Goal 44. Organize and purge filing cabinet

Ok guys! Time to roll up our sleeves and tackle something rather, well, boring. A few weeks ago I was actually able to get excited about organizing my file cabinet. Yup, sounds crazy, but now I actually feel like we have the documents we need, in a space that makes sense and is easy to use. Plus it looks pretty good. Want to know how I did it? Here’s how. 

Things you will need
A filing cabinet or box & hanging files if needed

A whole bunch of files

File folder labels (I prefer Avery) and a printer

Download the template online that coordinates with you file folder labels (if using avery labels just go here.

If you need to buy hanging files and file folders try to go for basic colors. This way if you need more files in the future you won’t have to hunt the whole city for pink folders. We will add pretty colors with the labels. Since there are 5 main categories you may choose to get 5-cut folders (which means they have space for 5 tabs to show across the top). Also, if you already have folders, just use them! You can always cover old labels with new ones. 

Now we get to the most fun part..... the labels! I found a great website through my other favorite site pinterest that is all about file labelling. Please check them out here. 

So after I read this website and discovered this awesome method I had to put it into place. However, like I have mentioned before, I have to customize everything. So instead of buying their pre-packaged label system, which you certainly could, I decided to make my own. 

This method is based on 5 categories: Personal, Wealth, Health, Home and Fun. Wealth, Health and Home are self-explanatory. Fun is for hobbies, vacations, and activity ideas. Personal is pretty much everything else, including job and identity. Each category gets both a color and an icon. Like this...

All of these icons are actually text based. Since I didn’t use the pre-packaged labels I had to find some and ended up just downloading a font with cute icons. Play around and see what you come up with. 

At this point you can just decide you like your files cute. But if you want to be even more specific, instead of the traditional method of labeling by a single category, you can actually use 2. So each label will get a color and an icon but they do not necessarily have to match. Pay stubs affect both your job (which is personal) and your money. So you could choose a blue label and a dollar sign or you could choose a green label and a clock sign. So they would look like this. 

Even more ideas!

Did you notice the T? That stands for taxes, so each of my files that will need to be used when it comes time to file taxes has this little T on it. I also have 4 files at the front of my file cabinet that are my Vital Files. These are the files I would want to grab in an emergency. These files are coloured red, but still use the category icons. Since all of us have a different level of emergency preparedness we will all have different folders we consider vital. Just picture yourself running out of the house because of a 911 call or the smell of smoke. What would you like to have with you?

When sorting through your papers and deciding on folder titles try to make them as specific as possible. Remember that you have tons of folders, so even 1 piece of paper can be a folder. Plus, the more specific the folder name the more useful this system will be. It is much easier to use 2 folders, filed beside each other that say Car Insurance and Home Insurance, than it is to have a single folder labelled insurance that you just throw all insurance related things into. This means everytime you open that file you will have to reorganize it. This will eventually get tiresome and you will probably give up.

If you know that a particular file is very temporary, instead of making a label use a post-it note. This way you can easily change its name.

Here are the steps to creating your system. 

1. Pull out all your papers from everywhere you might have stashed them. Or if you are like me, just open your pathetically organized and unidentifiable filing cabinet drawer. 

2. Download your labels template in your computer. 

3. Sort your papers into folders. 

4. As you create your folders type their name into your template. If you are organizing several people’s papers you might want to add their name to the title such as: Robyn’s Vaccination History. 

5. Add colours and icons as shown above. 

6. Print and stick on the labels!

7. Optional: Organize your folders first based on colour and then icon. Use the same order for each. The first visible folders in your file cabinet should be your red Vital files. 

8. Admire your work!

Do you have a specific way that you like to organize your filing cabinet? Have you ever thought about organizing your filing cabinet as a part of emergency preparedness?