Friday Favorite: Filing Tips with Reinforced File Folders

January is the best time of year to revamp your filing system. It's a new year, so you can start fresh and feel organized by paying some attention to those all-too-forgotten files. Any files that you create yearly will need to be re-created. For example, I create monthly files each year. Rather than having individual files for all of the different payments, I make January - December files each year and can quickly file all paid bills at once. At the end of the year, the files go into storage and new ones are created. I save my monthly files for 7 years, so each year I also remove the oldest box. Although monthly file tabs are great, they don't work for everything, so you will need to update any other files you have.

 If you are going to create new files, invest in good ones. I love the Reinforced Manilla file folders by Pendaflex. Files are kept for a long time, some are kept indefinitely and others 4-7 years--here's our document retention schedule for tips on how long to keep specific papers. With the heavy use that some files get, it's worth it to pay a little extra for good, reinforced tabs on top of the file. When your drawer gets stuffed and the files start to pop up and rub across the top of the drawer when you open it, the label part of the file folder can get tattered quickly. The reinforced files stay strong and last much longer. Take the time to revamp your file system (of course, our organizers are always here to help you with fun projects like that) you will start the year off right, your tax preparer will thank you, your file drawer will no longer look like a bomb went off in it, and you will certainly feel more organized!