Organizing Hacks: Paper Items

For those of you who know me well, you know I love to organize. As odd as it sounds, it truly brings me joy to live in a clear space. My family tries to live simply and not be cluttered with things. We clean out the entire house twice a year to really think about what we have and the importance of material items. If a space in our house is a disaster, I feel like it just weighs over me and I can’t be as productive or efficient in other areas as I want to be.

Since organizing is a hot topic right now, I thought it would be fun to share how I like to organize different things and areas in our home (especially with a child). We all have different systems and techniques that work for us, so I always think it is fun to get new ideas on how to do things! Of course, what works for one person may not work for another…

Today I want to share the least favorite…paper items. I feel like papers are the first things that get crammed in a junk drawer or pile up in a random area of the house. I decided a few years ago I was going to organize our important papers, documents and bills with binders and I have stuck to it since then.

Each member of the family as a binder with different sections, and I also keep a house one. I go through the binders once a year and shred anything that is no longer relevant or needed.

For the family members I keep things in the following sections:

Health (wellness reports, blood word, power of attorney, important bills, etc)
- I added a “baby” section to mine with all pregnancy documents
Dental (treatments, bills)
Vision (wellness reports, bills, current prescriptions)
Car (title, any important papers or big maintenance)
Investments
Insurance (policies, important statements)
Taxes (current forms needed and yearly returns)

Our sons is a little different than ours so his is starting with “records, bills, information, investments”

For the home I keep the following sections: