8 Simple Tips to organize years of paperwork (and ban the piles forever!)
Does your paperwork need a declutter? Are you cringing right now? For most of us tackling years of bills, flyers, brochures and circulars which have built up into towering piles of paper clutter that slide and merge and eventually start to calcify and form your very own seam of coal (or maybe just collect a lot of dust!) is a total nightmare…and one we all put off as long as possible.
Then, in an effort to feel organised you consolidate your little piles into one big one, which then sits about the place as a huge, overwhelming To Do in the corner of your office, kitchen or living room. You always plan to do something about it...but there’s always another more important job to do, and suddenly it’s become the Horrific Mega Pile (with accompanying duh duh daaaaaaah!!!! soundtrack)
Then, disaster strikes! You need to find that one crucial piece of paper, without it life can’t go on, but how long does it take you to go through the Horrific Mega Pile? Probably about as long as it would have done to just put it all away neatly in the first place. So save yourself the hassle, and put a stop to the Horrific Mega Pile right now….you’ll thank me later!
Purge your paperwork and categorise as you go
This one may take some time, so split the job into bite size chunks if it feels overwhelming. It’s time to tackle the Pile.
Discard any paperwork you know you don’t need to keep - all those old envelopes, flyers, brochures, magazines and catalogues which we either keep by accident, or because we think we might need them one day - truth is you probably won’t!
It’s time to recycle everything you don’t need. If you think there’s one page that might come in handy just take a photo of it and get rid of the original, don’t keep 10 pages when you’ll only use 1!
Put aside what you do want to keep and as you go, sort it into broad categories. I use a combination of time-based and subject-based categories so I have sections for Keep Indefinitely (birth certificates, passport, house and car ownership docs etc), Money 2021 (bank statements, pay slips etc) House & Car 2021 (bills, insurance, tradespeople etc) and Work (contracts etc).
Just make sure the categories you use work for your life.
Know how long to keep it
Make sure you know how long you need to keep something. Rules differ depending on where you are in the world but in the UK, where I am, you only need to keep payslips for a year (until your P60 arrives) so when I find payslips from 2014 when cleaning out a client’s paperwork I know it’s unnecessary clutter they can let go of. This is a great article on how long you should keep things in the UK.
Go Paperless
Where you can, make sure you go paperless for your bills and statements. You’ll be cutting off the clutter at source before it even enters your home and it’s much easier to do a digital search to find the document you want than it is trawling through your files (or Piles!).
Categories are your friend
You’ve already categorised your documents when you purged them so this step should be super easy! Personally I’m a broad categories kind of organiser, so I’ll sort all my bills, home related invoices etc into one file called “Home”, rather than separating them into lots of individual categories. I don’t have the time or patience to be faffing about with lots of categories when I’m looking for something, I’d rather spend a couple of seconds more finding what I need to have an easier life when I’m filing it!
When you’ve decided your categories create a folder for each one and give it a nice clear label so you can find it easily, which leads us to...
Paperwork storage
Depending on what works best for you, think about what filing system to use. I’m a fan of a paperwork storage system using a plastic filing tote, hanging folders and labels (here’s a great example). This system ensures my filing is never bigger than one plastic storage box and I can easily see if it’s getting too full and needs purging again.
To make keeping on top of my documents easier I base my categories and filing on how long you have to keep documents so my system becomes self-purging. For example, you only need to keep utility bills for a year so when 2021 ticks into 2022 I’ll pull out my Home 2020 file and shred the contents, because I know all those 2020 bills are out of date.
If your system is easy enough it’ll only take you a couple of seconds to file your paperwork when it comes in and the easier it is to manage your systems, the more likely you are to keep them up.
Try the 2-touch system
There’s an organising system, called the 1-Touch system, which says that once paperwork or mail has entered your home you should deal with it at once and then file it in it’s ultimate destination (or bin it!). No putting it on your desk to deal with later, you deal with it in one go.
That might work for some but it’s way too hardcore for me and I usually have better things to do when I get in (usually involving snacks), so I came up with the 2-Touch system instead. When I bring paperwork into my home unless it has to be dealt with that moment it goes into a tray on my desk and once a week I have a half hour session where I deal with everything. Then I file it away and ensure I’ll never be overwhelmed by paperwork. I use a batching system a lot when I’m working and for me batching my paperwork to deal with it all in one go is the best fit.
Just in case
We’ve talked about the documents you need to keep but what do you do with the leaflets, catalogues and magazines you want to hold on to because they might come in handy, or you might buy from them in the future, but they don’t have a place in your filing system. This is where the Just in Case tray comes in handy!
Just use a small tray (I love this one) and throw everything disposable in there - it’s all contained so you’ll find what you want easily, when you want it. When the tray gets too full, it’s all disposable paperwork, so you can toss it (or take 2 mins to skim the contents) and start again with an empty tray!
Getting you paperwork under control needn’t be scary, or take you months to sort out. A few simple processes will help you organise and declutter what you have, and trust me when I say, no tottering piles of paper around your home will feel like a burden lifted!