How to organize and archive documents at home

Who has never found himself looking in a bunch of papers for the invoice of a product that needs to be taken for technical assistance? Or spending time and energy searching for the card bill that expires today and needs to be paid without fail? Yeah, these are stressful situations that can easily be avoided by following some very helpful tips on how to organize documents at home.

The first step in organizing paperwork is to sort by subject: bills, personal documents, vouchers, income tax return and so on. One tip is to use different color folders to save the documents. Identify each one with labels, you can have, for example, an accounts payable folder, another paid accounts folder. and one for "personal documents" only.


If folders have tabs, take the time to be more specific and create categories for each document. The? Paid accounts? It can be divided into water, electricity, credit card, condominium, telephone, tuition. Another suggestion for tabbed folders is to archive, especially accounts, by month.

To know how long to save each document This is another very important tip. Rental receipts, bank statements and water bills must be kept for five years, the same goes for property tax and income tax. Fines, electricity, telephone and credit card bills must be retained for at least two years, as these may be required by service providers if you need to make a claim, request a review or change.

For licensing and compulsory car insurance documents, the time is shorter, at least one year. Insurance papers, whether life, car or home, will and home inventory can be deleted after renovation or upgrade.


In the case of high value purchase invoices, electronics bills, service or warranty contracts and the car document, it is correct to keep these documents well kept until the items are sold, donated or lose their usefulness.

One suggestion is to review all the paperwork at the end of each year to find out what is still worth and what should go to waste. Storing unnecessary papers only takes up space and can get in the way of browsing your files.

After all separate and organized, find a place to keep documents at home. It can be a drawer, a desk corner, a cupboard partition or using organizing boxes. The important thing is not to neglect the organization, keeping the paperwork always in order and the folders in easy reach so you don't waste time when you need a document.

Document Organization - Organize Your Important Papers (March 2024)


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