How to Organize Your Filing Cabinet

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

Rate: (4 Ratings)

Organization is key to finding something in your filing cabinet quickly. Your home or office filing cabinet is a place where information can be stored in a fast and easily accessible manner. These steps will allow you to organize your home or office in a way that makes you look as if you know exactly where everything is!

Flag Article

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Hanging Files
Card Stock
Manila folders
Files that need to be filed
Plastic label holders
Filing cabinet
Labels

Step1

Take everything out of the filing cabinet that you want to organize.

Step2

Organize your information and papers in a preferably clean area in piles that relate to each other. For example; bank statements, birth certificates, electric bills, medical bills, phone bills and receipts.

Step3

Arrange the piles in alphabetical order. Write down the file headings you have so far. Look at your list and determine if you would like to add anything to that list.

Step4

Type file headings on your computer in a font and size that will fit in the plastic label holder for the hanging file folder.

Step5

Print labels and cut them out.

Step6

Place them in the plastic label holders.

Step7

File your information alphabetically in your filing cabinet.

Tips & Warnings

This system allows you to add and subtract files easily, because it is in alphabetical order.
This system can be used for home or office.
Filing your information in alphabetical order will ensure that you can always find what you need.
You can extend this by color-coding certain files. For example: all bills are green, all medical is blue and all files related to children are red.
When pulling out your existing files this would be a great time to purge things that you have not used for a while or that are obsolete.
Give yourself time to get used to the new filing system.
Remember that if you always have things in alphabetical order they will be easy to find.