The importance of good filing

So I am a hoarder at heart, which means I cling to all paperwork in case I one day need it. Case in point- I just called my dad to see if I should hold onto hydro bills. He recommended keeping one year so I can prove the costs when I go to sell one day. But THEN he mentioned that he used to hold on to all of them too. So there's where I get it from! (and we are both working hard to purge our homes of useless junk!!).

The reason for that anecdote- I cleaned out my filing cabinet. Where do I keep my filing cabinet in a tiny condo?

Right Here:

"Wait a minute- that's an armoire, isn't it? HOW MANY FILES DO YOU HAVE, CASEY?"

Well, let's take a closer look:

There is a filing cabinet in there!!! Ah, storage techniques of tiny-homed people. You can also peek at all my clothes, nosy!

So, my filing cabinet is amazing. It used to go with my red themed room, but now I'm moving away from red so it moved into the closet. But having filing is KEY no matter how small your space is. It is important to be able to quickly find important documents and to keep your tax info together for easy filing. Shall we have a look inside?

The top shelf holds all important documents. The bottom drawer is for electronic do-hickeys and "office storage" for paper and things like that. However this thing was starting to burst at the seems and I kept misfiling because I didn't have my files organized well. So I tore it all out and worked on making four sections

1. Work Documents
These files hold details on things like hiring documents, notices of pay changes, end of year pay statements, and any other pertinent information.

2. Condo
Here you can find information on mortgages, property taxes, home insurance, purchase documents, etc.

3. Investments
This section is for all RRSP, TFSA, Non-registered stocks, life insurance, etc

4. Other
I use the "other" section for things like contracts, large receipts, warranties, and so forth

So I emptied her out- and I found a LOT of useless paper. Like vet bills (I don't own a pet), cable bills from 2009 (am I going to argue that my internet once cost a dollar less and I have proof?), and the tenant insurance from my old apartment. Yup, I hoard. But now it is all going into the shredder!! I also recommend everyone own a shredder. They take up such little space and it is always important to protect yourself from identity fraud. Plus shredding is fun!!! Well, I find it fun, but I'm weird. I also keep the filing cabinet locked but there is nothing worth stealing in there- no passwords or anything! Just documents proving that I am too broke to own nice things so you might as well rob someone else :)

So that's my little project for the day. I know it's not "fun" but with tax season coming up, its a good time to get organized. I have some more condo-decor fun posts coming up in the next few weeks so stay tuned! I just need to drag my butt to the hardware store. I don't own a car so it's a big outing for me (haha).

Is anyone else doing a little spring cleaning??