Can anyone advise as to what they do with their home filing cabinet contents - ie important documents that are not in electronic format. I have two fairly large drawers of documents. We plan to go electronic on bills, insurance statements, etc soon before we go FT, but unsure how to deal with these filing cabinet docs that we have staring us in the face. Do some of you have a traveling bin of docs that you keep in the bottom of the rv or do you keep them in the state where you maintain a PO box? Thanks for the feedback.
BiggarView said
09:21 AM Jun 26, 2014
Hers's a start... for figuring out the paper burden reduction
I have found that if you take a little time....5 file cabinets can become 1 pretty fast. alot of what goes in them does not need to be kept or its just a duplicate of something else......you only have to keep tax records so long....the instructions to things are only necessary the first few rounds of using them and are also available online.
Medical records can be scanned and put onto usb or portable hardrives so you can take them right into a doctors office with you.
-- Edited by Lucky Mike on Thursday 26th of June 2014 09:34:50 AM
The Bear II said
10:13 AM Jun 26, 2014
We use one of the drawers to keep important documents in. We go through it every couple of years to get rid of unneeded items. We also keep all of the instruction manuals in the drawer. It's amazing what you thought was important but within a year realize it wasn't.
We have four drawers in the custom desk we made and two are full if papers. We are going electronic and keeping one set on hard drive on storage and the other in the cloud but for the time being we are also taking the hard copies with us
laurly said
07:01 PM Jun 26, 2014
We bought a big, clear rubbermaid container. Dropped hanging file folder frame inside, and separate any important papers in hanging files. Keep it sealed (with the lid) in the fiver basement where it is accessible. Waterproof, works like a charm!
Terry and Jo said
07:17 PM Jun 26, 2014
If you elect to use a plastic tub of any kind and put it in the basement, make sure the tub has a full-cover lid with no cracks or anything. I made the mistake of putting my Louis L'Amour paperbacks in tubs that had lids that met in the middle of the tub. We had water leak into the basement and get into the tubs. I'm not sure I can salvage the books.
Another possibility, depending on what your documents are, is to have them all scanned into image files or Adobe pdf files and store on a computer or on disks.
Terry
Lucky Mike said
07:24 PM Jun 26, 2014
I hate it when the paper for the fire pit gets damp.......
The Restless Youngs said
07:48 AM Jun 27, 2014
We scanned three big file drawers worth of documents (tax stuff, banking, insurance, medical, investments, etc), saved on hard drive and in the cloud. We still have one small file tote, but mainly using it for "active" things that haven't been able to be scanned yet. Less paper the better.
Technomadia said
10:18 AM Jun 27, 2014
We keep a fire and water proof lockable safe in the coach with our very important documents (passports, medical advance directives, corporate filing documents, vehicle titles, etc.), and then we have a plastic portable folder box that we keep in our closets with other documents that are nice to have, but not critical. The rest, we scanned what was needed and shredded the rest.
NWescapee said
11:17 PM Jun 27, 2014
Like Technomadia, we have a small fireproof safe for passport, marriage certificate, birth certificate, most current tax records, etc.
Then because I work from home and took my job on the road, I've allocated one small shelf in the desk area for work paperwork which I go through at least once a month and weed out what I don't need. For my hubby's business which we also took on the road, we have another shelf allocated with a small, portable hanging folder container we bought at Office Max, and I go through that whenever it's getting too full to get in and out of the cabinet. Then one shelf with yet another portable hanging folder bin that has our other paperwork pertaining to our personal paperwork that's not quite as important.
We've been on the road almost a year and I just burned a huge stack of all of the above paper work, took another large envelope of receipts needed for taxes to the storage room to file with other tax stuff. We've left a key to our storage room with a very close trusted friend, and I have digital photos of exactly where the tax records are so if we're ever audited and I need tax records that I haven't scanned just due to time constraints, our friend can easily find the file and ship it to us wherever we are at the time.
This was one of the hardest areas to weed down, but when it came time for the final sorting through we were finding tons of manuals, warranties, etc. on items we had either sold, donated or sent to a consignment store. I'm sure we still have more paperwork than many RV'ers but with a telecommute job and a small business that we took on the road, we just can't quite get rid of all paperwork.
Sheryl E said
09:43 AM Oct 30, 2015
I'm down to one hanging file tote, and may move to the accordion files to decrease bulk. Just now wondering if those vacuum bags for clothes would work for file storage...squirrel.
I compulsively went through manuals (especially for RV) and cut out the Spanish language sections and got rid of duplicates, which decreased the pile by almost half. When i get really compulsive, I'll see what manuals are on line, bookmark them, and dump the paper. I also checked with the IRS; I only need to keep three years of taxes. If I had committed fraud, however, I would need to keep seven. ;)
I maintain a "year" folder, where I put stuff I might need in the near future, but doesn't need long term storage, like the most recent insurance paperwork. This gets weeded through when my current, working basket gets too full.
Legal and critical paperwork will go in a fire resistant and waterproof case.
Still thinking about those vacuum bags, I might be on to something.
ticat900 said
12:15 PM Oct 30, 2015
one word and one word only " Memory stick" simply scan all papers u want to keep track of onto a memory stick
Julie and Ray said
09:58 PM Oct 30, 2015
I agree with ticat900 - scan and shred. We have converted 3 file cabinets to about ½ drawer and a bunch of electronic files (and still working on it). Our scanner and shredder are still smoking!!
Nancy and Bill said
04:50 AM Oct 31, 2015
Ditto what Technomadia said...fireproof and waterproof safe for critical documents...one portable file box for current year and the rest are scanned. We also made a small notebook with all our critical account and vehicle information which we gave to our children so they could take care of things in the event both of us were out of commission.
SuzieQ said
06:03 PM Nov 1, 2015
I love my scanner! That said - double check your backup and backup your backup. I lost everything with a computer crash and a bad cloud backup. Also had a client that had everything on Neatreceipts. Neat did a software update and all his data disappeared.
ticat900 said
06:25 PM Nov 1, 2015
SuzieQ wrote:
I love my scanner! That said - double check your backup and backup your backup. I lost everything with a computer crash and a bad cloud backup. Also had a client that had everything on Neatreceipts. Neat did a software update and all his data disappeared.
the thing is you don't involve the computer to scan and load documents to a memory stick that's the beauty of it/ U use the computer to read the information on it
at least my system does not.I put the stick in the printer scanner and do direct transfers
A crashing computer should in no way bother the memory stick however computer crashes with the quality of computers these days are very very slim to none
not saying it cant happen but its not like a few short years ago(danger of crash)
Terry and Jo said
09:00 PM Nov 1, 2015
ticat900 wrote:
SuzieQ wrote:
I love my scanner! That said - double check your backup and backup your backup. I lost everything with a computer crash and a bad cloud backup. Also had a client that had everything on Neatreceipts. Neat did a software update and all his data disappeared.
the thing is you don't involve the computer to scan and load documents to a memory stick that's the beauty of it/ U use the computer to read the information on it
at least my system does not.I put the stick in the printer scanner and do direct transfers
A crashing computer should in no way bother the memory stick however computer crashes with the quality of computers these days are very very slim to none
not saying it cant happen but its not like a few short years ago(danger of crash)
Well, I hate to say this, but memory sticks can be corrupted as well. Also, just how are you getting the data on the memory stick in the first place? Are you using a computer for that? If you are, then you are loading documents onto the stick via a computer.
Terry
bjoyce said
09:51 AM Nov 2, 2015
Yes, make sure you have at least two backups of anything important. Memory sticks can not only get corrupted, they can break. My sister-in-law found that out one day when she pulled hers out of the computer and it broke in half.
BiggarView said
12:03 PM Nov 2, 2015
...and not just two back-ups.... keep them in separate locations. Wouldn't want to lose both at the same time as a result of a disaster.
FWIW, Brian
SuzieQ said
08:00 PM Nov 2, 2015
Can't tell you how many times I've had clients that are so proud of themselves because they do backups. They say, "See, it's right here on top of my computer." Then I say, "What will you do if the building burns down?" Deer in the headlights look.
Terry and Jo said
11:59 AM Nov 3, 2015
SuzieQ wrote:
Can't tell you how many times I've had clients that are so proud of themselves because they do backups. They say, "See, it's right here on top of my computer." Then I say, "What will you do if the building burns down?" Deer in the headlights look.
Ha!!! This might not have been a result of headlights, but meet "Bucky" with the weird antlers.
(Sorry, couldn't help myself as I felt an overwhelming need to share a photo.)
Terry
MaryHolcomb said
07:56 AM Sep 20, 2016
Thank you for the question and sharing information. Well, I do agree with Suzie. All the best!
Neil and Connie said
08:46 AM Sep 20, 2016
I tossed most of the stuff when we left the S&B…no need to carry 15 years of power bills around. Everything that we deemed worth keeping I just scanned and it lives on my file server (and various backups, cloud services, etc). Everything we get now pretty much gets scanned…I keep one folder for each year with the paper we decide to keep (tax related stuff mostly) and have a probably 2" thick folder for each year.
Scanning is pretty easy…especially if you get an auto feed scanner like a ScanSnap…that's what I used. I did find that lots of paper with crinkly edges or that had been destapled had a problem using the sheet feeder. If one put in a stack it would frequently jam so I…mostly…just sat there and although I was using the sheet feeder just fed it one sheet at a time and stuck the next one in when the previous one was about 80% sucked in. Took me a half dozen tries to figure out the right time to insert them but after that I was cranking out about 15 sheets a minute.
ScanSnap software does OCR as well as multipage pdf files…so I just scanned like a whole years's worth of tax records into one 50MB pdf file and use text search to find what I need since it's all text searchable.
Can anyone advise as to what they do with their home filing cabinet contents - ie important documents that are not in electronic format. I have two fairly large drawers of documents. We plan to go electronic on bills, insurance statements, etc soon before we go FT, but unsure how to deal with these filing cabinet docs that we have staring us in the face. Do some of you have a traveling bin of docs that you keep in the bottom of the rv or do you keep them in the state where you maintain a PO box? Thanks for the feedback.
Hers's a start... for figuring out the paper burden reduction
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2010/03/conquer-the-paper-piles/index.htm
Brian
I have found that if you take a little time....5 file cabinets can become 1 pretty fast. alot of what goes in them does not need to be kept or its just a duplicate of something else......you only have to keep tax records so long....the instructions to things are only necessary the first few rounds of using them and are also available online.
Medical records can be scanned and put onto usb or portable hardrives so you can take them right into a doctors office with you.
-- Edited by Lucky Mike on Thursday 26th of June 2014 09:34:50 AM
I use something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Pendaflex-Portable-Letter-Hanging-20861/dp/B000J09JC6/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1403803036&sr=8-8&keywords=file+box and store it in the compartment under the bed which surprisingly is deep enough for it.
If you elect to use a plastic tub of any kind and put it in the basement, make sure the tub has a full-cover lid with no cracks or anything. I made the mistake of putting my Louis L'Amour paperbacks in tubs that had lids that met in the middle of the tub. We had water leak into the basement and get into the tubs. I'm not sure I can salvage the books.
Another possibility, depending on what your documents are, is to have them all scanned into image files or Adobe pdf files and store on a computer or on disks.
Terry
I hate it when the paper for the fire pit gets damp......
.
Then because I work from home and took my job on the road, I've allocated one small shelf in the desk area for work paperwork which I go through at least once a month and weed out what I don't need. For my hubby's business which we also took on the road, we have another shelf allocated with a small, portable hanging folder container we bought at Office Max, and I go through that whenever it's getting too full to get in and out of the cabinet. Then one shelf with yet another portable hanging folder bin that has our other paperwork pertaining to our personal paperwork that's not quite as important.
We've been on the road almost a year and I just burned a huge stack of all of the above paper work, took another large envelope of receipts needed for taxes to the storage room to file with other tax stuff. We've left a key to our storage room with a very close trusted friend, and I have digital photos of exactly where the tax records are so if we're ever audited and I need tax records that I haven't scanned just due to time constraints, our friend can easily find the file and ship it to us wherever we are at the time.
This was one of the hardest areas to weed down, but when it came time for the final sorting through we were finding tons of manuals, warranties, etc. on items we had either sold, donated or sent to a consignment store. I'm sure we still have more paperwork than many RV'ers but with a telecommute job and a small business that we took on the road, we just can't quite get rid of all paperwork.
I compulsively went through manuals (especially for RV) and cut out the Spanish language sections and got rid of duplicates, which decreased the pile by almost half. When i get really compulsive, I'll see what manuals are on line, bookmark them, and dump the paper. I also checked with the IRS; I only need to keep three years of taxes. If I had committed fraud, however, I would need to keep seven. ;)
I maintain a "year" folder, where I put stuff I might need in the near future, but doesn't need long term storage, like the most recent insurance paperwork. This gets weeded through when my current, working basket gets too full.
Legal and critical paperwork will go in a fire resistant and waterproof case.
Still thinking about those vacuum bags, I might be on to something.
the thing is you don't involve the computer to scan and load documents to a memory stick that's the beauty of it/ U use the computer to read the information on it
at least my system does not.I put the stick in the printer scanner and do direct transfers
A crashing computer should in no way bother the memory stick however computer crashes with the quality of computers these days are very very slim to none
not saying it cant happen but its not like a few short years ago(danger of crash)
Well, I hate to say this, but memory sticks can be corrupted as well. Also, just how are you getting the data on the memory stick in the first place? Are you using a computer for that? If you are, then you are loading documents onto the stick via a computer.
Terry
...and not just two back-ups.... keep them in separate locations. Wouldn't want to lose both at the same time as a result of a disaster.
FWIW, Brian
Ha!!! This might not have been a result of headlights, but meet "Bucky" with the weird antlers.
(Sorry, couldn't help myself as I felt an overwhelming need to share a photo.)
Terry
I tossed most of the stuff when we left the S&B…no need to carry 15 years of power bills around. Everything that we deemed worth keeping I just scanned and it lives on my file server (and various backups, cloud services, etc). Everything we get now pretty much gets scanned…I keep one folder for each year with the paper we decide to keep (tax related stuff mostly) and have a probably 2" thick folder for each year.
Scanning is pretty easy…especially if you get an auto feed scanner like a ScanSnap…that's what I used. I did find that lots of paper with crinkly edges or that had been destapled had a problem using the sheet feeder. If one put in a stack it would frequently jam so I…mostly…just sat there and although I was using the sheet feeder just fed it one sheet at a time and stuck the next one in when the previous one was about 80% sucked in. Took me a half dozen tries to figure out the right time to insert them but after that I was cranking out about 15 sheets a minute.
ScanSnap software does OCR as well as multipage pdf files…so I just scanned like a whole years's worth of tax records into one 50MB pdf file and use text search to find what I need since it's all text searchable.