AS LONG AS I AM STUCK HOME FOR THE PANDEMIC - I AM CLEARING OUT MY FILES OF OLD ITEMS

 I have been figuring that while we are stuck home most of the time due to the pandemic I will get some long undone projects done.  One that I have actually made some progress on is cleaning out my filing cabinets.  

We have 3 half height (2 drawer) filing cabinets.  I say “we” but basically they are mine for files for my husband and myself.  When we lived in our apartment there was no room for full height filing cabinet so we bought 2 half height ones and used the top for a place to keep needed items which had to be kept out.  When we moved to our house we kept the 2 cabinets and added a third.  This has been a good idea as our computer printers/scanner is kept on top of them – a solution to 2 problems, where to put the printers and where to keep files.  Our desks sit facing each other with one side of the desks along the all and the cabinets on the other end of the desks – facing away from them into the room (basically into the walkway between the filing cabinets and the book shelves across from them which are along the wall.

I use the top drawer of the first cabinet for our personal items.  I use regular manila folders in this drawer.  I have been using the bottom drawer of that cabinet for two sets of folders – instruction manuals/warranty papers for items around the house and for travel brochures/maps and such.  The top drawer is fine as I go through our personal folders annually.  (Note – paid bills for us are NOT kept in this cabinet  - I have an accordion folder next to my desk chair for same.)  

The bottom drawer below that is rarely gone through, though I have been working for a couple of years on scanning the instruction manuals and warranty papers into my computer to make them either and quicker to find – unless they are complicated manuals such as for the refrigerator or a major tool.  I have gone through and removed duplicate travel brochures to only keep the most recent one.  These two drawers are generally very full by the end of the year.

The top drawer of the middle cabinet has been used for financial matters for our craft business.  Bills for the business do go into this drawer and I go through it every year to remove bills and store with our personal ones.  It also has information about craft shows we have done or want to do, and stores/online businesses that carry items of interest to us.  

The  bottom drawer of the middle cabinet has two different sets of files – in the front is the files for my embroidery chapter and in the rear are the files for our reenactment unit.  (There are less files for the embroidery chapter which is why they are in the front.)  Since this drawer is almost on the floor and I am getting older it has become more problematic to get to the reenactment unit files – if nothing else when I lean down my progressive lens eyeglasses shift and everything goes out of focus.  I have wanted to shift one or the other to a different drawer to help get rid of this problem. I also have to sit on a small step we keep in the room to see the files which are further back in the drawer.

In the top drawer of the third cabinet was some additional files for our craft business and catalogs – lots of catalogs – mostly for our craft business, but some for us also.  We rarely order from catalogs or otherwise, but when we need something for the craft business we can go through and find what we need and who sells it and decide who to buy from and how to do so.  Of course we have not received a new catalog in probably over a decade, so the catalogs are not current.  

In the bottom of the third drawer of the third cabinet are my files for accounting clients, etc. and some files for husband related to his certifications and websites through which he has done counseling plus some files left from his former job - he quit over 10 years ago.

I figured that as long as I am stuck home anyway whenever I have some time while in office I would work on going on through the catalogs to see what to keep and get rid of the rest so I could put the two files for the 2 clubs into separate drawers.  Yes, Covid-19 is giving time at home to clear out old papers.  

I started a new spreadsheet for the catalogs.  I take some out and decide if we would still be interested in what each if for.  No longer interested – catalog info is put in the spreadsheet (after checking that the business still exists) and then the catalog goes into a pile to recycle.  With the spreadsheet info we can either go the website of the company or call for a new catalog if we need it.  Catalogs we are still interested in I check to see if the business still exists and how well their items are shown on their website.  If the company still exists, again I put the company's info in the spreadsheet.  If the website shows the items they carry – catalog gets recycled.  If the company is gone – catalog gets recycled.  If the website does not show what they carry and we are still interested, I keep the catalog even though it is old.  Amazing how many catalogs were recycled –  of course I remove the mailing info first and shred it.  

Today I started going through my old accounting files.  If I have not worked for the client in several years I make sure that all of the info in the file has been scanned into the computer and shred what is in the file.  (I keep copies of client's taxes other than the most recent year done as pdfs in my computer.  I keep the most recent year on paper as it is easier to refer to the following year when preparing that year's return.)  I also have been going through the other files in this drawer – forms I have to file for me to be able to prepare tax returns, proof of classes I had to take, returns shredded before I started keeping the record of same in a spreadsheet, etc. are being scanned into the computer (this is what I worked on today).  Clients who I go to and “do” their books have more papers retained than those who I just prepare income taxes for, including a traditional file folder that I take to them when I am working at their location so anything related does not get lost.  I filled my shredder basket today.  

I have a few more accounting files to go through and then I will go through the files I keep for husband for his counseling practice.  For convenience the two businesses will continue to share a file drawer.  

I plan to separate the two clubs into separate drawers and move the travel items into back of the drawer with my embroidery chapter's file since (as mentioned) there a lot less of them than of the reenactment unit's files.  We will travel again one day – when the corona virus is in control and it is safe.

I will continue to scan in the instructions and warranties books for things in the house and hope to get it down to a limited number of items which have too much info in them to get rid of.  Since small parts that came with items are also in this drawer, I will end up bagging and labeling them and keeping them in this drawer also.  

The drawers are so much emptier than when I started and easier to use.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

If you are stuck in the house anyway – use your time to work on getting rid of unneeded things.  There must be some papers that sit where they are just because of lack of thought of them.  Try to find them.  Decide if you need them.  If you need a copy of them and NOT the originals – scan them and shred the originals (birth certificates and marriage licenses are among the items that one needs to keep the original).  If you need to keep them – set them up so they are kept in some sort of order.  As someone raised in business I prefer papers in a file folder in a file drawer – what works for you to keep to track of the paper originals you need to keep?