apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

My goal is to get rid of paper as soon as possible. I have more than 10 years of MacIntax-TurboTax files on my harddrive.

I scan important invoices. I get e-bills. I pay nearly all bills online and even if I write checks, I get them online. I am a hopeless slob with paper, but I do quite well with digital documents. Still, I do intend to enter the messy desk competition soon.

I have one of those wire file folder things that sits on your desk and holds your files in a little tier, in the front hall. Things like bills get put in the front of it, so I everyday when I see them, I know how close I am to the pay date. Things of lesser importance, like magazine renewals go behind that, and things that I can deal with anytime go behind. Beyond that I throw all of life's little invoices - receipts to keep, pay stubs blah blah. The back section gets filed in my closet file system when I think about it, every three months or so.
The last thing in the rack is a folder for items that need to be shredded, which I do about once a month.

Step 1: pretty cardboard boxes (with lids) on front hall table. One for me, one for boyfriend. Mail is immediately sorted into mine/ his/ trash.

Step 2: box contents are sorted through at owner's discretion, usually once a week so bills can get paid, etc. If it gets too full, it becomes a guilt-provoking eyesore because the lid won't fit.

Step 3: three ring binders. important stuff (tax items, receipts, financial paper) are relentlessly triple-hole punched and stuck in the correct binder. Usually this happens when box is sorted. Takes 15 minutes to pay bills and hole punch, tops.

I am enamoured of this system. In europe, all your bank statements and stuff come pre-hole punched, since the use of binders instead of file cabinets is pretty standard. You can get decent cardboard binders relatively cheaply, and they look good standing in a bookcase-- so no need for ugly file cabinet.

The streamlined desk with one drawer is attractive, but a traditional desk with drawers would help.

i use a plastic mail sorter for my initial sorting and then i have 2 accordian file holder things (all of which i keep in a cabinet, out of the way of everything). one for my personal stuff and then another for home stuff (bills, manuals, rental papers, etc) every couple of months i'll file all of the papers from the mail sorter in the accordian files. i go paperless for most bills so that cuts down on the amount of paper i have floating around.

the best thing i've started doing more recently is immediately taking all the junk mail i receive out to the garage and throwing it away after i check the mail. it never comes close to ending up in a pile somewhere in my house.

- mail is sorted in my grandmothers sterling English toast caddy (which i'd like to point out, is an idea featured in this month's Domino, and i've been doin' it forever!)...bills and invitations in the front, parking ticket notices in the back (to ignore).

- receipts, medical documents, pay-stubs, and grown-up stuff all go in an accordion folder in my closet. i dont need to think about that stuff everyday, i just need to know where it is.

- magazines that i keep (Domino, Readymade, Living,Etc, and Elle Decor US and UK) are organized in magazine files on my expedit shelf, magazine tear-sheets from other mags are organized in plastic sleeves in white binders, also on the same bookcase.

i dont have an office or even a desk...my accordion folder keeps me almost 100% organized, as long as i remember to put stuff in there. i dont keep any copies of bills, because i try to do most of my banking and bill paying online (and you can always print out or view your payment history...)

I have a similar system as Gretchen...my landing strip includes small cardboard drawers (3, one for bills/letters/important papers, one for receipts and coupons, and one for magazine clippings -junk, etc goes straight into the trash) Magazines go in magazine files on top. Then, important papers and paid bills go into binders with plastic sleeves, so I have a binder for each year (which live in the closet on a shelf).

By the way, I love the desk area above- and I totally disagree that a traditional desk is necessary

I also use a vintage toast rack for my bills to pay, and mostly pay bills online. I'm sure I got that idea from Martha.

For tear sheets, receipts, ideas for stuff to do and to work on, I file them in labeled short manila envelopes that I file in a plain small box I got from Staples, that I covered with pretty wrapping paper.

All financial documents including paid bills and paystubs and anything I get during the year that has tax related information all go into one folder for the year in my one-drawer filing cabinet. I found that trying to keep separate folders for these drive me crazy at tax time, as I can't remember if I've found them all.

Everything else like my dog's records, insurance policies and other long-term stuff go into folders in the filing cabinet.

can any1 tell me about the desk in the picture? this looks sorta like a mc cobb planner, but w/ a smaller drawer compartment.

It looks like this solution essentially just converted your "horizontal" pile to a "vertical" pile instead.

I also eliminated paper with a scanner (the scansnap); I now have an empty file cabinet that I keep meaning to sell on craigslist. Every few days I scan in everything I think I might want to keep (journal articles, recipes, clippings, bills for the few places that won't send them electronically, HCRA receipts). It is a huge relief. Digitizing was actually much easier than previous efforts to make my paper flow more organized.

What to you do with magazines you still leaf through but aren't current? We have a metric ton of magazines that are too pretty/ useful to throw away.