Do you have a filing system?

Having acted as executor to a relative's estate last year, I am now very aware of the need to leave things in order for my daughters. Although most of my bills are online, I also have paper copies of most stuff, as I am not sure whether anyone else would be able to access my online accounts if I were to die or become incapable of managing my affairs.

My filing cabinet has most current documentation, e.g. insurance, car MOT, guarantees, receipts, and bank statements (paper copies mean I can scribble notes reminding myself what any large transactions are). I also have some box files with archived bank statements and details of closed savings accounts. Once or twice a year I remove and shred anything older than seven years.

Important certificates (birth, marriage, etc) are also in the filing cabinet. You need, ideally, to produce the birth certificate when registering a death, so it should be kept somewhere accessible (and not, as with my elderly relative, in a metal box fixed to the floor at the back the coat-cupboard!). A copy of my Will and a note saying where the original is stored are also there, and the Land Registry documents for the house. Some things need to be stored as original documents, even if you back them up by scanning to computer.

greyhairfern - you're not the only one.
rubytut on the previous page does the same, and many of my younger friends and relatives also.
I would do it too if I had the technical know-how.
My husband has a programme on his 'puter which collects all his incomings and outgoings and produces a spreadsheet. Which I refer to when completing his self assessment tax return online.
He leaves that to me
I've done all my new filing now.

It seems like everyone uses filing cabinets and paper copies. I must be weird because I use an online filing cabinet of sorts - www.adminbox.co.uk. You get reminders before you auto-renew and you can write notes on each agreement you have, and upload files to your account. Makes my life easier.

I have a cardboard box and Manila folders. The box fits perfectly under the bed. There are separate folders for each bank account, Wills, car insurance, house insurance, receipts, passports and related docs, etc. Can find anything immediately.

Have a yearly clear out.
Reckon this comes from a lifetime of secretarial work.

I thank heaven that DH had a very good filing system when I was sorting out papers for probate. In Cyprus we needed the last three years of his personal tax accounts and proof of payment, as well as his medical card, bank account statements, house utility receipts. car registration, and other documents, all easily found. But I still have no idea why the last 8 years of supermarket till rolls were filed!

Yes, I file things in marked folders and go through them from time to time and get rid of stuff that is definitely no longer needed.

It makes for a much easier life.

I must get cracking on making my new files, and filing all new bills etc. I haven't done anything yet.

Yes, a large metaland lockable filing cabinet in the study.
All bills, receipts and guarantees etc kept in it, as well as bank and medical stuff.

My DS1 and DiL1 are very organised - and do something which I think we should all do: they scan their receipts straight away.

As I have some receipts which were printed on thermo-sensitive paper and which have faded to illegibility, I would say there is a lot of sense in that!

I do have a huge box of receipts and instructions for use that I intend to go through with DH when the evenings get darker - we both seem to have various files of these things, as well as the box of loose papers, and if we chucked out all the papers referring to old vacuum cleaners and radios which we don't have any more, we could probably reduce it to one file.

As for all the legal and insurance stuff, DH deals with all that. I hope to be able to sit down with him on another long evening and have him show me where everything is. You never know.

I have a small unit from IKEA in the bedroom which has 3 slim drawers and a hanging file section. All bills, driving documentation, insurances etc are kept in lever arch files in separate polly pockets . Plus all my divorce papers in another as still don't trust what ex husband might do in the future ( long unpleasant story) Birth certificates, baptism/ confirmation etc also filed and ex work materials kept in folders and box files in case useful for present job . Have also kept all accountancy and HMRC paperwork forum the time I was self employed . It all makes sense to me me , not all of it would make sense to DC when I'm dead but then I won't mind

Two drawer filing cabinet in the study and a heap of paper on the desk waiting for action or the" I have no idea what to do with this file" the three drawer cabinet in the garage welcomed a shredder van a few weeks ago. All our remaining business files are now compost. Made me very happy.

Same for us contrarym. We’ve claimed for a carpet a few times in 50 years and each time an assessor has checked the carpet make up rather than rely on the receipt, which we have always been able to provide. The last time the carpet was less than a year old, oh dear, my fault. Again little interest in the receipt, they sent a carpet person who knew what it was by looking. In the times when we stayed with an insurer for years I used to check their requirements about receipts and act accordingly, now market forces seem to trigger a change every year that one doesn’t work. Insurance claims can be a nightmare.

I have a box with a dozen hanging files for paperwork and statements etc. Some stuff is only on line but I manage to keep it up to date and file letters once a month so it doesn’t accumulate in a drawer.

I have three drawers of files, and I keep them fairly up to date.

* Springychicken* I throw away our receipts after the guarantee has expired as our Insurance is ‘new for old’ so they don’t need to know how much anything cost us years ago. I guess we each have our own systems.

I keep receipts for large purchases etc but have no paper trail for bills as everything is online so stored on the laptop. Anyone bothered about computer failure and lack of paper trail should simply back up their files to a usb stick or external hard drive. I shred as much paper as possible and don't have files for anything why would I?

Ours is only a small filing cabinet. But a drawer with labelled folders would be almost as good. As long as you keep remembering to put stuff in the folders and don't just put it on a pile as I do!

Having just turned my bedroom upside down looking for my credit card statement only to find it in the bottom of my handbag. I obviously need to learn from all you lovely ladies and organise my paperwork.

I was fine whilst working as all papers were kept in file by my desk (own business) but as I no longer go into the office and my desk has a new occupant, I may just have to get myself sorted!!!

I am another filing cabinet and list person. We have a tray on top of the cabinet for anything needing filing and that is usually done every few weeks.

I keep most invoices for 6 years so that if the Inland Revenue come to call we have all our documentation. DH is classified as self-employed, although as each year goes by he does less and less.

Every January I work my way round the files sorting, chucking and shredding before putting all the paper on the compost heap.

It makes life so much easier, we know exactly where everything is. No rushing round trying to find things. Utility bills are all done online, but again, I know where to go if I need them.

? saying nothing

I have one large ring binder which holds everything for the current tax year, including utilities, credit card and bank statements. And I have seven A4 wallets, one for each of the previous seven tax years.

When all the paperwork is finally in for the tax year, P60s, interest statements etc, it's transferred from the binder to a plastic wallet and labelled, for example, "Tax year 2017/18, scrap 4/2025. So each year, it's easy to scrap the oldest documents without having to think too much and reuse the wallet for the newly completed tax year paperwork.

Someone mentioned throwing away old receipts when the guarantee has expired - BAD IDEA!!! We had to claim for a carpet once and had ditched the paperwork. It was the first thing the insurance company wanted, to help judge how much to pay out. Keep receipts until you no longer have the goods.

Oh dear i dont have time to be so organised. I do keep Bank statements, credit card bill and household bills, each is in a large brown envelope, plus car docs and prepaid funeral are in a folder for each .Nothing is in any order though it is just pushed in until one day I can't get anything else in then i go through it and shred or burn old stuff. All this is stored in the bottom of my 'haunted chest of drawers' but that is another story!!!

I would like to have a filing cabinet, I was used to that system in the past. But no room at the moment.
I've also heard of the online system, but haven't got the skills to do it. You've still got to transfer new paper bills etc.

DH very systematic and files everything i have a messy intray on my desk which is piled high -but I do try to file important stuff. We have a filing cabinet and a safe, plus desk drawers -his neat, mine a mess!

corner I may have to go and have a lie down having read what you do because you are so organised. God help whoever has to go through my papers and stuff when I pop my clogs.

I do not know why I am so chaotic in real life when my brain does not work like that. Drawers and carrier bags are my filing systems.