Declutter Files – Reset for New Year-Part 2
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Do you know where your bills to be paid are? Can you find an important document in less than five minutes? Despite us now living in the digital age, we are still inundated with papers every day. If you don’t have a business, the papers you need to keep will be minimal. There are many sources of paper clutter, but the focus of this post will be to reset your current and long-term files.
Step One... Assess papers and systems...
As a business owner I have to keep receipts and other papers for at least seven years. Although I have backups for some electronic records, I still like to have a hard paper copy for tax purposes. (I’ve had enough issues with computer malfunctions that I don’t completely trust it.)
Where are you in the paper clutter dilemma?
- Have you already switched all of your bill paying and financial documents to electronic? Great! You probably don’t need to read any further.
- Are your children still bringing home tons of paper?
- What do you do with your mail when it comes in?
- Do you keep all of your manuals and warrantees for new gadgets? Most manuals can be found online, so you can safely get rid of them. (Check first before you do this.)
- What about recipes ripped out of magazines? Are you actually going to use them? Almost everything can be found online when you need them.
- Articles kept for future reference that you never look at?
- Greeting cards and personal letters?
- Do you have a home for everything and a system that works for you to deal with the papers coming in?
Step Two...Initial Purge(declutter)...
Gather your papers in one area, take one folder at a time and review it’s contents. Do you still need to keep everything? Can you find some of the information online? If it’s sentimental – is it still important enough to keep? It should be moved to a memory box where sentimental items are kept. A side benefit to going through your files is you may find things you forgot you had. Anybody find a cheque you forgot to cash? I take this opportunity to double check that I recorded everything in my cashflow spreadsheet for tax purposes correctly. This time around I found a typo where I had made an entry 1 cent off. I also found a bill for one property in the wrong folder. Finally, shred any discard papers with personal or sensitive information and recycle the rest.
Step Three...Filing long-term papers...
For all items that are from last year, that you need to keep for tax purposes, set those aside to go in long-term storage. If you already have seven years worth of folders you may be able to discard the oldest one. Some items should be kept forever though.
Items to keep forever...
Some things you need to keep forever are:
- Passports
- Birth Certificates
- Adoption papers
- Social Insurance documentation
- Retirement plans
- Military records
- Immunization records
- Wills and Power of Attorneys
Items to keep long-term as needed...
Some items pertaining to purchases and insurance need to be kept for at least as long as you own them. If in doubt, err on the side of caution and keep it. Keep any documents until you are sure you don’t need them.
- Deeds
- Titles
- Insurance policies
- Warranty documentation
- Disability or Unemployment Benefits
- Legal papers
You can see my newest video on resetting the file drawer for 2022 below...
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