Store financial / important documents???

A question about : Store financial / important documents???

How do you store your stuff?

I am looking at a messy pile of wage slips, bank statements, credit card bills, utility bills etc, belonging to me and my husband, wondering how to store it so it all makes sense.

Help!!!

Best answers:

• I use a simple ring binder with plastic wallets and mark each one with the month and put everything in there. I also have a few concertina files - one is kept in the meter cupboard (it is a large cupboard) and this contains all the instruction books for gadgets that are in the house and in the shed.
• Hi. I bought a fire proof filing box. It has a carry handle and its metal with a key to lock it. It comes with suspension files.
• We use half a dozen ring binders with plastic wallets all stored in a lockable fireproof box
  1 for houshold stuff - utilities,insurance etc
  1 for bank and credit card statements
  1 for instruction manuals and receipts
  1 for my stuff - pensions,HMRC etc
  1 for his stuff - pensions,DWP,hospital letters etc
  1 for certificates,wills,passports and such
  1 for car and boat stuff - insurances,MOT,service records,moorings
• Another fan of the lockable suspension file box. The hanging files have tabs and these are labelled so there is a section for each utility bill, for the wage slips, for bank statements and rent account statements. I keep a bulldog clip on a stack of bank statements, add the newest one to the top once I've checked it, then archive older statements every financial year in a old-fashioned document box which just happens to serve as my coffee table.
  I also have a few lever arch type files, one of which is used for warranties and instructions to products, one recipes, one hobby-related stuff. Plus a file for pension stuff and a file for hospital letters. Most of the latter have a barcode to check into the clinic on arrival, so are needed, not just a diary note of the date and time of appt.
  I think whatever system you choose, it needs to be basic enough that you will use it regularly and sensible enough to be usable by others in an emergency. I have a section in my hanging files labelled Will and this also contains a copy of the Will (and which solicitor holds the original Will), preferred funeral arrangements and a list of people to be informed when I die.
  Actually, have now realised a missing piece of info for that latter section (pension provider details) so better add that in there.
• We have a four drawer fireproof filing cabinet, obtained many years ago when DH's office was having a sort out.
  It has hanging files labelled for various things - utilities, bank, cars etc and some things also have plastic wallets within that.
  I must admit DH is a hoarder as I often go through it and chuck out old stuff but it is extremely handy to have.
• I have a fireproof filing box too. OH had hours of fun sorting out the paperwork to go in various compartments! but, now its done we can instantly put our hands on things like Birth Certs, Wills, Insurance documents, Mortgage, Car etc. I didn't bother to file bank statements as you can get copies online easily anyway. also, my Children know exactly where our wills and important documents are.
• Large filing cabinet fan here - bought on ebay for somewhere between 5 and 10 pounds. It has 4 drawers, which are not all full of importnat docs but do lend themselves well for storing extra paper, photos etc
• I'm a single person and have everything in a selection of labelled cardboard wallets.
  -Current account.
  -Savings account/ISAs.
  -Work stuff/wage slips.
  -Car
  -House
  -Tax
  -Bills
  -Personal docs (includes stuff like birth cert, passport, NHS card etc)
  Tried to organise it in a way that would make sense to someone else who had to quickly find a document of mine in an emergency.