Tips to organize important documents

 Organizing important documents will make it easy to find when you need them and especially when you are in rush. I feel like my life is under control when all my documents are in place. For that, we need skills, i.e organization skills. It is not easy to be organized especially when there are a million things to do. Hence I have some tips here that will make the job easy.

A)Buy office supplies:

Where to buy it?

Office Depot, Staples, Walmart, Target, Sam's Club.

What to buy?

I prepared a short list of items that will come in handy.

1. Hanging file folders($15)
2. Manilla file folders($9)
3. Tabs ($4)
4. Thin Sharpie pen($1.20)
5. Lateral cabinet($40) 

All these items will cost you less than $100.
(Prices vary with the number, state, and time of the year).  

B)Categorize files: Make a list of categories based on your requirements and label the file folders with the category's names. You can use the subcategory names to label the Manilla file folders.

Here is a list of general categories and subcategories that I would suggest:

1. Personal: Birth and education certificates
2. Immigration: Visa, passport copies, green card, 
3. Taxes: By year, receipts to save for write off
4. Job search: Resumes, Curriculum Vitae, and job application copies
5. Manuals: Camera, Handycam, vacuum cleaner, mixer grinder, etc.,
6. Warranty documents
7. Utilities: Save at least recent 6 months, sometimes very useful for the job and school applications
8. Credit card: Bills
9. Car: Insurance bills, Loan documents, Service bills, Repair bills 
10. Foreign Money Transaction: Receipts, proof of transfer

C)Sort and file away: Sort the documents, bills, and applications based on the categories you decided and then put them in the respective folder. This is a painstaking task and needs a lot of time and patience. With a little bit of patience and interest - you can do it. Best of luck !!!!!!

D)Junk mails: Place a small size shredder near the entrance of the house and shred the junk mail right at the door. This keeps the junk mail getting accumulated.

Published on

1/24/11 8:45 PM