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Create an Organized Filing System

With more than 30 years of experience as the storage and organization experts, we've come up with some creative solutions for saving precious space and time.

We also love to hear from customers like you about how you stay organized.

Read up on our expert tips and then share your own!

Is your file cabinet a mess? Are you unable to quickly locate documents when they’re needed? Create an organized system for storing important documents and you’ll never again waste time searching for items. Follow these simple steps to create your organized filing system.

Purge old, obsolete files. Shred items with personal information.
Identify what papers needs to be placed in active files and what goes in the permanent files.
Active files hold resource materials which are regularly referred to for information.
Permanent files are rarely referred to but contain records we are required to retain, such as tax and legal records.
Select a filing solution based on your needs and space. Active files can be stored separately from permanent files and should be more easily accessible.
Choose colorful file folders to organize by topic.
Use hanging files for topic and divide subtopics with interior files.
Alphabetize main categories to save time.
Clearly label each file.
File immediately — the key to keeping your filing system up-to-date is to file things right away.
Always have plenty of folders and labels on hand.
Set a recurring time to review your files and keep them up to date.

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Posted: February 17, 2011

Organizing Manuals/reciepts/warrenties

When I get a new gadget or product, I place the manual, reciept for the product and warrenty information (if it has one) in a clear plastic sleeve. Sometimes, I go as far as label the plastic sleeve, but not neccessary. I then put the plastic sleeve in a three ring binder and leave it in the kitchen (the central location of the house). You can alphabetize them or put tab dividers in by room of house.

By:StephS -

(read all my contributions)

From:Philadelphia, PA

62 of 62 found this tip helpful.

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Comments for "Organizing Manuals/reciepts/warrenties"

March 18, 2011

By LeopardLady

from PA

Me to....but I've gotten so many manuals that I'm now in 2 big 3 ring binders:(

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Posted: October 18, 2010

simple, even for the messiest.

I have a small box with a flip up lid that I keep things like coupons and non-urgent but important mail until I have a day off during the week to sort them. It keeps the house uncluttered and I know where to go to find "pending" items. Works well for me!

By:lily8783 -

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From:birmingham, al

7 of 8 found this tip helpful.

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Posted: October 8, 2010

Organizing school paperwork

Managing all of the reference material that comes home from your child's school and activities can be overwhelming. To keep it under control and easy to access try the following: fill a 3 ring binder with plastic sleeves and tabbed dividers. Create separate sections for each child's school and sections for each child's extracurricular activities. Fill the plastic sleeves in the school section with the school directory, pick up and drop off procedures, school homework policy, etc. Under the extracurricular sections insert the team schedule, coach's info, etc. Limit yourself to reference material only and you'll have a very useful family notebook!

By:susanb -

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From:North Andover, MA

15 of 16 found this tip helpful.

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Posted: September 26, 2010

Setup an Archival System and a Shredding Plan

I have a home office and I deal with a lot of paper documents. When important documents come in I file them in easily accessible paper boxes (Stockholm from the Container Store). When these get full I move them to larger cardboard file boxes which I store in the closet and organize by year. Finally, each year I work through the oldest box and follow a simple process -- shred, OR scan and then shred.

If you do this a little at a time it won't seem so daunting of a task. Plus, by waiting a few years before shredding you'll realize there's very few documents worth scanning. With this system I'm never drownng in paper.

By:SOMABachelorPad -

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From:San Francisco, CA

21 of 23 found this tip helpful.

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Posted: September 9, 2010

Organize Your Coupons with Hanging Folders

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Since July 2010 I've become an avid almost obsessed coupon user. I've managed to consistently reduce my grocery and household shopping bill by 80 to 90% monthly.

Weekly there are inserts that come in the Sunday Paper, along with online printable coupons that you can get daily. I keep my printable coupons in a binder, but my inserts I keep in hanging folders by week.

When a store has an item I want on sale that I'm sure there is a coupon for, I will search an online coupon database that tells me which Sunday insert has that particular coupon. I go to my handy dandy portable file holder, find the week, select the insert and cut out what I need. So simple, so easy, so fast!

I put my hanging folders in a portable File Box I purchased online from Container store and picked up at my local store, across the street from where I work (loved that!!) And of course it was on sale and I had an online coupon plus a store credit from some time ago. I paid $0.06 for it :)

Hope this helps others. :)

By:HelloJuliet -

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From:San Jose, CA

My Product Recommendations

Letter-Size Portable File Box

(18)

13 of 15 found this tip helpful.

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Comments for "Organize Your Coupons with Hanging Folders"

March 18, 2011

By Family04

from Omaha, NE

I use a hanging folders and three-ring binder system. Using the binder, I organize my coupons by labeling dividers into food categories. Behind each divider are plastic sleeve protectors. I use three different styles: the solid plastic that opens from the top; the solid with a side zipper; and my personal favorite, the"baseball card" sheets with multiple pockets.
Now I put the coupons in their group, using the multi-pockets to separate by brand and even by specific "only on" specifics (i.e. certain cereal flavor). I place them in expiration date order as well to save time.
The Hanging Folders are great to organize my shopping trips. I have one for each store that includes: Ads, shopping lists, and matching coupons. Some stores have their websites set up preparing your list. I can quickly click the items from their ad, note other items I need, PLUS some have the benefit of storing my recipes in my account that I can pull up and include those items on my shopping list. The super bonus is their digital coupon page! I can select coupons that are then downloaded to my reward's card. No clipping saves SO MUCH TIME!
I just print both lists for each store, tuck them inside their file, grab my coupons (in the same order as my list), then store them away for each location.
When it's shopping time, II simply grab the contents of the Hanging Folder(s) and I'm out the door!

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Posted: July 28, 2010

Organizing User Manuals

The best tip I ever read was to file the user/warranty manuals for items I buy in folders by the room that the items lives in. This has saved me tons of time looking for things. For example, I put the TV manual for the living room in the "Living Room" file - that way I'm never grabbing TV manuals from other rooms. It only takes me a minute or less to find or put away anything. I also recommend using the hanging expandable file folders (the ones with the sides). While they are more expensive, they are big enough to hold all the manuals, are sturdy, and things don't fall out of the openings of the sides of regular file folders. I use the ones that are different colors.

By:Buckette -

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From:Austin TX

29 of 29 found this tip helpful.

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