Organize Files With A Freedom Filer System

This post is sponsored by Freedom Filer. I received the Freedom Filer System to facilitate my review. All opinions are 100% my own.

It’s tax season…do you have your files organized? If you are like me, your filing system is sub par, not used all the time or you just dread the thought of setting up one.

For years, I didn’t think I needed a file system at home. My paper piling system was working well for me..or so I thought! Who am I kidding? It really wasn’t working at all. :/ Having a paper piling system versus a file organization system was more of a chaotic mess than it was worth. Often, I lost what I needed when I needed it and it only made life harder on me than it should have. While I still have a small paper pile, I don’t have multiple piles anymore.

A couple years ago, I set up what I thought would be the best filing system for my home and me. I had all of the house bills listed for their own specific home in my file organizer, along with a place for each family members documents and other important stuff we needed to keep on file. It worked for a while until I went to a more digital lifestyle that doesn’t include receiving a paper statement every month for all of my bills. I needed something more!

After reevaluating what was working or not working in my life, I made the switch to the Freedom Filer System. It’s a color-coded filing system that gives me the freedom to keep all of my files neatly organized while also self-purging the files for me. The self-purging filing system is what makes the FreedomFiler system unique.

Because the Freedom Filer system has both even and odd years, the system self-purges itself every year which will help me get rid of old paperwork that I don’t need to keep anymore. The FreedomFiler organizing folders are easy to setup and maintain, making this the perfect system for our family.

Freedom Filer Labels

As a good rule of thumb, here is a list of how long you should keep certain papers in your file system versus what you can get rid of. These are based on the Freedom Filer Maintenance-Free Filing System.

Monthly (Green) – miscellaneous receipts, statements, utility bills, etc.

Rotating Cycle – 2, 6, 12 or 24 months

Active (Gray) – includes action items and follow up paperwork

Rotating Cycle – until you are acting on it again

Permanent (Red) – includes personal history, investments, etc.

Rotating Cycle – lifetime or until you have sold the investment

Archive (Blue) – tax returns, legal archives, etc.

Rotating Cycle – 5-10 years

Tax (Teal) – deductions, income, work-related documents, etc.

Rotating Cycle – move the items after taxes have been filed

Remove/Replace (Orange) – policy updates, loans, utility information, etc.

Rotating Cycle – until replaced with an updated version

Resource (Purple) – interests, projects, etc.

Rotating Cycle – rotated as needed

Supplies (Black) – organizers, stationery, etc.

Rotating Cycle – replenish when empty or as needed

Because the files self-purge themselves years after year, you can easily set this system up and maintain it in a matter of minutes versus hours of heartache to get your files organized at home.