bankers boxes on interim basis
I have 8 bankers boxes open on a table, on an interim basis, at home, where most of the mess to process is. If you are processing a back log, it is easier not to open and shut drawers. Also. I have not set up my office and don't know if I want 2 drawer or 4-drawer or laterals. One box is just financial stuff--that is specific accounts, creditors, etc. These folders are green, currently all a to z but it will become divided by years soon: and then a to z within the years. It will go in a locking cabinet at some point. I want to be able to file financial information really fast and get it really fast, so I did not want to have to look through a bunch of Cs for Crown Bank or a bunch of B's for "Bank: Crown. One box is just information on house and furnishings, like pictures of stuff we may want, articles on furnaces, brochures, etc, and all are filed a to z and I have a piece of card board that lists the categories. These are in their own box becuase they made the whole system to big to wlak through easily. If we actually own a particular item in the house file, it is in a yellow folder (e.g. "Lighting-we have" is in a yellow folder vs Lighting-kitchen is in a plain one). The remaining 6 are general, filed a to z and within that I use red folders for anything that pertains to individuals in my life. And, again here, yellow for objects that we own, like a trimmer or a cuisinart or a bike. And, again within the general boxes, green is for anything with financial implications but not the kind of thing you would lock up or consider in a tax return. So genreal information about longterm care insurance is in a green folder in the general boxes but the insurance policy is in the financial box. In the general files anything that is personal to me is in purple folder. As to the color coding-I am integrating this into the system as I work. It is my proposed answer to certain discomforts I have had about mixing some things together, as well as retrievability, and file-ability. If I just can't stand having certain things mixed in with the rest, I can yank them all quickly and then easily know what box they go in. Most of my professional files are in my office (not at home) but any at home start with prof: ____.
, I have an "open top" cart on wheels that I keep next to my desk. The cart is designed for hanging folders so I put about a dozen "box-bottom" hanging folders in it then lots of manila folders in the hanging folders. The wheeled cart is nifty as it rolls around and does not take up as much room as a standard file cabinet.