How to keep documents in order at home. How to organize the storage of household documents. Choosing a suitable location

Dthere are documents in every home, and a lot of them accumulate. Receipts, warranty cards, instructions, documents for real estate, cars, medical cards, passports, certificates, diplomas…. As practice shows they take up quite a lot of space, and are usually not required very often, but almost always suddenly and urgently. That is why they must be ordered and structured, and also...their number can be reduced to a minimum. Today about this).

To put your documents in order, you need to follow these three steps sequentially:

1 step. Throw away the excess

Step 2. Sorting the remainder.

Step 3. Organize storage.

My documents occupied two drawers in the cabinet in the living room. The first contained the actual documents, and the second contained instructions and warranty cards. About once a year I sorted it all out, some part was thrown away, but in any case, two boxes were still occupied with this stuff. This year I decided to organize storage differently. But first you need to sort everything out and get rid of the unnecessary, declutter.Oh, I don’t like this word, but... it so succinctly characterizes the process). So I started thinking, if it weren’t for the cast on my leg, would I have started this event? It turned out to be a very good time.

1 step. Littering.

We put all the documentation in one pile or several, I put it in two and sorted it out in two stages: instructions and documents. This is exactly how I already had them sorted into boxes.

We throw out instructions from those devices that have died for a long time, expired warranty cards. Receipts that are more than three years old. The rest of the documents are individual.

Step 2. Let's sort.

Step 3. Organization of storage.

The most enjoyable and creative process.

I started with instructions and warranty cards. I think you will agree with me that we use them quite rarely. Some are just the first time, while we are mastering the purchase, and some we don’t even open - everything is obvious. Things are purchased, instructions are accumulated. I’m generally a lover of technology; I ended up making a whole box of scrap paper. I decided to convert absolutely all instructions into electronic form. As a result, the impressive pile of paper was transformed into a small electronic “instructions” folder in the laptop.

I'll tell you how. There are almost all instructions on the Internet, you just need to enter the name of the equipment (make and model) into a search engine and download the file pdf or a regular text file. For a couple of things I couldn’t download the instructions so I scanned them. I also created a text folder where I saved important information on finishing materials (for example, what and where tiles are (model, collection), fabric on the sofa, flooring articles, manufacturer and paint color). This allowed me to say goodbye to even more paperwork. Yes, this work took time, but in the end it became much faster and more convenient to find what you needed. You don’t need to rummage through a bunch of papers, you don’t need to organize them somehow, regularly go through them and litter them, they don’t take up space, and it’s also convenient to enlarge small font on your PC. Apart from the one-time time spent (and only because I didn’t do it while shopping before), I didn’t find any disadvantages of storing instructions this way. The only thing I do additionally is copy documents and photographs to external media, just in case the laptop gets tired and refuses to work.
If electronic storage is inconvenient for you, then you can create a folder and divide all the instructions into groups. Sorting can be by purpose (electronics, household appliances, health, miscellaneous) or by location (kitchen, bathroom, rooms). You shouldn’t make a separate folder for each device; such storage won’t be much different from a stack, and you’ll rarely need to use it.

Other documents. They are already sorted into groups and their volume is clear. Based on the volume, you need to think about storage. Convenient storage☝!

It is better to store documents vertically; a stack is not the most convenient option. When storing vertically, you don’t have to remove anything to get to the underlying one.

I already have a box for documents - when I ordered the furniture, I made the dimensions of the boxes so that they would fit in A4 format. I bought a sorter (I could have done without it), stationery envelopes with a zipper and a button. She put the documents in folders, signed them and put them in a box. Those that are used less frequently (ownership documents, old receipts that are still stored) are in depth, those that are often used are closer.
! If the folders are visible, then it’s worth spending money and choosing something beautiful so as not to spoil the interior.

! A large number of folders, in my opinion, is not very convenient, so documents need to be grouped quite extensively, and smaller envelopes can be placed in larger folders to structure the documents inside. No one looks at home documentation every day, which means that there is no point in being overly zealous and making a separate folder for each piece of paper; there is no point in labeling it. Perhaps it is beautiful and interesting, but I would argue about the feasibility))).

The folders turned out like this:

real estate documents for each property separately;
car documents;
personal folder for each family member;
medical folder for a child;
apartment folder (documents on electrics, water meters, agreement with the telephone exchange...);
old payments (archive for three years);
current payments “payments 2018” (in a large envelope I put an additional medium one marked “paid”).

I think the folder with utility bills will also be canceled in the near future, but I haven’t taken the risk yet, I’ll have to see how it all works. As I understand the situation, when making payments online, their history is stored for 3-5 years. That is, in case of any misunderstandings with utility companies, you can ask to issue a receipt again and find the corresponding receipt in the payment history. Starting this year, I stopped printing out checks; I simply make a note on the receipt “paid”, put the date of payment (so that if anything happens, I can quickly find the check) and send it to the appropriate envelope.

If there is no special “furniture” box for storing folders, like mine, then Any appropriate box, basket, container that can accommodate A4 envelopes will do. You can also use a regular box of the desired size, just cover it with wallpaper or self-adhesive film. There is no limit to imagination here.

Organizing the storage of paper documents has never been my strong point, since fussing with papers of various types and degrees of importance makes me sad. However, every year, it seems, their number doubles and there is no escape from them, so I decided, without delay, to once and for all put them in such order that in the future I would spend a minimum of effort and time on maintaining it. And the main thing is to know exactly where and what is located, so that you don’t have to rush to look for some important document, chilling with the thought “what if I got lost.” The main criteria in choosing the optimal storage system for me, probably as for many, were reliability of storage and speed of finding what I needed.

Previously, when I was still planning a grandiose cleanup, I really wanted to buy boxes that are very popular today for storing all the documents at once. They look aesthetically pleasing and allow you to store all your existing documents in them at once.

However, when I got down to business and weighed the pros and cons, I realized that this was not the best option for me. Firstly, these storage systems are quite
of impressive size (at least those that suited me with their capacity), and there is nowhere to put them out of sight in my small apartment, and putting a box of documents on public display is not at all the best option. Some of the documents are stored in my desk drawers, where not a single box will fit.

Secondly, all my documents vary in degree of importance. There are those that I, with a clear conscience, keep in the drawers of my desk. And there are very important documents, the loss of which will be fraught with difficulties. They are all stored in a more secure place, which only the closest people know about. In the event of any force majeure circumstances, my household members know which folder with documents should be grabbed before leaving the apartment. These documents don't necessarily need to be kept next to, say, utility bills if you have limited storage space.

Since our family has accumulated a lot of documents, I divided them into categories and made their own organizer for each.

Personal documents (passports, various certificates, etc.).
Property (all documents for the apartment and car)
Medical
Documents for household appliances, appliances and furniture (warranties, instruction manuals)
Utility payments

Folders on rings (for each type of document - its own color).
Transparent files for documents.
Plastic envelopes with snap buttons or zip lock closure.
Hole puncher.
Self-adhesive labels.
Dividers (you can make them yourself from colored cardboard).

I put each document and its photocopy (just in case) in a separate file and put it in a ring binder.

It is more convenient to store various “non-format” documents (such as passports, diplomas, plastic cards) in plastic pockets with buttons or with a ziplock fastener. To do this, you need to make holes at their base using a hole punch and put them in a ring binder.

If necessary, and for ease of searching for documents, you can add multi-colored separators to each folder, which are also sold in many office supply stores. For this purpose, I used ordinary A4 colored cardboard, borrowed from my son.

Subsequently, so that not only you, but also all family members can easily find the necessary documents, mark them. This saves time searching for the right document; you don’t have to read and take them out of a file or pocket.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: take care of copies of the documents that are most important to you, which you will store outside your home, in case of any unforeseen situations. You can make photocopies the old fashioned way and give them to your closest relatives for safekeeping. But if you prefer to keep up with the times, then it is better to choose cloud data storage, like Google drive, Dropbox, iCloud, Evernote, Yandex disc, [email protected]. I took photos of the documents and sent them to my storage room. Now I have access to them at any time and anywhere in the world where there is Internet.

Additionally, this method is ideal for storing receipts, from bank receipts to store receipts, which tend to fade over time. And so you photograph them and send them to storage, assigning each file a clear name by which it can be quickly found.

I’ll tell you separately about storing receipts for payment of utilities and housing services. According to my conservative estimates, we receive from 5 to 7 such pieces of paper every month, which must be stored for at least 3 years. To store all this wealth, I chose a briefcase folder with 12 plastic pockets. Each pocket perfectly holds all of one year's receipts. I fasten receipts that are identical in purpose of payment with one paperclip to avoid confusion among many papers in one pocket. I have each pocket labeled so that I know where the receipts are stored for what period.

Effective cleaning involves just two essential steps:

get rid of what you don't need and determine where to store what you need.

Marie Kondo

Let’s immediately decide who the article is addressed to. It is primarily for those who have accumulated a lot of different papers, receipts, brochures and other similar things. Musicians, poets, journalists and designers of all stripes, read and do not complain when looking at the mountains of various papers. Who else is asking themselves questions: how to store documents? where to store documents? I propose to deal with them (the mountains) once and for all. An article about how to put things in order, where to store documents, and in general about systematizing anything.

Part 1

If anyone doesn’t know, nothing in this life happens for nothing. Even if it's a random surprise. One seemingly shabby circumstance, such a small episode, sometimes entails a chain of fateful events. This happened to me too. So.

I lost my higher education diploma. I don’t remember when, where and under what circumstances I saw him for the last time. For many years, I don’t brag about it anywhere, I work in one place, I’m not elected anywhere. There is an extract from it, there are photocopies, there is a copy certified by a notary. No diploma. A month ago, I specifically looked through all my papers and couldn’t find them. But I put things in order (as it seemed to me then). The other day, when it dawned on me that I had lost him forever, I was very upset. Anxious, as if she forgot to do something very important. And for good reason, as it turned out. Then a chain of events followed, which became the reason for writing this opus.

Digression No. 1. Illogical.

Because I am interested in copywriting and sometimes visit freelance exchanges, where I saw an article entitled “Recommendations for storing documents.” Something clicked in my head. This, I think, is just what I need. Since I support this wonderful site for young (and not so young) housewives, I decided that an article on how to properly store documents would not be superfluous here.

The announcement of the article was standard: it promised to be informative and interesting, intriguing with the presence of a literate text broken into logical paragraphs. As a buyer warmed up by circumstances, I bought it. The article was inexpensive. For those who are not in the know, the full text of the article can only be read after payment, which I did in a minute.

The text itself surprised me at first. Outright illiteracy coexisted with complete nonsense. Honestly, I’m not the kind of person who lives in captivity of illusions, I know a lot about people and working in the field of personnel selection has saved me from rose-colored glasses. But even I didn’t know that in this place people were able to “push” such things. In principle, it would be possible to place the entire text here, believe me, it’s worth it. But I won’t overuse it and will please you with just a few phrases. “Often, when trying to find a document, people have to search for a long time for the necessary papers.” There's no denying that when you try to find it, you have to look. “Small envelope-shaped folders and some hole punchers will also be needed.” Cool. If it were just “hole punches”, I decided that it was just a typo, but several! “Next, it’s even easier - just take hole punches and pierce the envelopes.” “In addition, thanks to the shape of the envelopes, you can easily pull out the necessary papers. There will be no need to pull the stick out of the ring.” No comments. And in conclusion: “A good option is to keep documents with relatives.” The advice is dubious, I don’t know how many people are willing to use it.

I bought this funny article for pennies, but the joy I got was twenty dollars, no less.

Retreat No. 2. Logical.

So, since posting an article in this form would be the height of disrespect for you, dear readers, I decided to understand the topic myself and write an article. Without delaying the matter, on the same day I opened a Google search engine and typed the phrase “How to store documents.” I was flooded with an abundance of all kinds of advice, videos and photos. Having spent about two hours on the review, I want to tell you the following: the Internet is a terrible thing, everyone steals from each other, not only themes and photos, almost everywhere there is a continuous cheap rewrite. And it's terrible. By the way, I found the text that I bought, albeit in a more adequate version, on three other sites. I don’t know who slammed who.

More or less interesting sites and blogs on this topic began much further from the front row in Google. Know this (!). I even liked some of them. For example, this one http://theazbel.com/stop-hlam-part6/. It is immediately obvious that a bright, honest and creative person is engaged in it. My name is Masha. But, most of the articles on the topic of storing papers, it seemed to me, are mainly motivational in nature. But this is also good.

Retreat No. 3. Personal.

If there are two stores nearby, one with fashionable, beautiful clothes and big discounts, and the other an office supply store, I will go to the second one first. Because I adore stationery store s. Paper soul. This is to make it clear where I have so many office supplies at home. But, despite this, my papers, including documents, although they were always in one place and seemed to be even sorted, sometimes it was not easy to quickly find what I needed. Fate decided to teach me a lesson, and after just two days I did what should have been done a long time ago.

In addition, sometimes I write articles for local newspapers, so the city printing house has long had its own person, from there I have a bunch of cut-up small-sized self-adhesives (they lie in packs there in the trash), which I use everywhere. I don’t know how people live without them.

Based on all of the above, I decided to write this rather monumental work. This is not just a review. Here I tried not only to summarize everything, but also to bring in a lot of my personal experience, and aggravated it with emotional inserts. I hope the article will find a response from those who “do not see the white light” due to the abundance of papers, do not know where to start and where to run, as well as those who want to find some document or just a piece of paper with valuable information in the depths of their desks, cabinets and boxes. Of course, copyrights are not required for everything written below, but believe me, you won’t find anything like this anywhere. So, go ahead.

Main stages on the way to order

You'll never get your house in order,

if you clean half-heartedly.

Marie Kondo

Assess the scale of the disaster

First you need to find a surface where all the papers will fit. Definitely, you will need a table, or maybe more than one, or stools, a sofa is also suitable, or maybe it would be better to sit on the floor. And also estimate how long the parsing work might take. If you realize that you will not be able to complete the analysis in one go, it is better to reschedule the event. And the most important condition is that no one interferes.

Papers of all kinds - in a pile!

Place everything you have planned on the prepared platform at once. For example, if everything is in order with the photographs or recipes, let them remain there and do not touch them. Why do extra work!

Retreat No. 3 Emotional.

Oh girls, you're in luck. Well, no one will write about this better than me. Why? The smart ones won’t waste their time describing how they store papers (think: know-how), while the rest simply don’t have enough papers to be able to offer something useful. In short, read on.

To be honest, if I hadn’t read and watched it a week earlier (and what a title!), I wouldn’t have started such a large-scale event. And there would certainly be no basis for this article. The approach to business, the principles and methods that Marie proposed in her bestseller found a lively response in my soul. Although I admit, I have never been obsessed with cleaning, and now I don’t understand perfectionists of various calibers who waste their youthful energy on such boring things. But I respect and love order.

So, Marie writes: “Cleaning is a special, once-in-a-lifetime event.” A strange and no less controversial statement. For the Japanese, apparently, things are a little different. If there are more than two people living in a house, then chances are that not everyone will adhere to strict rules. But it is necessary to strive for this. Once and for all I put everything in its place, and then all that remains is to put everything in its place.

It’s hard to believe, but this cleaning became a real holiday for me and certainly, I’ve never put things in order like this before. I can compare my state of mind to preparing for Easter or New Year on December 31st. In all cases, the joyful feeling of the future holiday fills your soul and you create without feeling tired. Yes, I didn’t say that all this happened against the backdrop of the immortal creations of the Scorpions group. “Love, love will keep us alive,” Klaus Meine has been saying for many years, which translated means “love, love will keep us alive.” Let us rephrase: order, and only order will save our lives.

Probably every person has had circumstances in which they urgently needed to find some kind of document at home. Perhaps this happened to you too? And how did you deal with this? Did the search only take a few minutes? Or the whole day and the whole family: wacko: ? If the latter, then it’s time for you to think about organizing document storage. It sounds dry, “official”. But what can you do... The reality is that “without a piece of paper you are a bug.” A document storage system at home is simple.

Create separate record folders for individual groups of documents.

Health or Medicine

Store documentation for each family member in separate file folders in a file folder.

It is advisable to copy all medical documents, because... Cards are often lost in clinics. It is also very important to make copies of documents after the examination, because Ink fades over time, and it can be very difficult, and sometimes impossible, to read what is printed. We had this happen with the results of our son’s vision examination. The printout after the computer examination was simply unreadable.

Utility payments

Place documentation by payment type in file folders. For example, “Vodokanal”, “Heating network”, “Telephone”, etc. You will have your own number and names of folders.

In the file folders in separate files there will be an agreement with the organization providing the service, receipts for payment for connecting the service, sealing meters, and installing equipment. Also in a separate file are payment receipts for the current year.

Be sure to check how long to keep receipts. Usually this is a period of 3 years, i.e. After this period, receipts can be thrown away. But... The fact is that there have been cases when old receipts helped in resolving controversial issues in court. So it's up to you how long to keep the receipts.

Bank

All information on bank accounts and credit cards (you can receive receipts from ATMs) is stored here. Splitting is possible among different banks.

Job

For each working family member there is a separate file folder in which contracts, various “pieces of paper” about salaries, and possibly a resume are stored.

Auto or Transport (if available)

If there are several machines, then a folder is maintained for each of them. All documentation and information regarding the machines must be stored here.

Real estate

All title documents for apartments, houses, garages, country houses, etc. are stored in this folder. One separate folder per unit of real estate.

If utility bills come in one receipt, then you don’t have to create a separate “Utility Payments” folder, but add a file to this folder.

Technique

Store instructions, receipts, and warranty card in a separate file.

You can stick masking tape on top of the file (it’s easy to write on and then easy to remove as unnecessary), on which to write when the warranty expires.

Personal documents

There is a separate folder for each family member. It stores basic documents - birth certificate, passport, diplomas, various certificates, etc.

It is possible to add one common folder for common documents - marriage certificate, divorce certificate.

You can have as many folders as you like, and you can come up with your own names. But the main principle remains the same. Group similar documents into one record folder, maintain documentation for each person, enterprise, or service separately. This will allow you to quickly find the document you need at any time.

Be sure to make paper copies (photocopies) of each document. It is most convenient to store copies together with the original. As you use up your copies, be sure to replenish them.
Scan all important documents and store them on your computer, disk or flash drive.
All important documents at home (if there is no special safe) can be stored in a mini-safe. One small nuance - in such safes you need to store documents and money without plastic folders or rubber bands. In the event of a fire, high temperatures will melt plastic documents faster than paper.
A computer can be very helpful in home accounting and document management. You can make yourself reminders in your organizer. For example, take meter readings every 1st day of the month. Enter the end date of the warranty period for all devices and equipment into the calendar. After this date, you can safely get rid of packaging and warranty cards. You can also reduce the length of instructions by removing instructions in a foreign language.
I also recommend creating a separate box in which signed duplicate keys will be stored: good: .

With what documents, for how long, need to be stored. It turned out that many receipts, certificates and certificates should remain with us for quite a long time, so a reasonable question arises, what could be adapted for storing them?

Here are a couple of ideas to solve this issue:

1. Folder for papers. Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is a large folder with rings and files. Most often, such folders are in A4 format, so it is convenient to store certificates, certificates, contracts, and real estate documents in them. It is better to create a separate folder for each area of activity. Be sure to sign it; ideally, on the first sheet or on the folder itself there should be a list of documents that are there, this makes the search very easy.
As for documents of non-standard size, for example, receipts or checks, it is better to stick them on an A4 sheet (glue only one corner) and also store them in transparent files and folders.

2. Briefcase folder. At a stationery store you can purchase a special briefcase with many sections; this can be an alternative to large folders. The only negative is that you cannot scroll through documents, so take care of the inscriptions and list of documents stored there.

Especially for ladies, you can look for a more feminine option

3. Photo album. A photo album with magnetic sheets is an excellent place to store payment receipts; you don’t even have to glue them onto the sheets. And next to it there is a place for inscriptions and your notes.

4. Envelopes. You can store receipts and checks in simple envelopes. In my opinion, this storage method is convenient for those documents that you send “to the archive,” for example, receipts for payment of housing and communal services, which are more than 3 years old.

5. Boxes. You can store everything, including documents, in boxes, but this is extremely inconvenient when you need to find the required receipt or contract. However, for a home archive of documents that are rarely used, they are quite suitable.

6. A good alternative to a box could be... the same box, but made in the form filing cabinets, with dividers.

It would be great if such a box could be locked with a key.

7 It is better to store passports, education documents and other non-format documents with hard covers either in boxes (candy boxes are always popular in this case), or glue a cardboard envelope to the back of the folder with documents (a simple one can be used, of course) and fold them there. Great if The box will be fireproof and have a lock.

8 Separately, I would like to focus on storage of outpatient cards. Many people think that it is better to keep the card at home, but this is a violation of the law. In accordance with the order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated November 22, 2004 No. 255, the medical record of an outpatient is stored in the registry. Since the card is a legal document, it should not be handed over to the patient. Storing medical records in the patient’s hands is contrary to clause 6 of Art. 30, hh. 3, 4 and 5 tbsp. 31, part 1 art. 61 Fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the protection of the health of citizens (OZ RF).

Document storage rules:

1. Documents must be stored out of the reach of children! (it’s good if your documents are in a cabinet that is locked with a key)

3. You should have a folder with photocopies of important documents, which should be stored outside the home (with your parents, in a safe deposit box), this will help you quickly restore the documents if something happens to the originals (fire, flood, theft, etc.)

4. Despite the fact that outpatient cards must be kept in the clinic, a certificate of blood type, allergies to any medications, chronic diseases (diabetes) must always be carried with you.

5. Be sure to make a photocopy of receipts for large purchases, as over time the receipts “fade” and you may just be left with an empty piece of cash register tape.

Having chosen some kind of document storage system, it's important to stick to it all the time, that is, put all documents back in their places, put new documents immediately in the desired folder. This will make it easier for you to put things in order and the search for the required check or receipt will take just a few minutes.

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