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How do you organize stuff? ie: medical bills, house bills, car repair ect?

Ris1127Ris1127
in Eco-Friendly Family
I need a new system. Mine is no longer working and so therefore I don't have a system. How do you organize so it's easy to find and how long do you keep those papers? Most of our bills are electronic but for tbe ones that are not how long do I need to keep them?
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Re: How do you organize stuff? ie: medical bills, house bills, car repair ect?

  • Lotte134Lotte134
    I just have a file cabinet that all that stuff goes in.  Whenever I get something like that I pay it (of course) and then toss into into a bin 'to file.'  Every few months I actually do the filing and every 6 months or so I go through the folders and recycle things I no longer need.  I usually save bill for 3-4 years unless there are tax implications (which is a separate folder) or, for utilities and such, when we no longer live at the residence and have the final bill/notice that says we paid up and are in good standing - I save those indefinitely and recycle the rest.  It's not perfect but it works and doesn't take too much time and I can always find things if I need them.
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  • Ris1127Ris1127
    imagelucy460:

    The fact that you can even contemplate this with a 5 week old is beyond me. Props to you!

    I have a four drawer (office sized) filing cabinet. Two of the drawers are for household papers.

    The main household paper drawer has active files and this drawer is completely full. I have lots of manilla folders for things like: 

    - DH health insurance

    - DH health history (things that are not insurance related, but like test results and stuff

    - My health insurance

    - My health history

    - One folder for each banking account (although they're mostly empty as I get all those folders online)

    In the second drawer, I have files by year for past years tax returns and brokerage information.

     

    LOL! My nesting came late. I have 6 closets full of stuff and I've gone threw 2 so far and got rid of so much stuff. I also got rid of clothes and old christmas stuff I want to finish the closets then do the kitchen, then it's yard sale time. Whatever is left I'll donate. I figured since I'm on a big cleaning kick I should do tbe file cabinet as well.
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  • Ris1127Ris1127
    imagelucy460:
    Maybe we can troubleshoot -- what are you doing now, and what about it doesn't feel like it works?
    Ha! It's a mess. We have a plastic filing cabinet which holds our marriage cert, birth certs, social ect. I want to get a fire proof box for those. Another filing cabinet which holds mortgage, car papers, life insurance ect. I have a plastic file folder to hold medical bills ect. As for our bills- well they are piling up on our desk. I have done much it several months. Most of our bills are electronic so I've been lax on getting those files. Also if DH or I don't put something right away both of us will just put it in another file in the cabinet. That we just started doing but it drives me crazy. Also I want to keep everything together. It's a pain to have several places that I jeep stuff. I also have tons of stuff that I've kept and don't think I need them anymore. When is it safe to shred that stuff? Some are 10 years old. Thanks for your help.
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