Organising paperwork at home (cheaply)

Peggy0628

How do you organise your paperwork (bills, agreements etc)? A lot of my accounts are now paperless but some stuff still arrives in the post that I need to keep.
What is the best/cheapest way to organise it? At the moment it's all stuffed in envelopes (ie one envelope for water bill, one for stuff from bank, another for tenancy related staff, another for payslips etc.) piled on top of each other in a drawer. It's a bit messy so I'd like to find a better way to store this so I can find stuff easily when needed. I don't want to spend a lot on this so would prefer free/cheap options (from poundshop or similar is fine). Any suggestions?
Also, how long should I keep stuff for? I have some bills dating back 15 years+. Thanks! 

-taff

I keep mine in folders, the lever arch type ones, we have one each and a joint one for household bills or manuals for fridges etc which go in a sleeve.. I just use the hole punch on anything I want to keep and file it. I go through it now and again and chuck out anything over three years old unless it's still relevant.

PollyWollyDoodle

Ring binders/lever arch files and poly pockets. I have one for each thing eg Car, Council Tax, etc and I try and go through regularly so I’m not keeping loads of old insurance policies and so on. I use box files for more bulky paperwork like pensions. You can often get these on Freecycle or similar, if they’re a bit tatty I cover them in wrapping paper to smarten them up a bit. 

JIL

I have 2 box files, one for cars and the other for stuff that needs keeping.  Some of the needs keeping is in large envelopes labelled birth and other certificates. Other things in plastic wallets.
Each of our 2 cars has it's own plastic wallet, with the documents in them. 
I dont keep a lot only the essentials.

poppy811

Ring binders for me.  Each contains a different category eg Car House Insurance Pension etc.

[Deleted User]

I keep mine in a document case,  wilko and works sell them for £5.

Emmia

A mix of lever arch files, and box files for us. I'm currently doing an MA and have found the Ryman lever arch files very robust.

maryb

Box file for Important Documents with birth certificates wills etc all in plastic sleeves.  Cheap ring binders or lever arch files for everything else.  Wilko do the cheapest I could find.  Tax, savings, pensions, utilities insurance, cars and health.  Those seven categories work for me.  When I tried to break it down further it actually got more confusing so I use dividers within the files
The thing that really helps is a label maker so I can see at a glance what I’m looking for

Moorviews

I use a lever arch file per year, with polythene pockets for each category. Anything I need to keep at the end of the year is filed, still in its pocket into a box. The rest is shredded. Birth certificates etc. and anything sensitive goes into a lockable file box. A plain box file is used for instruction books and guarantees. Things need to be simple for me, otherwise I don’t keep up with it. I can lay my hands on anything with this system. 

jackrabbit123

I use  box files for all my home accounts, Birth certs,  my disabled sons information/appointments etc, on thee inside of the box files I write in point form what is in the files, the most recent being at the top of each pile. Statements I have in a see through file with bank information so they are easily accessible.  Hope this helps.