Tips for a Foolproof Filing System

Whether you are at school, work, church or at home, you are going to find yourself eventually needing to do some type of filing. Most people simply put their papers, record, warranties, or whatnot wherever, or however they may. This typically means that things get lost, or thrown away, and which later on are found to be needed or important. There are a few simple steps that anyone can use to setting up their own foolproof filing system.

1. Where to start. Before starting your filing system, there are a few things that you need to ask yourself. Is this system for storage only? Is it going to be accessed regularly? What is the purpose of the system that you are wanting to set up? As you are deciding the answers to these questions, you should write the answers down, so that you can start obtaining your supplies.
2. Select style. There are many types of filing systems out there that you are going to hear about. Personally, what you need to do is decide on what is going to work the best for your needs. Out of all the styles available, I would personally recommend that you use a combination of an alphabetical and color coded system. By doing this you are going to be able to quickly access different "themes" for your files, as well as finding the information in each "theme" quickly. I would suggest choosing no more than 5 colors for your system. When you purchase your supplies, choose either colored tabs or folders that are going to match and fit within your system.
3. Organize your papers. Once you have decided on what type of filing system you are going to use, you are going to have to go through your papers and separate and sort through them. You are going to start doing this by simply starting as generally as possible, and working towards as specific of information as possible. For example, have a section for finances, with subsections for things such as current financial statements, pay stubs, bills and so forth.
4. Maintain your system. No filing system is ever going to work without you maintaining it. You are going to need to need choose a specific day each month, at a minimum, for filing your paperwork. If you cannot do your filing on a daily basis, then one suggestion that you need to do is keep file or envelope for those papers that are going to need further filing later on. By using something like this, you can keep an organized system in place, and properly maintained.