Folders help keep important papers in order

By the time you retire, you will have accumulated tons of paper — bank statements, bills, work/ school documents, tax records, articles and legal documents. It is now time to scale down and organize the overwhelming collection of paper.

The secret of clearing paper — whether in a file cabinet or folder — is to start from the back. Pick a file cabinet drawer, go to the back of the drawer and start there. When you pull out the file folder to clear out, go to the back of the file folder. You will be looking at the oldest document, which in most cases will be obsolete. Remove it. Now continue reviewing from the back to the front removing the obsolete documents.

Why do it this way? When you start from the back removing old

documents, you get the momentum going. You will be in the mindset to trash, not save. If you start from the front you will be saving the documents; therefore, your mindset will be to save.

Nowadays, any piece of paper with identifying information must be shredded or cut into very small pieces. You never want to leave yourself vulnerable to identity theft.

Once the trash is put out to be picked up, who knows what might happen to it?

When setting up file folders, use broad categories instead of narrow groupings. Instead of setting up bills by name, just set up a broad category of bills. This will save space and reduce filing time.

To compress space in your filing system, open all documents to 8X11 size, don’t leave them folded; save article pages, not the whole magazine; remove multiple copies, you only need one; and cut out foreign language sections of appliance/electronic/ power machine instructions.

If you want to go to extremes, start scanning your files to your computer. This can be a gigantic project, so do it by groupings, such as reference material, articles, letters, etc.

With less paper to sort through, it will be easy to find what you need quickly.