Hording documents/paperwork

Liquiduk

Liquiduk

Liquiduk

Associate
Joined
19 Nov 2010
Posts
1,742
Location
London
Last night I found myself in a panic having to find a license document for a reference at 11:00pm - To no suprise I spent the best part of the hour flinging draws open, looking through every piece of paper and it turns out it was in a folder in the office but it made me start to think I have an incredible amount of unnecessary paperwork that I cannot bring myself to throw away.

How does everyone else manage there trail of information?
 
I usually keep one letter from each company so I have the phone numbers and reference numbers should I need to contact anyone of them. I have a box file for all important stuff though such as insurance forms or legal documents. Anything else just gets shredded.

Also DRAWER!!
 
I have plenty, in folders in the corner of my desk.

Important things like driving license is in a special one that I can always find.

No idea why so many things are hoarded though! Some of the stuff I came across (very old bank statements) are pretty pointless.
 
I do about the same as you by the look of things.
Clear my filing cabinet out once every couple of years, putting the excess into boxes which then get sorted 'at some point'.
As an example I recently found 5 year old salary slips and bank statements.
 
Several different folders marked:-

Important
Finance
Insurance
Bills/Receipts
Work/Pensions

All kept in one place and sorted through perhaps once a year.
 
I have a folder, like most other people, dedicated to numerous things to help me keep track of my bills/statements and the like.

My folder is separated into several partitions:
  • Driving License/Car Documents
  • Bank Statements
  • NHS Correspondence
  • Household Bills/Documents
  • Recent Receipts
  • Work Related
  • Misc

I mean, they're the main important ones for me... the ones I NEED to keep track of, anyway. And I keep it in a drawer next to my bedside table. It's neat, does what I need... and I've got quick and easy access to any information that an insurer/bank/other people may need about me. I also make a habit of shredding any bank statements/receipts/NHS letters which either no longer apply, or are older than 2 years... for the sake of stopping my folder from clogging up.

I'm guessing other people do a similar thing, but probably to a more organised extent than I do. Mine's pretty basic, I'm not gonna lie... it's hardly extravagant and doesn't require a lot of thought!

I will admit, I put together this folder after being in a similar position to you. I used to bung all my stuff into a drawer in my study room and leave it there as I couldn't bring myself to throw them away as I thought I "might need them, and it's pretty important information". I realised that after 2 years I couldn't actually find what I wanted and I finally learned my lesson when I couldn't locate my Passport for a holiday I had planned. So I decided to get everything in order to avoid a future scenario where somebody might need information from me... like anybody would really!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom