Feel less stressed and more productive in a home office that’s less cluttered and more efficient. Get inspired with our best home office organization ideas for paperwork.
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Home Office Organization: What to Keep
Home Office Organization can be a little daunting.
We often struggle with the amount of paper that accumulates in our house to be filed. It seems like everyday the mail comes…there’s more! There are also the questions of what to keep and for what time period.
Below is a helpful chart of what paperwork to keep for your home office and for how long.
One of the best ways to minimize paperwork overall is to go paperless. This option is available from banks and utilities to make sure you’re not accumulating paper on a monthly basis.
Keep for 1 Month:
- Sales receipts for your small purchases.
- Credit card receipts (after you’ve checked them against your statement)
- Phone and utility bills (if you don’t get them electronically)
- Withdrawal or deposit slips
Keep for 1 Year:
- Monthly bank, credit card, brokerage, mutual fund, and retirement account statements
- Mortgage statements
- Pay stubs (toss after you reconcile with your W-2 or 1099)
Keep for 7 Years:
- Year end statements from credit card companies
- W-2 or 1099
- Phone and utility bill if you deduct any portion for business
- Cancelled checks and receipts or statements for annual mortgage interest and property taxes, deductible business expenses, child care bills, or any other tax deductible expense
- Tax returns
Keep Indefinitely:
- Will and trusts
- Real estate records
- Home improvement records
- Medical information
- Marriage license or divorce decree
BONUS Home Office Organization TIP
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Things to keep in Your Safe Deposit Box or Fireproof Safe:
- Birth and death certificates
- Marriage license
- Insurance policies
- Passport
- Social Security Card for children
- Vehicle registration
- Copy of important documents like Wills and Trusts
Also, don’t forget to keep an inventory of what’s in your safe deposit box and update it annually.
More Home Office Organization Tips
- Clever Solutions for Home Office Organization – Suburban Simplicity
- How to Organize Your Home in Two Minutes – Suburban Simplicity
- 5 Home Office Design Mistakes and How to Fix Them – Real Simple
- Here are some Home Office Organization ideas, containers and hacks to get your office in perfect working order!
Note: This information is just a guideline. Always check with your accountant to make sure they make sense for your family finances.
I assure you, taking the time to go through the paperwork in your home office, especially in small chunks like this, will make you feel VERY productive and VERY organized! Go for it!
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Elizabeth says
The perfect to-do list for keeping my personal and business papers in order. I am very much a list person crossing them off one by one as I go. Thank you, new lists are always welcome in our house!
Erin says
I love lists too. Keeps my on track and makes me feel productive once I cross things off! I think it’s time to go thru some paperwork in our office again…it accumlates so fast!
Chellile says
Erin, this is super helpful! Thanks for taking the guesswork out for us. 🙂 So happy to have you at FTAF!
Erin says
Thanks for coming by, Chellie! Sometime having a roadmap helps us be more productive and get rid of the things we don’t really need!
Nikki Frank-Hamilton says
Erin, I am so pinning this to come back to again and again, I should print it out too, several copies! I’m never sure what to save, so I save things forever. I think I have bank records for 20 years, just regular checking and savings stuff. Kinda silly! But this will really help me to clean things out, and man, all those financial records are a bit of a weight on my shoulders! LOL There are lots of things I’d love to let go of financially, this helps! Lots!
Carrie Groneman says
Erin, great advice! I printed and will be using it to declutter my own office space. THANK YOU!
Gina says
I always feel lost when it comes to what papers I should and shouldn’t keep. Sometimes I end up keeping things that are unnecessary. But, other times I just feel so overwhelmed that I pitch things that I probably shouldn’t. Thanks for this guideline. I’ll make sure to use it the next time I sort through my papers. 🙂
Erin says
You’re welcome! I was in the same position, Gina…I didn’t know what to keep, so I often kept things that were unnecessary. Good lunch with your sorting!