Finally File Storage

When we moved up from Florida,
we either sold or gave away many of our belongings.
That included a desk which contained a file drawer 
and an extra stand-alone file cabinet.
Between the two pieces,
we managed to store all of our paperwork in them.
New house, new strategy.

Anyone who knows me, knows I can't stand clutter.
It gives me a great deal of satisfaction
to be able to find what I need when I need it.
I wear the "chronically organized" badge with pride.
After trying to find a particular type of file cabinet,
this one seemed to be the closest to what I had in mind.
I wanted one that had two smaller storage drawers on top
with one file cabinet on the bottom.
When it arrived, it was a lot smaller than I had hoped for.

The two smaller drawers would be ample enough.
Here I store my checkbook, extra checks, address book (yes, I still use one of those),
my budget ledger, some extra pens and cartridges for our label maker.
These are items I use regularly, 
so it made sense to store them where accessibility was key.

The middle drawer was a good place for our tape dispenser, stapler,

note cards, scrap paper, and our label maker.

I'm planning on adding a divider to tidy it up

and purchase a stapler that doesn't need quite so much space.

The cardboard boxes have been housing our files

since we moved in December.

It was really driving me crazy.

Every time we needed something,

we had to dig into one of the three boxes that held our paperwork.

One of the reasons the office was one of our first projects,

was so that we could have better access to our files.

We reused the file jackets that we had in our last house.

They were still in good shape

and fit in this new cabinet.

With a pillow to cushion myself,

I set to the task of sorting every scrap of paper we had.

The files were already in folders,

but I went through them again to ensure that we weren't keeping anything 

unless it was absolutely relevant 

to our present home and family life.

There were also a few things

that needed to be placed in the safe

(original birth/death/marriage certificates).

There were some plastic folders that will be saved for another project,

and these were placed in a new location.

Of course, the handy label maker was right by my side.

Folders were placed in the drawer according to frequency of use.

For instance,

all of the bill paying accounts were placed near the front

since we deal with those each and every month.

Health folders (one for each of us)

and job-related files were placed in the middle.

Automotive and things like property taxes were placed at the back,

as we don't need to address those quite as often.

I may eventually get around to color-coding the files,

but for now, it works the way it is.

The most important thing is to label everything and  

place the inserted papers in time order

(from oldest in the back to newest in the front).

What was no longer needed was placed in the shred pile

or placed directly into the recycle bin.

Any paperwork that contained social security numbers or account numbers were shredded.

It may be small,
but we were able to fit all of our relevant papers in it.
It's great to have a place where everything can be easily and quickly located
for bill paying, record keeping or looking up information.
This week we've been working on a new desk top
to place next to the file cabinet.
We are working toward a more streamlined look,
and we'll share that project upon its completion.
We also have a new solution 
for all of our owner's manuals.
For now,
I'll just be enjoying this labor of love.

Other organizing posts:
 Files, Organized
Manuals, Organized
Kitchen, Organized
Recipes, Organized
Master Closet, Organized

Organizing in the New Year (ONY)-Office

Welcome back to 
ONY
Organizing in the New Year,
where we'll focus on one area each week,
keeping these intentions in mind:

~Purge if necessary,
because you can't create your dream
if it's cluttered with things you don't use.
Keep in mind, one object in, one object out.
If it doesn't do something for you, 
pass it on to someone else who can use it.  
It's all good.

~Use what you have to create a more streamlined home 
that still has your special touch.
Repurposing functional items adds to their value.
If they make your life easier or help you feel more comfortable, 
they are worth keeping.

~Try moving everyday items to different rooms
and use your creativity to use them in a new way.
The worst that can happen is that 
you find it doesn't quite work in the new application.  
Just start over!

If you are working toward more order in your life,
I hope these posts will help you jump start your vision.
The best advice I can give you is to
just start somewhere. 

Today, our focus is the home office.

Whether you have a whole room or just a nook,
an office space can keep your house running smoothly.
A place to pay bills, do correspondence, and house needed paperwork 
is fundamental in efficient household management.
As the household manager for our family,
I apply organizing strategies to make my job
easier, less time consuming and more efficient.
Anyone who runs their household can do the same.

~One of the easiest tasks to complete is to purge unnecessary files.
Past bills, receipts for anything under $50, and outdated information can all go.
Save only what's needed for filing taxes, or information you use on a weekly basis.
Sign up for automatic bill paying for utilities and other monthly expenses,
so that you have less paper coming into the house.

~If you have a shredder, use it to destroy anything with confidential information,
especially social security and credit card numbers to prevent identity theft.
This can be done on a monthly basis, if needed.
We tend to do one big shred at the beginning of the year.
If you don't have a shredder, ask a friend or your boss if you could use theirs.




~Any manual that comes with newly purchased items
gets put into the Manual Binder with its receipt.
No need to clutter up office files with these.

~One of the best things I ever started a few years back
was to write the new year's date on the first ten checks.
That way, by the time the eleventh check is written, 
the new year's date is already a habit.

~Last year we started paying cash for almost everything.
We keep track of our expenses in a ledger.
It's really no more than a small, spiral notebook.
Sometimes you can find these at thrift stores or yard sales.
Each month, fixed expenses go on the left-hand page,
and everything else goes on the right-hand side.
We can compare our spending from month-to-month,
or year-to-year.
It also makes us more accountable for our spending,
because we write purchases down and see where the money goes.
Bills we get by mail are kept in the section for that month.
No excuses for not paying on time.
(A post on a new savings plan is coming next week.)

The home office can be a designated room, 
or as simple as a file cabinet and a laptop computer.
The key is to keep it manageable.
It may not make paying bills a good time,
but it will save a good amount of time for more enticing pursuits.

Here's last week's post in this series:
ONY bathrooms

Manuals, Organized

Owner's manuals can become overwhelming.

We keep them until the item is

either given away or discarded.

We tend to use things until they can't be repaired anymore.

Seems it's harder to find things that last these days.

Here's one way to keep track of all those

handy devices that make our modern lives so much easier.

Spread out your booklets out and sort by room.

We've got kitchen appliances, bathroom appliances,

office equipment and general stuff

(like ceiling fans, vacuums).

I had found these transparent dividers

at a thrift shop a while back

and just purchased a binder from an office supply store.

You could use color dividers to separate even further

by rooms or areas of the house.

Like items go together.

Here's the manual for my camera

and the memory card package.

That way I know which one to buy next time I need one.

When a purchase is made,

we write the date of purchase and the vendor

right on the manual for future reference.

This helps us know how long things last,

if the warranty is still good

and where to return it, if need be.

Smaller manuals for the same room are placed together.

A pretty piece of scrapbook paper for the front...

and a label for the spine

keeps everything in place for referencing.

Another way we were considering

to keep our manuals organized

was by scanning them and storing them

on a flashdrive.

It didn't seem doable at this time,

but it's something we will consider with our next house.

Now that our manuals are organized,

maybe we can give away our ugly file cabinet.

One more step toward less clutter.

Ahhhh...

Files, Organized

A great deal was found on these file folders.

What a wonderful opportunity

to add a little order to our office.

We are paring down some of our furniture

so there will be less to move when we sell our home.

These folders kept hitting the top of the file cabinet.

That got old real fast.

As we'll be keeping one of the desks

in the office, I wanted to make it as efficient as possible.

While organizing our files,

I took the time to purge what was no longer needed,

shredding any private information.

These files will get repurposed for tutoring games.

I color-coded items according to category.

For some folks, colors work.

For others, it's numbers, letters or pictures.

Whatever works for you is all that matters.

It sure makes finding needed papers easier!

TALU

Work, Organized

Aside from homeschooling, I work at night as a tutor. 

I am blessed to be able to do what I love.

I use a lot of games, manipulatives and

home-made file folder creations with my kids.

I find that it makes it less like a lesson

and more like fun, and they are more likely

to stay focused on the skill at hand.

I've gotten rather lax about my materials

and decided it would be a good project

to tidy this area up so that I can find

just what I need to get my lessons done.

before

after

Simply adding a container to house the workbooks

and labeling each item gives the eye somewhere to focus.

I can see what I have at a glance

and it makes visual sense.

It pays to keep things organized. 

It helps me find exactly what I need

so that I can have time for other things

(like more time outside in the garden).