How to store your paperwork
While we may be living in a digital age, hardcopy paperwork is still used in many fields. This means that both personally and professionally, keeping paperwork remains important. But, with so much paperwork passing through our hands, how do you stay on top of it all?
Here we share our top 5 tips on keeping your paperwork in order. We also explore how many people use Perth storage facilities to keep their important documents organised and secure.
Tip #1: Store paperwork as it’s received
While it may be tempting to let your paperwork pile up, this ends up being more work in the long run. Even leaving it for a month can mean having to sort through a whole bunch of documents. And the longer you leave it, the bigger the pile gets, and the harder it is to tackle.
Instead, it’s much better to deal with documents as they come across your desk. Regularly spending a minute or two filing a couple of bits of paperwork is far easier than devoting hours to sorting through a massive To Do pile. This should also help minimise the risk of you missing important information or misplacing important paperwork.
To speed this process up, we suggest having packing cartons on hand, so you can easily file your paperwork away. Having a secure storage facility can also help, particularly if you have lots of paperwork and limited space. This means that, once your packing cartons are full, they can be moved to your secure storage for long-term safekeeping.
Tip #2: Make sure your paperwork is secured
Building on the previous point, most paperwork you need to hold on to will contain some sensitive information. Whether it’s your banking details or just your date of birth or address, it all has value to fraudsters. As such, you really don’t want it falling into the wrong hands.
This is where having a secure storage solution is critical. If you need regular access to your paperwork, this could be in your home or office, like a lockable filing cabinet. Alternatively, offsite secure storage could help keep your paperwork safe, while giving you back much-needed space.
Best of all, most offsite secure storage solutions in Perth have 24/7 security. This means that there will be someone watching over your important paperwork all day, every day.
Tip #3: Come up with your own system
There is no one right way to approach filing. It is a highly personal thing that should be tailored to suit your specific requirements. Put simply, you should use an approach that makes sense to you.
When creating your system, there are a few key things you need to think about:
- Categories: This is the different piles you sort your paperwork into. For example, you could sort by person (e.g. family member, team member, etc.), or what the documents relate to (e.g. bills, policies, etc.). If you have a lot of paperwork, you may need subcategories, to make each pile more manageable.
- Identification: This is how you tell the different piles apart. For example, you could make your system very easy to see – and quite visually appealing – by colour coding each category.
- Storage: Once your paperwork is categorised and clearly marked, it needs to be kept somewhere. How you approach this can affect how easy your system is to maintain. For example, having one packing carton per category can make it easier to keep your documents correctly filed.
Tip #4: Keep your system somewhat general
Chances are, you probably won’t be referring back to most of your paperwork too often. In fact, once it’s filed, you may not need to go looking for it for years – if at all. As such, your filing system needs to withstand the test of time.
To help with this, it’s best to keep your categorisation approach clear, but broadly defined. You should be able to come back to your files years later and quickly work out which category to look in.
Taking a broader approach to your filing should also help save space. If your categories are too specific, you may end up with only a couple of documents in each. This will mean you need a lot of unnecessary folders, extra packing cartons, and more space in your secure storage.
Tip #5: Label everything clearly
Good labelling will make it even easier to refer back to your files after some time has passed. While your system may make sense to you in the moment, there’s a good chance your approach will change over time. This can make it much harder to quickly find the document you are looking for.
However, when each file or packing carton is clearly labelled, this is less of an issue. Similarly, if you colour code your files, it’s worth keeping a document that explains what each colour means.
Another pro tip – when stacking packing cartons in your Perth storage facility, have the labels facing out. This will make it easier to see what’s in each box and to find the exact one you’re looking for.
Looking for a secure storage solution in Perth?
If you’ve been looking for a way to keep your paperwork safe, while getting back some valuable space, Ezi Storage can help. We have over 240 units in 15 sizes and are one of the leading providers of secure storage solutions in Perth. Contact us to discuss your options and arrange a free quote.