A
Anonymous
Guest
I've totally reorganized my file cabinet last week. I used to have colored hanging folders (yellow-financial, red-home, green-friends & family, blue-computer related) with tabs and folders in them. For example :
[Car]
-Purchase-
-Cleaning-
[Work]
-Timesheets-
-Contract-
-Insurance-
-Career-
[Tax]
-1999-
-2000-
-2001-
I've decided to take the plunge and go for A-Z filing as well as dumping the hanging files.
I use a computer with Microsoft Word to print labels on a laser printer. I considered buying a Brother labeler a lot, but in the end, I found it cheaper to just slide old narrow sheets of labels I had lying around, in my laser printer. I've chosen to use a two-level naming system. Every label has two words to identify it :
Car - cleaning
Car - purchase
Tax - 1999
Tax - 2000
Tax - 2001
Tax - 2002
Work - career
Work - contracts
Work - insurance
Work - timesheet
To me, this is an entertaining process! I just love to decide on label names and type them out in the word processor until I have a full sheet of labels. Then, I go the printer to feed it a sheet (12 labels). Slam those labels on the folders!
To find things, I maintain a single index page in Word. I've considered using additional software, but in the end, don't we all want things to be simpler? Nothing like paper : I look at my index page to file things when in doubt, and update it as needed. 98% of the time, I naturally browse the files and find what I want.
The only hard part of using this system is deciding WHAT YOU WANT on your labels (Ex. : do I want Cellphone-manual or, Electronics-Cellphone?). Even then, if I change my mind about a label, I just dump the used folder in the paper recycling-bin and grab a new one; I like a clean system so I don't put new labels over older labels.
My two cents!
Dave
[Car]
-Purchase-
-Cleaning-
[Work]
-Timesheets-
-Contract-
-Insurance-
-Career-
[Tax]
-1999-
-2000-
-2001-
I've decided to take the plunge and go for A-Z filing as well as dumping the hanging files.
I use a computer with Microsoft Word to print labels on a laser printer. I considered buying a Brother labeler a lot, but in the end, I found it cheaper to just slide old narrow sheets of labels I had lying around, in my laser printer. I've chosen to use a two-level naming system. Every label has two words to identify it :
Car - cleaning
Car - purchase
Tax - 1999
Tax - 2000
Tax - 2001
Tax - 2002
Work - career
Work - contracts
Work - insurance
Work - timesheet
To me, this is an entertaining process! I just love to decide on label names and type them out in the word processor until I have a full sheet of labels. Then, I go the printer to feed it a sheet (12 labels). Slam those labels on the folders!
To find things, I maintain a single index page in Word. I've considered using additional software, but in the end, don't we all want things to be simpler? Nothing like paper : I look at my index page to file things when in doubt, and update it as needed. 98% of the time, I naturally browse the files and find what I want.
The only hard part of using this system is deciding WHAT YOU WANT on your labels (Ex. : do I want Cellphone-manual or, Electronics-Cellphone?). Even then, if I change my mind about a label, I just dump the used folder in the paper recycling-bin and grab a new one; I like a clean system so I don't put new labels over older labels.
My two cents!
Dave