A Functional Personal Filing System

A functional filing system is so important! You don't need a fancy desk or cabinet to store these files in.  A cardboard file box you pick up at the store will suffice.  All that really matters when it comes to filing your important paperwork is that your system is functional and consistent throughout.

The first key to constructing a great filing system is color codes. Assign a colored binder or expanding file folder to a major life category. It does not matter what colors they are, you can have a light blue, dark blue, and a periwinkle if you want. All that matters is that you can quickly distinguish one binder from another. Do not worry that you will not be able to memorize what colors go with what.  After you actively use this system it will become second nature.   It also does not matter what top level categories you use, everyone's categories will probably look a little different but I have laid out some broad examples below to provide you with a visual today.

1. Employment
2. Medical
3. Home
4. Transportation
5. Vital Records
6. Pets
7. Financial

Next assign colors to subcategories.  Again, your subcategory needs could look different but here are some more examples.

• Informational
• Invoices
• Receipts 

Once you have assigned colors to any subcategories your personal life warrants.  Then you will want to get expandable file folders in the colors you choose. You will likely want to have these subcategories in each of the top level binders so make sure you get enough folders.

Last but not least, get manila file folders and colored stickers to go within the subcategory folders. Each member of the family gets their own color sticker. Place a manila folder, with the members name and colored sticker in any of the subfolders where they have information specific to them.

 Let’s say our family is made up of Vince, Margaret and their dogs Buster and Spike. Our filing system will look like this.

If you find you have something that applies to all members of the family, place that item in the subcategory folder.  For example, Vince and Margaret's marriage certificate.  You can't assign that to just one of their manila folders so I would file that loosely into the Information Subcategory in the Vital Records binder.

I have found, for me at least, that this is the easiest way to file personal information away and most importantly FIND that information when you need it. Take the following scenario for example.

Zeus bites a neighbor….on your property. When the police and animal control arrive to take a report you look into your file cabinet/box/drawer. You know this incident involves your pet, (Open Brown Binder), You will need vaccination history to give to animal control (Open Blue Sub folder), For Buster, (Open Manilla folder with Pink Sticker) Next it happened at your home, (Open Black Binder) where you have homeowners insurance to provide to the police (Open Blue Sub folder), within a minute you have all of the information you need.

You can see now how simple it is to locate that information quickly verses a more standard method of filing that would likely force you to thumb through a lot more paperwork to find the specific item you need.  For instance you would probably have a vague "Insurance" folder.  That might include car insurance, boat insurance, home insurance, life insurance and who knows what else.  You might still have a "pet" folder where both pets information (Vaccines, boarding receipts, prescriptions etc.) would probably be crammed together and it would have been more time consuming to find Busters specific vaccination information in an emergency.

You will of course want to adapt this multi level filing system to better suite your specific needs, but I wanted to give you some broad examples on how you can start to construct an easy, organized, and FUNCTIONAL filing system on your own.

Meredith