Organizing the file cabinet

There are only a few weeks left in the year, which means it is time to go through that file cabinet.  In a separate post I will share a list of document examples along with how long you should keep them before destroying them, but first let me tell you about my filing system (and the changes it will go through over the next few years).


I have two filing cabinets in my house right now. 

The tall, 4 drawer one I have had for many years.  Previously, it had financial records in the top drawer (anything I have kept from previous years, tax documents/reciepts for this year so I have them ready when my dad says its time to come do my taxes, and then other recipets/bills/statements from this year.)  The second drawer, was (is) labeled Family Stuff.  This drawer has anything that relates to both Chad and I.  Everything from Address list, to manuals for items we own, to the cats paperwork, to magazine articles I have collected about different things.  The bottom two drawers were hard copies of articles I(we) have collected throughout the years, whether it be articles I printed for school, or church, or just anything.  When I saw articles, I mean professional journal articles (not articles from magazines and the such). When I was studying for my undergraduate degree I had a class helping in a center.  One of the teachers had me do this to her articles and I liked the idea.  I didn't want to throw away the articles because they take up a lot of paper and you never know when you might need them for research.  I have actually reused many of them for different papers throughout the year.  Right now the files are mainly filled with articles about psychology, sociology, and education articles... although there are a few nursing articles in their now that I have integrated Chad's stuff.  Each letter of the alphabet has its own (or two depending on what's in it) hanging folder and then each article gets its own folder.  I write the title and author name on the lower part of the folder and then key ideas on the tab.

The 2 drawer file cabinet I added after I got married, so there was more room.  The top drawer has stuff that just pertains to me- my school papers, keepsakes, lesson plan ideas, etc.  The bottom drawer is Chad's.... Is school stuff and keepsakes.

Over the next few years the system will be changing.  First of all, I need to go through it again to see if I can toss more stuff.  I did this sort of when I added Chad's stuff in, but not really in depth.  The 4 drawer cabinet will turn into my FCS.  Already you can see 2012 as the label for the bottom drawer.  Each year I will move up a drawer for the FCS.  Once all four are filled I will get rid of the bottom drawer, move everything down, and the top drawer will stay the current year.

So that means I need to find room for everything currently in there......Well Chad and mine individual drawers will vanish.  This stuff will either be tossed, put into our keepsake totes, or integrated elsewhere.  The new two drawer cabinet will have one drawer for Articles.  Which will be gone through to see if I can toss anything (too old to use for research anymore, or something that I printed just for that one assignment and probably won't use again).  Also, articles from magazines will be added, along with book notes I have currently in my drawer.  The other drawer will be for either article overflow (if it doesn't fit in one drawer) or for other items I feel we need to keep.  The manuals from the "Family Stuff" drawer will get their own binder on my binder shelf.  The rest of the papers will be either tossed (according to my list) or moved to the 2 drawer cabinet until they can be tossed.  If they are items I need to keep forever, they will have a spot there two.

You can see this will be a big project.. hence why I am giving myself so much time to go through it... Each year I need to have at least 1 drawer emptied in the 4 drawer file cabinet for the FCS, so that is my goal.  I am thinking it will go faster... because I will probably start the project and then just spend the whole day on it, but we shall see.

Once we have a bigger house.. I think I would like to add another 4 drawer file cabinet....  Then I can have 8 years worth of FCS.... since most documents can be tossed after 7 years, I can keep everything in their weekly folders until after the 7 years, and then just toss most of it, only saving what I really need.

I will probably be adding another cabinet anyways... since I am hopefully going to start teaching for a few years so I will need a place for all that stuff.  Also, when we decide to have kids, Chad and I have talked about doing supplement education activities at home (they will still attend public or private schools).  So I will need a place for that stuff.

Obviously this is a work in progress and I would love your suggestions, comments, etc.  What do you do with all your paper?  And, before you ask, no I don't like the idea of scanning it and keeping it on a computer.... I don't like sitting in front of the computer to look at things I need... i would rather take the paper and not worry about it.  Plus, technology is unreliable.  Really the only way I will not have access to my file cabinet is if a disaster hits and I have to either leave my house, or my house is gone... at which point I am not sure I will really care about having access to my menu plans, or my articles.....