PAPER UN-PURGE
Full Disclosure: I hate paper. I get that it’s the only way some people like to write/read/remember/store info, but it’s the BANE of my existence. I blame it all on my parents, of course – aren’t they always the root cause of all of our issues? My kids’ therapists’ will surely agree - LOL!!
But really, it is their fault. My Dad (sorry Dad) is a MAJOR paper-a-holic. I’m not talking a receipt or two here or there. I’m talking 100-page business plans and financial statements…in triplicate…going back 30 years. Seriously. I am NOT exaggerating. They recently bought a shipping container; the back half is filled with bankers boxes of paper, and yes, going back to the 80’s. It’s all my mom could do to get it out of the house.
Growing up there’d be weekly cleaning rants. She’d storm through the house attempting to hide the stacks and piles of paper out of sight; doing everything in her power to make it feel less cluttered and chaotic, all the time muttering about the F#*(!@ papers and G-D newspapers and bullshit binders everywhere. So yeah, I come by it honestly.
Baggage aside, and with full acknowledgement that I try to save everything digitally, I understand that there are many of you who love/need your paper. It’s cool. I can deal. And the reality is, I have a bit of paper too. It’s practically impossible to avoid. So since I can’t fully beat the paper eradication, I’ve had to reluctantly join in.
I have a really great filing system that I’m excited to share with you. You can download a copy of my file labels HERE. All of our files fit into one (yes, JUST one) file drawer, and really, 1/3 of the drawer is filled with owner’s manuals & warranties so it’s not much. The things I concede to keep paper copies of have to do with 3 main things:
1. Property
2. Taxes
3. Death
PROPERTY
These are the things like mortgage docs, rental agreements, land titles, purchase receipts for major electronics and appliances – that kind of stuff. Basically, things that you own and need to remember and record…receipts, manuals, insurance details, sales records.
TAXES
Oy, taxes. I know. I won’t cause too many heart palpitations by talking about it too much. All I want to say is that you need to keep that crap for 7 years in case they want to audit you. And in my experience, it’s at the 5-year mark, just when you forget that you claimed that receipt for a new office chair on your 2018 taxes, that you get that CRA letter demanding back up for everything. It sucks. I learned my lesson, and it’s my public service to help you prevent a similar blunder. You’ll see in the file labels (here) that there are labels for 7 years of past taxes PLUS one for the current year. This system has helped me immensely (before I started digitizing everything that is!!). Each year at the end of the tax season I rotate it out – clear the “current” folder to YR 1 and domino it down until I get to the ultimate reward of being able to purge YR 7!
DEATH
Yep, I’m that morbid. This group is all those things dealing with death – the expected things of life insurance and wills, but also those things on the path to death – investments, RRSP’s, medical docs. There’s a safe spot for all of it.
That’s it! That’s how I keep my personal PAPER files in order. Don’t forget to download my pre-labeled file tabs (there’s some blank ones too if you need). Let me know what you think and how your file re-org is going!