Is it possible to drown in paper???

nicki_2

Me being the organized type :

- 2 Drawer Filing cabinet with all recent documents relating to this house, personal folders, school, work, tax etc etc Plus passports etc which are in a plastic wallet file to grab & go.
- box file with instruction booklets in
- Moneysaving file with printouts of latest supermarket offers, other info added as I find it
- Recipe folder containing all the recipes I've printed/clipped from magazines
- Household notebook in a lever arch file (idea from website in my signature) which contains telephone numbers/addresses, emergency numbers, take-out menus, generic 12 month calender (all birthdays/anniversarys listed), project lists, receipts & finance reference papers (print out of bank account details, card details, budget), household reference (room dimensions, paint swatches etc), "Things to do" (guides to Liverpool, places to visit etc), Grand Plan lists (deep cleaning plan from the website in my signature) & finally a Christmas noteboook which is stored at the back (card lists, gift lists, cleaning & decorating ideas, budget, clippings from magazines)
- File box contains old paperwork from previous address (less than a year since we moved and still waiting to be scanned & saved)
- Drop file box containing papers for this house/relevent which might still need to be easily accessed but not from old address.

I really need to corral everything together again and get those old papers scanned/shredded. I really want all the papers in the filing cabinet rather than in numerous places.

Murtle

wow - that replies have been fantastic, I will sit down and read them all properly tomorrow and decide on my next step, I'm liking the idea of a filing draw, with the hanging draws...for everything as this is what I have always used at work and never had problems with them!!!

Judi - get your coat...it's not just snowing it's a blizzard where paper is concerned...it's freezing!!!!!

Robin_uk_2

Its been really useful reading about peoples' ideas.

Looking round my living room, most of the floor is about 18inches deep, mainly of paper. The other rooms are full of other clutter. I worry a lot about loosing important things (and I have done that). Its helped a lot to set up direct debits for bills.

One of the things I have done recently is make a ring binder with plastic inserts with originals of important documents (eg P60s).

They have been in various folders (eg P60s in tax section of my money folder), but I have made photocopies of each of them, which I file where they were. I have deliberately put the binder away from other binders and stuff. idea of scanning sounds v good.

I cant cope with being properly organised, but I do manage to have 'a place for everything and everything in its place' for just a few crucial things: cash card, house keys, mobile, passport and cheque book (together but out of sight).

I use ringbinders for the paper that I am organised with. It means that cant loose something, rather than having it in a concertina file, tho I can see that's good too.

I have some of the big ring binders (lever-arch files?). A household one (gas, electric, council tax etc), savings (section for each account), money (bank accounts etc) etc. I also have one where I put anything new in as soon as I get it, so I wont loose it. That helps a lot. I do have the problem that I now have a lot of other binders (small and large),some with the same colours

And the sea of paper in my flat shows I'm not doing well!