Well it took me the best part of a week, on and off, but I have now sorted out my paperwork.

The business stuff came first – I had a year’s worth of expenses receipts to sort out, log and file, as well as about 8 months’ worth of invoices. I logged them all on a spreadsheet, filed them away and filled an archiving box with previous years’ accounts ready to go into storage. I also managed to get my tax return completed and submitted!

Part two of the mission involved sorting through a huge carrier bag of bills, bank statements and other bits and pieces that had accumulated over the last year, as well as sorting through all the stuff I had filed away in my blue metal box. I sorted all the paperwork into different categories (bank/credit cards, utilities, insurance etc) then sorted into individual providers, then into date order.

Once I had everything sorted out (and a mountain of junk mail and old stuff ready for shredding) I worked out a system for where everything was going to go. I now have a folder full off all my banking stuff,a box full of non-essential stuff that I ought to/want to keep hold of (school reports etc) and the metal box has been reserved for important stuff – there’s a file for utility bills, a file for motor stuff, and another file for other important things – like my will, life insurance docs, passports, pet and home insurance etc.

So I don’t have the carrier bags lying around, I’m up to date on both my business and home filing, and I should, with any luck, be able to lay my hands on anything I need quickly and easily, without having to root through piles and piles of paperwork. Job done!

Now all that’s left is the shredding ….