Drowning in paperwork

Marg

Rhiwfield - I wish we had a wood burner -I have to shred all my paper & whilst it is recycled it's not the same comfort as burning it. I also like your idea of converted built in 'wardrobe' which OH has done here but hogged it all for his stuff!!

elljay

gollygosh! Lots of great ideas on here, now how to decide which to adopt and which would work for me!!

I too wish I had a multifuel stove, I have an open fire but it really wastes so much heat. I keep entering competitions to win a stove but so far no luck. If anyone sees any good offers then I think Marg and I should be the first to hear! I've decided to save all this paper I'm getting rid of, - and it really is masses - and makes me realise how much I print out meaning to read and never do. I shall get a log maker and make logs out of it all.

thanks to everyone, also in the previous thread, I did a search before starting this one but didn't find the other one, sorry.
Liz

rhiwfield

Marg wrote: »

Rhiwfield - I wish we had a wood burner -I have to shred all my paper & whilst it is recycled it's not the same comfort as burning it. I also like your idea of converted built in 'wardrobe' which OH has done here but hogged it all for his stuff!!

We haven't used our shredder since we had the woodburner installed. Before then I can remember it taking hours to shred, the shredder blades jamming because I'd overloaded it, the stuff to be shredded getting mixed up with stuff to be filed :mad:

TBH, storage has always been a problem here as the children wanted all their stuff kept even though 3 out of 4 left home years ago! We've been decluttering like mad for the last 2 years and slowly getting more organised.

Reckon we're about 80% of the way to "a place for everything, and everything in its place" but filing is one of those things you have to force yourself to do.

Just the garage left now :eek:

spendingmad

why not get online billing for elec, gas, phone, mobile and anything else you can get online bills for - then you will cut down on the paperwork leaving only annual things/bank statements and personal docs passports etc to deal with.

I prefer to sort things as soon as they come through the door, put it away and its done, dusted and I dont have to worry about it anymore!

But that does not always happen!!!!!

OddjobKIA

............shredder............

lessonlearned

Like everyone else files etc in a filing cabinet (which can be locked) for paperwork such as bills etc.

However, having been burgled in the past we have become a lot more careful about where we keep things and also about keeping stuff like proof of ownership etc so that insurance claims are (relatively) straightforward.

Perhaps the following tips might be useful for someone.

Things of real value such as passports, birth certfificates and the like I keep in a small safe, along with jewellry and any credit cards etc not currently in use. House deeds, wills and life insurance policies are stored in the bank (£18 per year). We keep copies here, together with a letter of instruction for our sons should the worst happen.

We always keep receipts and any guarantees or instruction books for any major purchases. Luckily we were able to prove that we owned stuff by producing either receipts, instruction books and, in the case of our sons' games systems etc, the actual boxes they were packed in (these were in the loft storing something else in).

I would also recommend photographing jewellry etc.

The burglars also stole piles of CDs and DVDs. I could remember most of the DVDs but the CDs were a bit hit and miss. I now keep up to date lists of our DVDs and CDs. (I get the boys to update this on a regular basis)

One final tip our family learned the hard way. Always back up your work on your computer regularly. When one of our son's had his computer stolen (yes I'm afraid another burglary, however this time his student digs) he lost a lot of his college work for an assignment.

We now back up anything that's important onto separate discs. A couple of years later he was mugged and had his laptop stolen. Luckily he was all backed up so this time he didn't lose anything important (just had his face punched but that's another story).

Some of the above might sound a bit over fussy, but our burglary did teach us that you do need to be on top of things. Luckily our insurance claims have always been met, but I learned that you do have to prove absolutely everything, not only the value of things but also that you can prove that you did own it and that you've taken appropriate steps to protect your possessions.

Any paperwork that contains anything sensitive or that can be used in identity theft is destroyed by either being burned or shredded.

Valli

I gotta lovely filing cabinet from the back of the council offices that was being binned and bought two sets of suspension files from wOOLIES.

CATEGORIES

TAX - inc payslips anything from tax office
CSA self explanatory
KiDS BANKS their stiff
Certificate
Bank
Mortgage
CAR all car related
INSURANCE
Tax Credits
Building Society
Miscellaneous
Jobs/Contracts


HTH

passports etc in misc


I love it...

SNEAKY UNI/COLLEGE BACK UP

I E MAIL STUFF FROM MY E MAIL A/C TO MY E MAIL A/C as an attachm,ent - instant back up!

also good for saving account numbers etc!

ELIZA_D

I am in the huuuuggggeee process (sp?) of sorting my life out !
Being aware of bills money in/out etc.
How much paper work do we need to keep ? Bills bank statements etc
i have a habit of keeping old car stuff and house insurance details etc
what do you all do ?

PlutoinCapricorn

I have gone from keeping almost everything forever, to shredding/recycling as much as possible. Getting a scanner has helped enormously with this: for example, old letters, theatre tickets and greetings cards etc. can be recorded in this way then discarded.

I keep business-related papers for 6 years, then they are scanned and shredded.

Stneotsman

I keep bank statements for 2 years, insurance policy documents until the expire, receipts for a year (to claim stuff back), pay slips for a year and bills for a year. All of the above is put into computer files to make sure that I dont lose stuff and can keep track of what i've done (compare last year to this year etc.) but im interested to see what everyone else does....