Organizing paper

[Moxie]

I'm generally pretty organized but one area still confounds me--paper.

 

I need a system. I have 5 kids in 3 schools and one homeschooled. I have scheduled, information about events, bills to pay, papers to file, on and on.

 

I throw away what I can but some of it needs to be dealt with. Help me come up with a system!

[Catalytic]

What are you filing?  I found myself with piles of school papers from the kids that I couldn't bring myself to throw away...about 6 months ago, I sat down and scanned them all into Google Drive.  I sorted them into folders labeled with kid name and academic year.  Now I scan papers I want to "save" every time I have a pile of 10 or so.  It has cut down on a lot of my desk clutter.

 

I only use eBills, nothing comes by mail.  When I got paper bills, I used an envelope/mail sorter and put bills in the order they were due.

 

We have a master family wall calendar.  EVERYTHING goes on it, and anyone without neat handwriting is banned from writing on it.  Events, work schedule, co-op, sports, meetings, etc are all written down.  I've drawn lines across every day on the calendar (at the very bottom of the day's block) with 2 different color highlighters, and each working child is assigned a color.  That's where their work schedule goes.  Anything for my youngest gets highlighted a 3rd color.  I'm not as diligent about highlighting DH and I's stuff yet (it gets highlighted, but not with a specific color), but I did just buy a pack of 5 colors of highlighters for that purpose.  (We've only just begun this whole highlighter thing, because 2 teens just got jobs, and my ASD would take up the whole date block writing his schedule, argh!)

 

When I was homeschooling 4 kids, I used one of these sorters for a lot of stuff.

[Guest]

What about papers you need to keep for a short time? I can write "Girl Scout 6:00" on the calendar but I need to keep the paper that says "Girl Scouts 6:00, wear your special hat and park in the south lot". Those kind of papers get piled on my kitchen counter.

[Ellie]

I'm generally pretty organized but one area still confounds me--paper.

 

I need a system. I have 5 kids in 3 schools and one homeschooled. I have scheduled, information about events, bills to pay, papers to file, on and on.

 

I throw away what I can but some of it needs to be dealt with. Help me come up with a system!

 

"File--Don't Pile!" by Pat Dorff. Best.book.ever about taming the paper monster.

[magnificent_baby]

I use an upright magazine container in a kitchen cupboard (the type for storing magazines or folders) with labeled folders (school, dance, medical, etc.). These are things that I need to access throughout the year, the rest (more permanent records) get filed in the basement.

 

Also have a large cork board to pin up papers that I need reminded of as I walk by (school concert dates/instructions, coupons, upcoming events/invitations). This system works pretty well but I do weed it out every so often.

[happi duck]

What about papers you need to keep for a short time? I can write "Girl Scout 6:00" on the calendar but I need to keep the paper that says "Girl Scouts 6:00, wear your special hat and park in the south lot". Those kind of papers get piled on my kitchen counter.

On my big calendar I would write:

6pm gs (hat s.lot)

I would tape the info paper on the wall near the calendar.

 

For the rest of the filing I broke down and bought a system...FreedomFiler I think it is called. I "like" it but still hate filing. The system helps with knowing what to file and for how long.

 

(Like is too strong a word in regard to anything related to filing!)

 

.

Edited September 11, 2016 by happi duck

[Catalytic]

 

Edited September 11, 2016 by Catalytic

[Carrie12345]

What about papers you need to keep for a short time? I can write "Girl Scout 6:00" on the calendar but I need to keep the paper that says "Girl Scouts 6:00, wear your special hat and park in the south lot". Those kind of papers get piled on my kitchen counter.

 

All that info goes in my planner.  The basic info would go on the household calendar if I were keeping up with that.  :toetap05:

 

I do have a desktop file sorter, with folders for each person in the family (plus other categories), where I can hang onto things and periodically sort through to toss outdated stuff and better file things that need long-term storing.  So, if I was afraid I forgot an important detail (and I would be), I'd know just where to double check.

 

"Getting Things Done" is my book of choice, recommended here.

[J-rap]

I had five trays and five big binders, one for each child.  The trays were for "things needing to be done" still (whether it was forms to be filled out and returned, homeschool work to be corrected, etc.), and the binders were for "things that were completed" but needed to be saved.  I also got into the habit of throwing away things immediately that did not need my attention or did not need to be saved.

 

[Guest]

All that info goes in my planner. The basic info would go on the household calendar if I were keeping up with that. :toetap05:

 

I do have a desktop file sorter, with folders for each person in the family (plus other categories), where I can hang onto things and periodically sort through to toss outdated stuff and better file things that need long-term storing. So, if I was afraid I forgot an important detail (and I would be), I'd know just where to double check.

 

"Getting Things Done" is my book of choice, recommended here.

I love that book but I'm too visual to make the 43 folders work.

[Pippen]

When my kids were in high school, I set each up with a 12 pocket expandable file we call their Important Papers File. Copies of driver's licenses, social security cards, insurance info, voter registration, car registration, bank account numbers, checks they almost never use, paper copies or tax returns, warranties, etc all live there. Even if these are scanned in, I feel better having a paper copy. 

 

College stuff goes in one file.

 

 

We add in temporary things as needed--like an ACT entry ticket, or a script for a prescription.

 

Otherwise, I'm a terrible paper manager, but this has worked well for us. I keep the main one here while they're in college, and they have a smaller version to use with them. 

 

 

Check stubs from work and bank receipts go in there.

[Carrie12345]

I love that book but I'm too visual to make the 43 folders work.

 

...  Perhaps you just identified a big part of the problem, lol.

 

My folders are:

Me

Dh

Kid 1

2

3

4

5

Homeschool

Co-op

Household

Actions

Projects

Someday

and To Be (properly) Filed  (Actually, I think it's labeled "Organize".)

 

That's still more than I think I should have, but I haven't been willing to whittle it down further.

 

I live and die by my planner, though.

[Guest]

... Perhaps you just identified a big part of the problem, lol.

 

My folders are:

Me

Dh

Kid 1

2

3

4

5

Homeschool

Co-op

Household

Actions

Projects

Someday

and To Be (properly) Filed (Actually, I think it's labeled "Organize".)

 

That's still more than I think I should have, but I haven't been willing to whittle it down further.

 

I live and die by my planner, though.

I think you are on to something.

 

My pile is very visual!

 

I have a Filofax that I use and love. Where in your planner do you write notes so you remember to check them?

[heartlikealion]

When in doubt, take a picture :laugh:  I would write the girl scouts thing on the calendar, but if I was super scared I would miss something/write something incorrectly I would snap a picture and then delete the photo after the event. Do you have a calendar with enough space to write all that info? You could also log it into a phone calendar or google doc or whatever.

[LucyStoner]

The Cub Scout schedule is posted on the wall with all of the kids' organizational crap. Two days before, each scout event is written on their "today/tomorrow" whiteboard which is posted in the hall. When I write it down on that there is plenty of room to note the dress code requirements and if he needs to bring anything. If the scouts didn't give me a schedule for the entire year, I'd make one and post it. This kid wall has a magnet board for each child's school subjects/practice stuff, the today/tomorrow whiteboard, a responsibility chart for my younger son and a list of my older son's responsibilities. Also, a paper calendar, the cub scout schedule, the soccer game schedule, a schedule of upcoming school visits for my older son (he may go to a magnet public, a private school or an early college program next year) and the pens I need to be right there.

 

The today/tomorrow board is something I do since they both have ASD and it helps them see what is happening that day and the following. Truthfully though, it has made me far more organized, lol.

Edited September 11, 2016 by LucyStoner

[Seasider]

Well today is the wrong day for me to face this question. I'm in the middle of a huge messy paperwork project and the thought of just taking a match to all of it has crossed my mind more than once.

[heartlikealion]

Well today is the wrong day for me to face this question. I'm in the middle of a huge messy paperwork project and the thought of just taking a match to all of it has crossed my mind more than once.

 

Best part of Hurricane Katrina. Blame it all on the hurricane! Oh I lost that in the hurricane... :lol:

 

[regentrude]

Dates and events go in my calendar. I use an appointment calendar with one week on one page, a picture on the facing side. There is room for a quick not. So in your example, I would put the scout meeting on the calendar, write a sticky note wth details to put on the picture page. Original paper gets recycled, sticky removed on date of event.

 

Bills: electronic bill pay, direct debit for recurring events.

 

Anything that ahs to be keopt: binders, by areas. One 1 in binder per child per school year.

[Carrie12345]

I think you are on to something.

 

My pile is very visual!

 

I have a Filofax that I use and love. Where in your planner do you write notes so you remember to check them?

 

I write them all right on the dates on the weekly layout.

 

This is similar to the layout I have, but mine doesn't have the time on it (just 3 main sections and a checklist per day), and my right hand side is broken up into smaller boxes.  http://agendio.com/blog/customizable-shading/

 

(I was going to try to post a picture of my actual layout, but I decided not to pull out my camera and share my whole life, lol.)

[Ausmumof3]

What about papers you need to keep for a short time? I can write "Girl Scout 6:00" on the calendar but I need to keep the paper that says "Girl Scouts 6:00, wear your special hat and park in the south lot". Those kind of papers get piled on my kitchen counter.

They go on my fridge with a magnet. Not the best solution but it works.

Or you can get a pocket calendar to shove it in

[Seasider]

Best part of Hurricane Katrina. Blame it all on the hurricane! Oh I lost that in the hurricane... :lol:

 

Eleven years down the road we can joke about it! I hope that those in this year's LA flood zones will one day reach the same point.