If you don't have a plan, the whole thing can become overwhelming very quickly.
Here is the first place my paperwork stops:
What is left of the mail gets placed in the appropriate slot, with bills needing to be paid set in order of the date they are due in the second to the bottom bin. Donations and church envelopes are in the bottom bin. My business paperwork is in the middle bin, stubs and receipts and such from personal paperwork is in the second from the top and the top bin is reserved for papers that I need to deal with at some point. Those bins up on top? Those are where my students put their school papers when they are finished with them.
Once the second and third slots from the top fill up, the papers are brought downstairs to a large filing cabinet. There they are sorted into the appropriate files: medical, donation, bank, paycheck, important receipts, etc.
Once a year I take all of the paperwork out of the files in the filing cabinet and put it all into a bankers box, label it and, you guessed it, put it in the back part of our basement along with all of the other years' papers.
I've been following this basic work flow for as long as I can remember and it seems to be working very well. If you don't have a set routine for your paperwork, I'd recommend getting started on one soon!
Do you have any paperwork tips you'd like to share?
God Bless!
You can go here to see all of the posts in the series.
