When I was a kid it was ‘grouse’ (yep, strange I know), meaning good or great. Which of course has nothing at all to do with filing, except that my filing is an epic fail.

After trying lever-arch binders for a while I’m going back to drop files (have found a brand that are coated so the metal rails don’t make my nails feel weird) but I’m going to try the computer tagging method – put two tags on that file, one for ‘car’ and one for ‘insurance’. Two or three tags should cover most overlap situations.

Do you play Warcraft? ‘Epic’ is a very WoW-playerish adjective…

On every filing level, I have no more than five categories. I force myself to. Therefore, on each level it is perfectly clear to me into which category something goes. If a category does not have subcategories, I allow for an arbitrary number of document blocks in it. This approach resembles a paper phone book (nobody sorts the entries he’s got under the respective starting letters, right?) and is sufficiently fast, because people can pin down a document quite easily and fast enough.

I use hanging files for the top level. Inside, I use either spine bars for blocks of equal-sized documents or transparent file jackets (that are closed on two sides) for blocks of documents that vary in size. Both solutions allow for quick reordering, adding and removal of documents.

Finally, I attach post-it notes like with the dates they can be disposed on, to blocks of documents that I don’t need to keep anymore after a specific period. During the yearly review, it becomes clear what to throw away.

The only paper documents I have now are my original birth certificate, my car title, and my social security card.

It’s not perfect. Some categories have some overlap. For instance, mortgage stuff could go in the house or financial section. I decide those based on which it is most closely related to.

I don’t alphabetize. I order the categories and subfolders with the most frequently used in the front so I can get to them easily. Each category has less than ten subfolders so alphabetizing would be overkill.

I keep my monthly bills in a separate accordion style folder. Current bills are in the five front sections which are set up as weekly tickler files that I check on Monday when I pay my bills. Paid bills are kept in the back five or so sections by type until January when I pull them all out, toss what I don’t need for tax records and file the rest with our tax returns. I keep some stamps and envelopes in the last couple of sections so I can grab the whole thing if needed and pay bills on my lunch break at work.

I think that’s about it! I hope you find the right system for you. It took some trial and error to get to this point but I’ve found that, for me, this system has eliminated most of the, “Where the heck did I decide to file this last time?” when I’m trying to find the folder for this year’s auto insurance policy.

It’s all straight alphabetical, although I too have a dilemma with your car insurance question. Currently I keep it under insurance-car near my insurance-health and insurance-home sections. If I were a car buff, I may keep it separately under a car section.

Everything is in file cabinets or filing drawers. One of my reference filing drawers sticks a bit, so I recommend easy-to-open filing drawers to make this dreaded chore easier.