Top Tips for Setting Up a Home Filing System

In the modern era, working from home is something that more and more people do on a daily basis. This means that having the perfect home office setup is more important than ever, allowing you to be as productive and efficient as you were when you worked from an office. This means getting the right office chair and desk setup, but it can also mean so much more than just these essentials.

Setting up a home filing system is an important way to ensure you don’t find yourself becoming overwhelmed with paperwork and documents. In this guide, we’ll take you through some of the essential elements required to set up your home filing system, with some top home filing solutions, meaning you’ll never miss the old office filing system again.

The Importance of a Good Filing System

Setting up a home filing system might not feel like a priority, after all, your home office is often a place that lies untouched by anyone but yourself, so the risk of someone moving a document or seeing something they shouldn’t see might feel minimal. However, a home filing system is actually a vital part of maintaining efficiency, keeping your home office clutter-free and ensuring there’s no accidental crossover between work- and home-related items.

Even if you don’t work from home, a filing system can be incredibly important in keeping those dreaded bills and statements in order, helping you avoid being faced by a jumble of paperwork the next time you’re trying to find an important document.

A good filing system should do the following:

Keep related documents in the same place.
Make it easier to find and recall documents.
Help your office stay tidy and clutter-free.

Provide a safe and secure way to keep important items.

The importance of a good home paperwork filing system can’t be overestimated.

Home Filing Solutions

There are several ways to approach a home filing system, with different home filing solutions depending on the amount of paperwork you have to file, the space you have available (for example, filing cabinets may work if you have a good-sized office, but not if you’re crammed into the corner of a bedroom).

Home filing is all about working with the space that you have, from large shelving units through to desk drawers, it’s important to maximise the efficiency of your home filing solutions to fit your own circumstances.

How to Organise a Home Filing System

Once you’ve got your home filing solutions in place, it’s time to organise your home filing system. It might feel like a big project to undertake, but once you’ve got your home filing system in place, provided you stick to it, you’ll find yourself feeling the benefits for a long time to come.

Gather together loose paperwork

If your desk (or home) has loose documents and paperwork scattered about, gather these together into one big pile. Once they’re all in one place, you’ll find it easier to implement your filing system, rather than having to keep adding bits you come across.

Separate paperwork into categories

There are several ways you can do this, but we recommend you create a system of categories that work for your needs. One way to approach it might be to separate into ‘Action’, ‘Archive’, ‘Confidential Waste’, and ‘Recycle’. Further to that, you might also choose to split ‘Personal’, ‘Household’ and ‘Work Related’.

Discard anything you don’t need

Whether it’s for shredding or recycling, the first thing to do is get rid of everything you don’t need to leave you with a pile of things you can start to file away. This way you won’t find unnecessary documents getting in the way.

File away

Everything marked ‘Archive’ can then be filed away into the appropriate and clearly labelled folder. Make sure there’s plenty of space to add new items as you go along in the future.

Make actionable documents easily accessible

Anything that you marked as ‘Action’ should be easy to access. Try creating an open in-tray on your desktop, where these items will remain visible and act as a reminder to action when you get the time.

Your home filing system is something that’s personal to you, so feel free to store documents and paperwork in a way that suits your needs. For instance, if you find yourself with a lot of work-related paperwork, you might feel like you need to create separate home and work systems with a lot more categories.

Your productivity relies on getting your home office setup right, and this means considering everything from seating to filing. If you’re looking for extra storage or any other furniture for your home office, visit our website.