How can I organize old bills without a filing cabinet?
Question:I'd like to come up with some other way to organize and store my old bills other than a filing cabinet. I hate how they always seem to get jumbled in those stupid hanging folders and everything is so crammed. It's hard to actually find things when I do need to see them. Any ideas?
Answers:
Flex o' file. It is the easiest way I know because it takes so little effort. At the office supply or drug store, get one of those expand a file 12 plastic file folders. You can make a file either by item, utilities or be as lazy as I am and have it by month. I stick the paid bills for each month in one section and all receipts, cash, credit card or check in the same divider. That way, I only have one place to look if I need a paid bill, check or receipt. And, at the end of the year, I have everything for that year in one place. I buy the largest flex o file they sell which is a little larger than 8 1/2 x 11 so most everything fits and only a few things require folding. Call it the lazy woman's filing system, but it takes so little to keep it organized and even if I let my "stack" of receipts and paid bills pile up for a month, it only has one place to go. Plus, it is mobile, so I can take it from the office which is its home downstairs to the kitchen where I usually pay bills while multi-tasking and making dinner, doing laundry, answering the door and phone...yada, yada, yada
3-ring binders and dividers
Binders & sheet protectors.
How old are the bills you are looking at keeping? The best way I've been shown to keep bills straight is like this:
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles5...
We do this for all current bills from one year to the next.
Then if you would like you can either take out all of the old bills (that will still be in a yearly order, rubber band them togeather by month with a smaller notecard saying what month they are, or keep them all together by year depending on the amount of bills you have, and put them into a banker box, and shove it into a closet. chances are you will not need any of these bills after a year unless you get audited or want to just look at your records so it's a really easy way to go, and it keeps everything really easy to find!
You don't need filing cabinets or drawers.go to Walmart or Target and find some of the decorative cardboard boxes. They come in all sizes, and you can stack them to look very attractive. You can keep a box for each year, or one for each type of bill. I, personally, like rooms to be attractive...even my office. So I have a series of shelves with colour coordinating boxes...they look great, and I'm extremely well organized. In my case, I couldn't find a pattern I liked, so I bought the box sizes I wanted, and covered them with wallpaper in coordinating colours/patterns. It really looks fabulous!
Shoe Boxes...work great
You can use manila folders. Label each one for each different type of bill. See if you can find a box that the folders will fit into. Then you can either paint is or otherwise decorate it to suit your taste.
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