How to make a home office space for filing paperwork in a small area

Darlene
by Darlene
I need to get a proper filing system set up in my filing cabinet
  3 answers
  • I had the same issue. I looked at all sorts of fancy file cabinets and special furniture all very expensive. I ended up spending a few hundred dollars on a high speed scanner. Took all my files and papers and scanned them into the computer. I than filed the different important papers in marked boxes and put them in storage. The rest got filed in the round cabinet located by my feet on the floor. It was a bit difficult at first to do this until I came up with a method to organize the files so I could find them. I went from six large file cabinets down to one smaller one for special papers and current projects only.
    • See 1 previous
    • @Sharon Shriver Frazee There are all sorts of scanners. Some called flat bed scanners are used to do book pages or items that cannot be run though the feed type. The feed type work much like a printer where the paper comes in on one side and out the other. Only instead of printing it scans what is on the paper and puts it into a file that you set up on the computer. All office supply stores sell them, they range from $75 up to several hundred dollars for the real fancy ones. A lot of new printers sold also have the scanner capability built into them. What is great about them is you can take a photo and scan it into the computer so you can share it via emails or even HT people on this site. They simply plug into the computer you run a simple software program and your good to go.
  • Joanne B. Joanne B. on Nov 09, 2014
    you can't create space where there isn't any, but you can concentrate on organizing and becoming more efficient about the space you do have and what you put in it. Take advantage of e bills and automatic bill payments that you can keep track of online and therefore eliminate hoards of paperwork you won't probably look at again anyway. I used to save all my paper bills for years and years and then realized I never had a reason to ever look back at them anyway. I then eased into saving only the last paid bill which had my account info and contact info on it. When a new statement came in, I shredded the old one. I kept track of payments on single sheet for one year for each creditor for years. Then I realized I rarely had to look back at that stuff either, certainly not years back, and gradually started relying on my online banking records to keep records of payments for me. Of course anything related to income taxes I still keep paper copies of that, and probably have in excess of 10 years of back records, despite never having been audited. It is the 800 lb gorilla in the closet I keep saying I am going to tackle soon, but I guess I am guilty of having too much free space and that box stays where is has been for years, accumulating cobwebs that taunt me from afar. That is what January and resolutions are for-
  • Margaret Margaret on Nov 09, 2014
    Margaret E. Stanwood,Wa I found an old 2 filing cabinet at a 2nd hand store..painted it with chalk paint..took the hardware off and spry painted it also.. Now I have a place for my printer and a filing cabinet.