How to Set Up a Practical Home Filing System

Do you know where all your important paper documents are at home?
Are they easily accessible?
Is your household aware of where they are?
Are they sorted out for easy location?

If you are shaking your head and confused as to what to answer to the above questions then please stick around.

I will show you how you can easily set up a filing system for all your valuable documents at home.

Next time you need your important certificates and documents, you will gladly nod to the above questions.

Over and above that, it is crucial to note that having a filing system will come in handy in some urgent situations or emergencies that will allow you to transport your important paperwork in no time.

In most households, paper files could be one of the predominant sources of clutter at home. You can lose sight of them with mountainous piles stacked on top of each other.  Unable to find things at the very moment you need them is an ultimate nightmare.

The last thing you want to do is to spend unnecessary time and effort in looking for them or to spend money to re-apply for those documents then only to find out they were just hiding inside your least favorite drawer.

Well, of course, you don’t want that to happen so let’s try to save time, money, and effort by setting up an easy and practical system in decluttering and organizing your files and folders using a similar S.P.A.C.E technique in organizing.

S – Sort

P – Purge

A – Assign

C – Categorize

E – Enhance

Step 1:

Sort all your important paperwork

Take note of the word “important” as you assess which paperwork will be part of your filing.  Not all paperwork that screams valuable information needs to be part of these important files.

Some important documents may include:

• birth certificates
• marriage certificates
• baptism certificates
• passports
• citizenship certificates
• wills
• power of attorney papers
• land titles
• deeds and ownership forms,
• and much more dependent on your circumstances.

Step 2.

Purge unnecessary files

Including monthly or frequent regular bills into this “important” bucket may not be a good idea.

Why?  Because these will eat up your important filing’s real estate in no time.

For regular bills, bank statements, and payslips, I would recommend going digital as much as possible. In this way, you don’t need physical space and it’s a lot easier to search for particular transactions.

If you are unable to automatically go digital, you can scan or take photos of those files and save them to your hard drives.

Once you saved electronic copies, you need to safely purge those files with sensitive information for your data protection or privacy by shredding the file using paper shredders or shredder scissors.

Step 3.

Assign a home to your important documents

Identify the filing storage to use.

For an easy access filing system, you can use a portable expandable file.

Filing important documents are quite straightforward. They shouldn’t occupy too much space.  Identifying the right filing storage for you should not be hard. It’s all up to your functions and preferences.

Most people use filing cabinets, filing tubs, or filing folders, but this expandable file organizer will be a perfect handy filing system.

Step 4.

Categorize your important papers

Categorize your files according to their types and use. You can be guided by segregating them as per your personal, professional, or business requirements.

Categorizing your documents will help you to easily search for relevant documents.

For ease of identification, label your organizer according to your identified categories.

Step 5.

Enhance your file organizer

Feel free to decorate your organizer with your personal touch.

For embellishments, you can use gift wrappers or vinyl which can instantly transform your inexpensive lame-looking filing folder into an extraordinarily cool organizer.

For labeling, you can use handwritten labels or pretty labels using label makers.   You can also use a color-coding system or an alphabetical system to locate your essential documents easier.

Materials Used:

Kmart expanding file

Boyle self-adhesive vinyl

File Category Labels using Dymo yellow plastic labels

Expanding File Label using Cricut Label

HAPPY ORGANIZING, homeys!

Let’s keep thriving and inspiring.

Much Love,

Ann of Hometiculous

Ann

I am a busy mummy to 2 and a wifey to one. I am very careful when it comes to the needs of my family and home. I am particularly lazy to look for things and thoroughly crazy to do everything that’s why I am thankful for organizing. I am a certified meticulous when it comes to anything that involves effort, time, and money at home and beyond our home. In my spare time (if I am lucky), I engrossed myself reading, experimenting in the kitchen, exploring my tiny little garden, learning and saving from DIYs.