uniform labels that are easier to read … and that’s pretty (I need pretty in my office).

Image credits
woman writing on sticky note © DragonImages / Adobe Stock
stack of papers © gloszilla / Adobe Stock
files in a file © Lori Byerly