Comments on: Financial Filing Systems

By: Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #140

Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #140 — Sun, 09 May 2010 23:50:48 +0000

[...] presents Financial Filing Systems posted at Eliminate The Muda!, saying, “Good personal finance begins with good [...]

By: Why This 25 Year Old Should NOT Try To Make Extra Money

Why This 25 Year Old Should NOT Try To Make Extra Money — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:47:03 +0000

[...] Financial Filing Systems [...]

By: The LeanLifeCoach

The LeanLifeCoach — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:42:32 +0000

@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!

By: Simple in France

Simple in France — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:21:54 +0000

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! =-.

By: Mr Credit Card

Mr Credit Card — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:51:06 +0000

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 =-.

By: The LeanLifeCoach

The LeanLifeCoach — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:39:22 +0000

@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.

By: Monevator

Monevator — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:43:14 +0000

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!

By: Litttle House

Litttle House — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:50:00 +0000

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 =-.

By: FinEngr

FinEngr — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:36:39 +0000

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 =-.