Organizing Your Files

Here is a quick post about how we organize our filing system...

So I failed at taking a photo of the before, because I just wanted to get this done, but I'll show you what I was working with. (Now take in mind, I was pretty organized before I "re-organized" my files, but before that, my filing cabinet was a disaster!)

As you can see, I already had colored file folders, tabs, and labels. I just needed to update some of the file tabs to go along with the bills we had as of now. We refinanced our home recently and I had to update that. We got rid of a vehicle and bought a new one, and had to update that. Riley's childcare changed, so that was another thing I needed to update. You get my drift? :) So here is how I organize our filing cabinet...

First, I bought colored, hanging file folders. I have red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Red is for medical (medical insurance, EOBs, and medical bills). Orange is for personal files (so each of us have our own file where we keep things like old photos, passports, birth certificates, shot records, etc). Yellow is all of our retirement accounts (my 401K, Tyler's NEAP). Green is all about our finances (our taxes by year, our account statements, CDs, etc). Blue is all of our important bills (like our mortgage, car insurance, utilities, and childcare). No I do not keep all of our billing statements... that's just too much paperwork to keep. But we always have a record of how it was paid and when, with our bills binder finance checklist - check out this post for more about that - so if I need to go back and look how it was paid, I can. Then I can either get a copy of the cleared check from our bank or print out a bank statement, as proof of payment. Last but not least, purple is all of our college & student loan information. I kept every single promissory note for each student loan we have. I've also kept all of our important documents from the colleges we attended. I even have a spot for my FAFSA. That stuff is important to keep since it's such a huge chunk of change to repay! 

Next, I set what I already had in the correct piles and started going through the huge box of papers I needed to file - from over a year ago - ahhh! 

So everything was sorted out, and old papers were set in a pile to be shredded (see that huge stack on the right?... that's the shred pile). I only keep 10 years of tax returns, and 1 year of bill statements. I do not have check stubs from our employers either since they upload them online every week (saves on trees and saves me space in our filing cabinet too), but my suggestion would be to keep at least 2 years of paystubs in case you need to reference them for insurance purposes, if you pay union dues, or to keep track of wages for tax returns. Once I finally got all of my piles done, I used a word document I searched for on Google for new tabs, and printed them on cardstock so they were sturdy. And finally, filed them in rainbow order...

It's such a good feeling when you get a task like that finished. I do have more room now since I got rid of that huge stack of paperwork I no longer needed. What a relief!!

My next project is to figure out a way to *remember* to file things right away instead of having that pile build up over time. That is going to be a task. I will keep you updated on that. Let me know if you have any questions regarding this post. There are so many ways to organize a filing cabinet, but this way works best for our family. Post some photos of your filing cabinet below! Until next time.

Organizing Your Bills

Bills. Where do I start? I'm not perfect, no one is. We've made many late payments, missed payments, had bills sent to collections, and so on. It was frustrating. Very frustrating. Because I wasn't trying to *NOT* make my payment, I just forgot because I never had anything set up to keep me on track with my bill payments. Until I stumbled upon a blog post about organizing and paying your bills using the method I'm going to tell you about - unfortunately I do not remember the blog it came from. It has seriously changed my life. It's changed OUR lives. Now, don't get me wrong, we still have debt, we still aren't perfect, but we have not missed any payments after starting this easy organizational tip.

So to start, I am an avid reader/follower/admirer of Jen from iHeart Organizing. And after reading about her bills binder, I made the choice to start my own. Hers is a little different from mine, but very similar too. I purchased her "Personalized Household Binder, Printable Kit" and started gathering all of my tools for bill paying. ((That kit seriously has every single checklist you could think of, more about that later.)) 

In my binder:

1. 3-hole pencil/pen pouch

2. Pens

3. Pencils

4. Letter opener

5. White-out

6. Loan coupon books

7. 3-hole tabbed dividers

8. A binder clip

Optional items:

9. Calculator (I just use my iPhone)

10. Blank envelopes

11. Stamps

12. Return address labels/stamp

(These things are all in a desk organizer on my file cabinet so I don't keep them in the pencil pouch)

Here is my routine:

First, it's best to setup the finance checklist that comes in the bundle from iHeart Organizing, or you can download free templates with a simple Google search (that's what I did before I found the one I use now). All you have to do is write each bill down and the due date. I put all of mine in order by date. For the miscellaneous bills, like medical bills, I just write it in, if/when we receive it, at the bottom of the checklist. This is one of the best things that has kept me organized. 

I also write my bills on my calendar that I hang up so that I can check them off when they have cleared our account.

Around (but I try to do it on) the 1st of every month, I sit down with all of my bills for the month and put them in order of when they are due. I write checks for the ones that have to be paid by check, or I set up auto-withdrawals for the ones that qualify. I also have a few that are recurring auto-withdrawals, which helps out a lot. I will write down the check number on the line for that bill, under the correct month, and check mark the box. If it is paid online, I write 'online'. If it's an auto-withdrawal, I write 'auto'. If, for some reason I haven't received the bill for the next month by the time I sit down to do this, I leave it blank and write a note on my calendar to check my Bills Binder. But I usually do not have to worry about that. *Just wanted to state that I write all of my checks for the date I am sitting down to do my bills, as well* I made a mistake once, trying to write a check for the date it is supposed to be sent out, and it was post-dated when it arrived to the bill collector. Oops! So I avoid that altogether now, and just write the date it is, on the check. Once I have the check written out, I will put it in the envelope and at the bottom-right corner of the envelope I write, very small, the date it is suppose to go in the mail. (I usually give the bill 2-3 days to travel through mail). I do this for all of my bills that have checks/money/certified checks in them. The bills paid online, I set it up to pay on a certain date. You can do that. Believe me. Same with auto-withdrawal from my bank. After everything is complete, I set my bills, IN ORDER BY DATE, in the "To Send" slot of our mail organizer. (I have yet to find something I like to attach to the mesh bin as labels, but this will do for now).

After all of this is finished, I hole punch each bill statement, and file it in the binder under the corresponding section. I keep bill statements for a full year.

Another quick tip on keeping finances organized, is to use a checkbook registry! I thought for years I didn't need one - and I went years without one. But with a lot more bills in our household nowadays, it is a must. Especially since we have 2 checking accounts. We separate our checking accounts, one for "spending," one for "bills." It is so much easier to keep money on track when this is separated.

We usually put our receipts in these simple folders I made with some scrapbook paper, tape, and labels. Sooo easy. About once or twice a week, I'll take 10 minutes to balance our checkbooks. Seriously, that's all the time it takes.

Another binder I have, is my actual Household Binder. (My other one says "Household Binder" on it, but it's actually my 'Bills Binder'.) There are so many checklists in there to keep things on track, I feel like everything is covered in my home now. Included in the bundle from iHeart Organizing is,

1. A 12-month calendar (that you fill in)

2. Daily Goals

3. Family Outing Ideas

4. Monthly Finance Checklist 

5. Monthly Budget Worksheets

6. Home Maintenance Checklist

7. Automotive Maintenance Checklist

8. Cleaning Checklist

9. Babysitter Notes

10. Pet sitter Notes

11. Meal Planning Calendar

**AND MANY MORE!

I really hope this has helped some of you figure out, how to get and keep, your bills paid on time and organized. It has helped me in more ways than one. Let me know if you use a similar binder method, or heck, let me know how you organize your bill paying by leaving a comment below. I love to read comments. Until next time.