Things You'll Need:
- Boxes
- Index cards
- Glue
- Marker pen
- File folders
- File cabinet
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Step 1
Obtain at least 5 cardboard boxes that are large enough to hold a stack (or better yet, multiple stacks) of papers. Additionally, get a black marker pen and some glue.
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Step 2
Label the index cards according to years (for example, "1995-2000"), then use the glue to attach that card to the side of the box. Make sure that you account for every year for which you have documents up to last year. If the current year is 2008, for instance, you might end up with 5 boxes labeled "2007-2004," "2003-2000," "1999-1996," "1995-1992" and "1991-back."
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Step 3
Obtain several dozen file folders (typically 8.5 x 11 inches in size) and a file cabinet. Your file cabinet should only be as large as you need it to be--most people don't need a huge, commercial-size cabinet; some get by just fine with a single-drawer file cabinet. Get what works for you, then fill it with your empty file folders.
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Step 4
Go through all of the papers, documents, stationery, notes, letters and anything else written or printed on paper in your house. Arrange them in stacks. You might put anything that has to do with your car payments in one pile, your utility bills in another, letters from friends in another, important reports you've written in another, and legal documents in another.
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Step 5
File anything new--from the current year--in your file cabinet in one of the file folders. As you are filing things there, label your files. For example, you might label one file "Bank," another "Insurance," another "Utilities," and so on, then put anything from the current year into the proper file. Again, everything in your file cabinet should be from the current year.
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Step 6
Now file everything else in neat stacks in the appropriate boxes, according to year. Put the file cabinet in your home office or bedroom and store your boxes with older documents, neatly stacked, in your attic or storage closet.
