We all know how important our filing systems are. While the filing system at work doesn’t depend on you, your home office system surely does. Here’s how you should store company documents while working remotely and avoid the risk of high stress levels. Follow these simple tips.
Home Filing System
Learn from the best – think about your office filing system (hopefully there is one!) and try to copy it. Start by considering the available furniture – is there any item you may use like a filing cabinet?
If you don’t have anything which could serve this function, it may be a good idea to buy one. After all, the home office is not going to cease to exist any time soon and even when it does, you will still be able to use the cabinet for your private documents and finally keep them in order.
If you lack space for another item of furniture at home, no worries, there are still some home filing system ideas you may use. Metal boxes look pretty elegant and they will keep your documents as safe as a cabinet. Surely, you will have to buy extra suspension files or else there will be a mess, and a lack of order inside.
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Home Filing System Ideas
Once you have decided on the form of your home filing system, it’s necessary to think about how to organise your home filing system. You need to organise and divide your documents into categories. This will depend on the type of work you do but they may look like this:
- TO DO – put all the documents which need further work there. Due to this simple habit, you won’t ever miss a deadline again. Use sticky notes or highlighters (if you can write on the documents!) to mark the deadline or give them numbers which will indicate their importance e.g. from 1 to 5, where 1 means the least important and 5 the most important.
- ARCHIVE – this is a location for documents which only need to be stored and no further action is required. It’s very important to divide this section into types of documents: invoices, orders, health issues, etc. Each document should have a comment, thereby making it easier to grasp at first sight what it is about, e.g. the purchase of stationery. Place them in order, starting with the oldest and progressing to the newest ones.
- SHRED – this is the right place for documents which you can’t just recycle as they need to be shredded due to their sensitive data, such as personal details, bank accounts or any information which may be used for fraudulent purposes.
Home Filing System Essentials
You may know almost everything about how to store company documents while working remotely. But in order to make your work even easier, you should use special storage folders. There is a wide range of stationery which can be used for this purpose.
A clip or swing file – they will be really useful if you can’t hole punch the documents.
A slip file is perfect for storing long contracts, as it may hold up to 50 sheets of paper.
A popper wallet will protect your documents in case your kids (or you) spill something (such as coffee – it’s your third cup already!) on them.
Arch files are suitable for bigger cabinets as they have a high space requirement.
The most important advice out of all of these tips and solutions is to be systematic. Isn’t it easier to file documents at the end of each working day rather than spending your free time at the weekend doing it? Use your weekends to spend time with your children, your partner or even take some time to yourself.
Once you’ve organised a home filing system and learnt how to store company documents while working remotely, you may easily use these tips to store important personal documents and become a satisfied and well-organised person.
