28 Day Cleaning/Organizing Challenge (Day 19 - Desk/Paperwork)

I'll have to admit, it took me 5 days (off and on) to accomplish Day 19's task.  The fact that almost 17 years of "important paper" had accumulated before I actually had the nerve to do this one is probably what led my heart to skip a few beats.  What I discovered is this - foremost, it's all about your comfort level.  There are some who shred everything and keep nothing, then there was me... 

This is my "stockpile" of paper.  Before accomplishing
this task it was really difficult for me to find things
that were supposed to be important enough to keep.
In doing this, a lot of irrelevant things were discovered as
well as a box full of office supplies that I'd no idea we had.

Before I began there were lots of web searches and reading (a/k/a research) about how long you really  should keep this kind of stuff.  I found a few government web articles to be really helpful, specifically Managing Household Records" at http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Money/Personal-Finance/Managing-Household-Records.shtml and "Organize a Home Filing System" at http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_g/G229.pdf.  After reading them, I started to get comfortable with letting some of the paper go.  I also realized that there are somethings that you really don't need to keep forever, that there are suggested timelines.  For example:
Personal Income Tax Returns should be kept for 7 years.
Paperwork for Real Estate or Loan Items (Cars, etc.) should be kept as long as you own them.
Household bills should be kept until you get the following month's that shows a proper balance.
Receipts should be kept until you balance your register.

Starting this undertaking, I got two baskets - one for shredding and the other recycling. Shortly after I began a trash bag was added to the mix for items that didn't fall into either of those categories and were tossable.






This is where I drew the line:
Tax stuff I'm keeping for 7 years.
Real estate and loan items will be kept until we no longer own them with the exception of payoff paperwork, which I'll keep "forever."
Household bills, will be stored for 3 years.
And I'm keeping daily receipts for the current and past year with the exception of big ticket items, which will be kept as long as they are.

 

There were a few miscellaneous items like military and school paperwork that I used my judgment on...like if it was orders or transcripts they were kept but if they weren't they went.

All in all I tried to go through and organize as best it could.  Here are the subcategories that I wound up with for filing's sake:

Manuals/Receipts (Baby Gear)
School (Eldest Child)/(Youngest)
CV/Transcripts (Wife)
Reviews/Promissory
Social Security
Birth/Marriage/Sacrament Certificates
Military
Stock
Medical Reimbursement
Medical (Husband)/(Wife)/(Eldest)/(Youngest)
Medical/Dental Insurance
Life Insurance
Disability Reimbursement
Housekeeping

Homeowners Insurance
Manuals/Receipts (Garage)
Manuals/Receipts (Furniture)
Manuals/Receipts (Equipment)
Purchase/Sale of “First House”
Purchase/Sale of “Second House”
Purchase of “Third House”
Mortgage PayOffs
Loan/Credit Card PayOffs
Loan/Credit Miscellaneous
Car Insurance

It may seem like overkill or not broad enough for some but the list should work for my purposes.  I made filefolders for the banker's boxes that all the paperwork went into.

THIS.WAS.WHAT.THE.TO.BE.SHRED.PILE.WOUND.UP.BEING.

And this is what the final product looks like all boxed up:

Needless to say, I wiped my brow a few times on this one...it really was a wild ride!

I wanted to also add that there are a few additional items that are being stored in the "Lifestyle" box.  The spirit must have moved me because I also went through all my magazines that I'd been keeping because they contained great ideas...sort of like an old-fashoned Pinterest.  I went through and ripped out all the pertinent information and put them into their own subfolders (Beauty, Home, Cooking, Kids, Vacations and Miscellaneous).  This way, I don't have to sort through to find what is needed and a lot more paper (the remainder of the magazine) was put out for recycling.