Filing Paid Bills and Invoices

Once you've paid your bills each month, what do you do with them? Do they go in a box, never to be found again? Do you have an intricate filing system by company? Do you just shred them? Our solution is very easy and has been working well for us for more than 10 years. I have a 12-month accordion file, and each month as bills are paid, they go straight into the file for that month. If we need to find something again, say February's electricity bill, we know to go straight to the February spot. It's easy and straightforward, and it takes only seconds to find what we need.

At the end of the year, that accordion file is stored for a period of one year while a second accordion file takes its place for the new year. I like keeping last year's bills around until after taxes have been completed. So I have one file for 2009 bills, while 2008's file waits in the filing cabinet for taxes and such to be completed. When New Year rolls around, 2008's file will come back out and the contents shredded, and that accordion file will be 2010's folder, while 2009's goes into the file cabinet to wait out its one-year time frame. So two accordion files rotate from year to year. It's easy and takes up very little space, and the system has served us well.