Paper Pile Management ~ Part 2

Just last week, I was here talking about our new filing system for all of our active files. I promised to come back and show you how we're handling our inactive files and, I try not to make promises I can't keep, so here you go!

Our inactive files are those files that paper is either no longer being added to at all or being added very rarely. These files include tax paperwork from previous years, awards and certificates, employment documents, etc. It seemed silly to me to keep these with our active files. They just clutter the drawer, making it more difficult to add to the active files on a regular basis. I decided it would be sufficient to store these inactive files in a banker's box for now. I'm not 100% settled that this is a permanent solution, but I'm trying it out to see how it works. I've learned that most organizing projects are ongoing. You set up a system and use for a bit and determine what works and what doesn't and then make adjustments accordingly. After all, you can have the greatest looking organizational system but if it doesn't work for you, it's pointless.

So, I decided to use simple accordion files for this project. These files are slim, but expand as needed. This is helpful as some of our inactive files are rather small (like tax return papers from 2006) and others are quite large (like certificates, awards, letters of reference, etc). I printed the same labels I used for our active files and affixed those to the accordion files.

Then I filled each file, keeping things in date order as much as possible. This way, I know when I file additional papers in each folder to file them in the back. I put the files in alphabetical order and put them in a bankers box. I considered wrapping the box in wrapping paper or scrapbook paper to make it a little more attractive, but since I'm not 100% sold on keeping this solution, I left it alone for now. 

This box can be stored in a closet or on a storage shelf and accessed only when necessary.

So our active files are stored in an easily accessible drawer in our future "home office" area and our inactive files are stored neatly in a box out of the way. That leaves one last project to contain our paper. I had three very large folders in that tippy filing cabinet: Trips, Wedding, Manuals. At one time, this was an easy way for me to keep tickets and souveniors, important documents from our wedding, and all those manuals that come with electronics and other gadgets. But it didn't take long for these folders to get way out of hand. In fact, while I was cleaning and purging the file cabinet, these folders kept spilling all over the table. So it's time to come up with a new solution for these items. Look for that post next week!

What do you think? How do you store files that aren't accessed often?