Paper Clutter: Archiving

While this is my final post on paper clutter (as pertains to my Simplify 101 course), I'm sure the subject will be visited upon again sometime in the future. Perhaps a check-in, to be sure that I'm maintaining my systems... They all require habit build-up and I'm still working on it!

In association with archiving (long-term document storage), I reorganized my filing cabinet. I had purchased this only a few months ago and constantly reaffirmed to my husband that it was WORTH the expense!!

I forgot (once again!) to take a before picture but aside from the less organized labels, I wasn't using a "straight-line" filing system (this is when all your tabs are in the same position). Aby's argument that this system was easier even though it seemed counterintutive, rang true to me.  ;)

So, here is my straight-line-filed filing cabinet!

Looks so neat and tidy in comparison to the "before!"

My categories and subcategories:

• Insurance
• Car
• Home
• Life (soon!)
• Taxes
• 2011 Taxes (current tax year includes tax receipts for school and work, as well as charitable donations)
• 2010 Taxes
• 2009 Taxes
• 2008 Taxes
• 2007 Taxes
• 2006 Taxes
• 2005 Taxes (While Americans are advised to retain their tax records for 7 years, I'm unsure of the Canadian regulations... Hoping this is good enough!)
• Financial
• Retirement
• Employment Insurance info (by year as required--my husband is in a trade apprenticeship program)
• Home
• Mortgage
• Property Taxes
• House Plans/Legal Documents (we've built our house twice in a row now!)
• Legal Docs from sale of our previous home (may not need to keep this)
• Auto (nothing in here right now... just made space for it in case)
• Legal
• Birth Certificates
• Church Certificates
• School Certificates/Diplomas
• Files by Family Member (my husband and I each have one, while the kids share one for now--this is where we keep things such as accreditation info and memorabilia--see below for what I plan to do in the future for child memorabilia) 
• Warranties/Manuals (so excited about having these all in one place!!)
• Major Appliances
• Minor Appliances
• Electronics
• Other

So that's it! I absolutely love opening my filing cabinet now!  ;)

Here is what I plan to do in the future for the memorabilia that children collect (long-term artwork, report cards, etc.):

(click on the photo to go to original post)

I will add the applicable years to each age/grade as done here:

I'm linking this at: