Here are some of the ways I keep track of my personal financial paperwork, and help others keep theirs under control. 

Date, not category

Filing bills based on date instead of by category works better for me. Sorting by date allows me to keep what’s current in front of me and see all of my bills at a glance instead of having to correlate different bills from different files. 

Purge regularly

Setting up a system to regularly purge files saves you that moment of wondering, “Do I keep this? Is it time to let this go?” By establishing rules in advance, you don’t have to keep making decisions over and over.

Decide how long to keep bills and statements (check out our retention guidelines!) and use a rotating filing system based on date. If you want to keep bills for a year, you can have twelve folders, one for each month. By the time you’re through December, you can empty the last January’s folder and use it again!

Items that aren’t dated also need to be purged regularly. You can purge weekly, monthly, or quarterly – whatever frequency works for you.

When you purge, try to identify whether you’re saving a document as a memory, versus saving paperwork that you need to be able to refer to. Keepsake or memory documents should go in their own folder or be preserved digitally. 

Always keep tax-related documents together to access them easily at tax time. There are few things more frustrating than scrambling to find your W-2 before the due date! After you file your taxes, you can archive the paperwork somewhere that doesn’t have to be within easy reach.

Do you have any questions about keeping your personal financial paperwork in order? Comment below, I would love to hear them!