file restart.

We recently moved an old, clunky filing cabinet to the basement from the baby's room (former office).  It found a home in ours when my parents downsized last year, and we quickly filled it with anything and everything... it's industrial sized. I have no idea where my dad bought this thing! We were tempted to sell it on Craigslist and get something smaller, but decided to keep it and utilize it for more things.

Re-placed in the basement.

Before we moved it, we took everything out and combed through all of our files, discarding old papers and pay stubs, etc. We had filled almost all four drawers with paper; after downsizing, I can fit all of our files into two drawers! So here's my plan:

...Use the third drawer for crafty kid supplies (finger painting stuff, pipe cleaners, whatever Liv, sister, & friends will enjoy using, etc.) and the bottom drawer for office supplies that won't fit in our upstairs desk (extra pens, pencils, tape, copy paper, etc.).  It's kind of silly how giddy this makes me, but I'm glad these things will finally have a designated space vs. floating around in basement land.

At this point, we've:

Moved the cabinet
Organized our files
Filled cabinet for use

Before I put everything in its place, I wanted to show you how I organized our actual files.

 

I came up with broad categories, like Health Records, Government Documents, Investments, Credit Cards, Receipts, Taxes etc. and labeled 11 x 17 file folders with these titles, and then filled them with specific manilla folders:







Then I put the main categories in alphabetical order:

It feels good to know what we have instead of wading through pointless paper when we're looking for something we need!

I suggest sitting down with your favorite cup of tea or coffee for this job, as well as some tunes that keep you awake. :)