Today’s post is from Mr Credit Card from www.askmrcreditcard.com. Though his site reviews credit cards, today, he is going to share how he organizes and files his financial statements. If you are looking for a credit card, please check out his thoughts on the best credit cards
One of the most forgotten but important factors in keeping ahead of finances is organization. An unorganized person misses payments, loses receipts and has no idea which bills have or have not been paid. It may seem daunting, but this checklist may aid you in getting things in order and in the end, saving you some cash. In this post, I am going to show you how I organize my files. But first, why even organize your files?
This article was listed in the Carnival of Financial Planning hosted by blogger extraordinaire Ryan at CashMoneyLife. Check out this link for other great articles on personal finance!
The Purpose of Organizing Files
As stated in the introduction, there are a number of reasons to organize personal finance files. Here are just a few:
- Helps to make sure bills are paid on time.
- Aids in keeping proper and accurate records.
- Helps to track your monthly budget to assist in cutting excessive spending.
- Helps to track monthly bills and expenses that are used in filing taxes which can make year end filing a lot easier.
Organize bills and statements by either due date or by interest rate, preferably highest to lowest to ensure that the highest interest rate is paid off quickly, thus saving you money.
What Needs to Be Organized?
Gather all of your bills and statements from monthly cable bills all the way to checking account statements. Everything that involves money needs to be organized and accounted for and since we’re organizing we may as well include it all now. It is also helpful to grab a bunch of those cheap folders and a Sharpie. I get mine from staples BTW. Some of the bills and statements you need to gather are the following:
Personal Finances
ls – utilities, cable, cell phone – I tend to lump under one file because these are bills that we pay every month. If it is all in one file, then filing it becomes much easier. I used to have separate files for each but they were really cumbersome. This works for me. My comcast, Verizon FIOS and AT&T bills go into this file.
Business Finances
I keep my business finance totally separate from my personal finance files (just to keep them clean). But these are the files that I have.
Notes and Other Helpful Hints
There are some things to keep in mind when organizing that will make the process even easier. For instance, I set up autopay to automatically pay bills from my bank account which helps to not only ensure that bills are paid on time, but it saves money in late fees and interest. I do, however, still receive the actual statements in the mail so I have something tangible for filing purposes. There are some areas like our webhost or internet services that simply do not send mail statements that I have to print them out myself.
- We use Quicken as well to keep track of both personal and business expenses
- I mentioned a coupon and rebate file because whenever you have a rebate or a coupon, it helps to have it where you can find it quickly. What good is having a coupon if you can’t find it when you need it?
- It is also helpful to jot down information inside the folder such as contact numbers. This way when you need to give customer service a call, you can just grab the appropriate file. This is also where I note things like passwords, though some people may not be comfortable with that.
Feel free to experiment and switch things around. Try out different filing systems, for instance and find things that work for you, personally.
In the end, you’ll feel much better about having your personal finances all organized and in one place. You’ll find yourself saving tons of time looking for stuff as well as saving money and the frustration that is inevitable when you can’t find something. It may seem like a daunting task, but when organizing is completed, life is a lot less stressful. This is what I do and my methods. Please share you methods with us.
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Lead photo by BLW Photography
Content photos by AskMrCreditCard
Are those photos actual files from the system???
I’ve also seen a lot of articles on how LONG you should keep these files. If you’re continually stockpiling them, eventually you will end up on the show Hoarders.
Along the lines of treating your finances like a business, you need to have an idea of what’s coming & going.
.-= FinEngr´s last blog ..Maximizing Value, The Opposite of Earn More Spend Less =-.
I really like how you organized your files into a portable case. That’s a good idea. I’m trying to cram my files into my desk drawer and am running out of room.
How long do you keep statements for? Where do the past year’s statements go, into a file drawer? I don’t hang on to my receipts or statements for too long, about a year or two. (I actually chuck receipts after a few months, too much paper!)
thanks for sharing your system!
.-= Litttle House´s last blog ..Wonderful Passive Income =-.
Portable cases are great for filing systems, because when you really have to deal with all that crap and you’re running out of patience you can easily move to another room in the house and reboot!
@FinEngr – The first photo is a CC picture from Flickr. The others do belong to AskMrCreditCard. Keeping old files is always a challenge. I’ve commonly see that 7 years is the max for most dead financial files. But with things like taxes the water is muddy. I was once advised by the IRS that if they feel the need they can ask for documents that are 20 years old!
@LittleHouse – I can’t speak for AskMrCreditCard, but we keep all our old documents in those expanding file folder cases. They cost about $10-$15. In the last few years they have been getting tight but so far one is enough for each year. I tend to be a little conservative when it comes to financial documents. WE don’t keep receipts etc.. but I do keep all tax records, insurance contracts, deeds, mortgage papers etc. but just the key documents not all the disclaimer and legal crap.
@Monevator – Great point! – Our old files go into the attic. We keep only the current and last two years close at hand.
Little House – We do have a portable case just like the one above. It is used for business expenses. The dividers are split by month..So if the business buys anything from staples, microcenter, best buy etc, receipt goes there before it is organized properly. It is left on the desk so I can just get the receipts out of the wallet and just dump it in.
How long do we keep our receipts – they say 7 years and I guess that is how we long we try to keep. For example, once the year is over, we will take all our credit card bills and put them in a box or use a rubber band or clips to organize them and then reuse the file. We’ll junk utility bills or stuff that we do not need if we are ever audited like utility bills etc..but definitely keep the mortgage, investment papers, bank statements etc…which is a real pain
I junk all grocery receipts and shopping receipts after a while!
.-= Mr Credit Card´s last blog ..Using Credit Cards To Chase Delta Medallion Status =-.
It’s funny, but a lot of people actually aren’t organized in this way. I’ve seen people with piles of papers. In fact, my brother in law and my brothers actually seem to believe that the best means of organizing anything is the pile (on the floor or any other horizontal surface). Yipes. I have my papers in a portable box too–it makes them easy to grab in an emergency–like in the fires we had when I lived in San Diego.
.-= Simple in France´s last blog ..6 ways to keep a job you hate from ruining your life! =-.
@Simple in France- Too true. Admittedly, I’ve been there, but my organizing technique was a drawer to shove everything in. Organization was always a challenge, nothing worked until I found The 5S’. Wow life is so much better when organized!
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