Oooh, you’re in for a special blog post today. The next step in my office makeover was… wait for it… paperwork and filing. You can’t stand the excitement, right?
Paperwork may not be the most photogenic or interesting topic for a blog post. But it’s a fact of life, or at least a fact of my life.
I actually have some great systems to manage paper in my office. I’ve set these up over the last few years and they work pretty well for me. So even though I’m making over the office, I’m not making over absolutely everything.
This mail organizer is my main tool. As soon as the walls were painted, I reinstalled this right away. I only file paperwork a few times a year (all of our bills except for our credit cards are set up for automatic debits), so the piles of mail and bills grow and get messy. The organizer isn’t always tidy, but it avoids the piles.
Receipts live in a box in a drawer until I reconcile them with my statements.
You know we keep a pretty close eye on our finances. This reconciliation is one of the ways I do that.
Once everything is sorted, the papers go into our filing cabinet. The filing cabinet may not be the prettiest piece of furniture, but it’s very functional for us. I’ve seen some cool filing cabinet makeovers with paint, hardware and even fabric, so that may be something to consider for the future.
In the meantime, appreciate the nearly empty mail organizer.
The other paperwork I tackled was a huge box full of old schoolwork. As in from kindergarten through to university. Most of it ended up on the burn pile, but I kept a few things like report cards, class photos, my award-winning science project, a couple of memorable stories and this prophetic drawing.
Even for the things I didn’t keep, it was fun to look back. I could see how my teacher’s comments on my grade 12 English essays made me a better writer–she was a tough marker, but completely right. In the kindergarten folder, I found this mimeographed matching sheet.
On the back in my Mom’s hand-writing, it said “Julia’s first school test.” Awww.
Now that I have returned from memory lane, I’m looking ahead again on what’s left for the office. Here’s where I’m at:
Buy and install light fixtureUnpack remaining boxesand organize china cabinet- Style china cabinet shelves
Sort and file paperworkInstall gallery wall #1- Install gallery wall #2
Reupholster seat of wooden chair
We’re down to two weeks to go in this mini One Room Challenge. Remember you can check out the official ORC participants at Calling it Home.
How do you organize mail, bills, receipts and paperwork at your house? Have you gone paperless yet? Has anyone else kept old schoolwork?
Home on 129 Acres 
Your paperwork situation looks under good control. Mine is…er, was…well, let’s just say it could use an overhaul. What I actually need is a new, convenient file cabinet. I’m using plastic file boxes and they work, they’re organized, but they’re underneath the desk, are stacked and have no wheels, so they are a pain to get to. That just makes it easier to leave paper on my side table in the living room (bad!) and on the desk (less bad) instead of filing it. A mail organizer might help, but I don’t have one of those either.
Another good way to give file cabinets a face lift is with wallpaper, or a combo of wallpaper and paint. I’ve seen some really nice ones and when I do get a file cabinet, that’s what I’m thinking of doing too.
You’re almost there in your office! Are you getting excited to have it done?
Oh, I meant to say that I also have some files of artwork and schoolwork. I keep whittling it down by a couple of items every year or two. I love your picture (well done!) and your test (so cute!). I can see you would have been a pleasure to teach.
I’m not the only one!
The filing cabinet was one of the first purchases when we moved into our first house. We got it second hand and I remember Matt still balked at the price, but it has helped to keep us organized for going on 10 years now.
My system is similar for the items that come into the house. I file directly into the garbage or recycling before paper even hits anyone’s in-box.
I don’t really keep anything to file except for taxes every year and real estate data that pertains to selling our real estate someday in the future. I pay bills online, and pretty much everything else can be accessed on-line. I don’t even have a filing cabinet anymore. I have about 10 thin folders in a small plastic file box. Even that is too much space. 🙂 I am not a saver. ha!
I admit the appeal of paperless is growing on me. Even when I do our reconciliation for taxes, I realized that I’m pulling more from online than I am from our files. I really like the sound of your 10 thin folders.
Oh my gosh my paperwork/filing situation is awful. Basically we have a drawer that we stuff everything in and once the drawer won’t close I try to sort through some so that I can get a year’s worth of paperwork in it. Our most organized area of our paperwork is Steve puts all farm related receipts in a manila folder for the year. And about March of each year we scramble to get taxes together. It’s terrible.
The thing is, I love organizing, I love containers, and sorting and knowing where everything is. I just have never implemented a system that works for us. Maybe that should be my goal once the garden winds down or maybe on rainy weekends.
I love your old school work! Definitely keep a few pieces!
That sounds like a bit of a mess. It’s definitely about putting a system in place and finding what works for you.
That picture you drew of farming … wow, that’s so cool! And that “Julia’s first school test” is adorable too. I know my 2nd grade teacher had wrote on one of my assignments that she knew I would grow up to be a writer. I guess she was right.
And if I could make any project or assignment related to dogs in any way, I would! I guess some things just don’t change. Haha.
That’s awesome how some things carry on.