52 Weeks to a Clean House: Week 9 - Creative Names for Filing Labels, and Other "Assign"-ments!

I am still de-junking the office! I haven't finished yet, but I haven't quit yet either. The sorting and purging goes on...and on...and on.  How on earth did I ever accumulate so much stuff?  On the bright side, I have purged enough papers that some of my file drawers are pretty empty and ready for the next step.  Under Julie Morgenstern's SPACE organization acronym, "Assign" follows "Sort" and "Purge. With 2015 financial papers piling up, it was time to assign them a new home.

There is room in the file drawer!

Of course, assigning means no more files labeled "Papers to File" or my favorite, "Miscellaneous." I had to actually make decisions about the papers. In the book "One Year to An Organized Life," Regina Leeds suggests several filing categories to contain the paper tornadoes that whirl through our lives. I read her ideas, and then went to work on my own system.

There just isn't a way to make file drawer photos interesting. But it IS all organized.

I have my prior-year financial information in one drawer, along with old tax returns, and then have my current financial files in the other drawer. Yes, that should keep me from searching frantically for my 2015 papers during next year's tax season. I also made files for insurance information (life, auto, homeowner's, health, and the insurance I bought on our aging water line that could disintegrate at any time).  Then I ran into paperwork on my AAA membership. Where, exactly, am I supposed to file that? Hmmm.  Miscellaneous? No, not again. I am NOT making new "miscellaneous" files.

I ultimately decided to file the AAA papers in a file near my auto insurance. After all, AAA is my insurance for roadside assistance, right? And I decided I am more likely to look for the information near my insurance policies than in a paid bill file.

After my files were set up, I took my stack of 2015 documents and filed them away. It takes a little time to get used to a new system, and it felt a little awkward at first. I am sure I will make adjustments to my files along the way. I am hoping as I use these files regularly, I will get more efficient at my filing.

The box pile is shrinking!

This "Assign" phase entails a lot of decision making. What will happen if I grow weary of making decisions about all of these papers? I think I will check a thesaurus and see how many other ways I can label "Miscellaneous."  (Sundry, Odd, and Motley all sound promising. I think I might be on to something!)

Happy Filing!