go binder |

What to Keep 101

1. Taxes-ok they say 7 years but honestly life sounds good.

2. Insurance-home, renters, life, vehicle etc. Keep your statements for one full year. Keep the policy info for five years. I was surprised by this!

3. Bank-Statements, account info, IRA, Bonds anything of this sort-1 full year

4. Pay Stubs-if you still get them-1 full year

5. Utilities-cable, gas, electric, yard service, pest service-1 full year

6. Medical-I keep the receipts in a tax file for this year and anything that is in detail of what you have, have had done, etc-forever

7. Pets-I keep everything-registrations, AKC, vet for the life of the animal

8. Car-we keep all maintenance for as long as we own the vehicle.

9. Home-Mortgage-payments-1 full year

Loan paperwork-as long as you own the home-same with insurance

I hope this helps. It’s nice to have it all in one place.

Oh also make sure you write down info that can be stored in your go binder as you clean out your files. Include numbers-policy numbers….

We also keep files on the maintenance/upgrade of our home and of our rental property. I keep these in a separate file labeled home repair with the address and keep them behind the homes regular files. You don’t know how many times this info. has come in handy!

Happy shredding!

So what the heck is a “Go” Binder anyway? Back in my teaching days we had a “Go” bag-I hated it. I had to carry it everywhere we went! It had essential things in it such as a class rooster, home phone numbers, allergy info you know important stuff…especially in the case of an emergency.

This year I started getting all our family things in gear….fire box, will….and I got to thinking. It would be really nice in case of an emergency to have a family “go” binder. One that I filled with things that I would readily need should we have to leave or evacuate. Now I know what you’re thinking…..oh and yes I totally love those doomsday prepper shows. In fact, should go peruse through my Pinterest page you may find some stockpiling and other things of that sort uhem.

I digress-anyways evacuation. We have had to evacuate before…remember Katrina-you know the hurricane? Well after Katrina and everyone evacuated to Houston we had our own storm-Rita. Schools closed and people evacuated. It happens.

So our “Go” binder is taking shape this year.

Supplies-A cute binder-Target has really cute ones and they also have super cute tabs! I also used plastic sleeves to store all the documents in.

What did I include you ask?

The beginning has all our information:

*Insurance numbers to call, coverage included and account numbers. This includes home, health, car, etc….

*Credit card-accounts and phone numbers-great for instances where they should get stolen.

*Bank accounts/investments-account numbers and addresses for bank accounts, IRA, bonds, stock, safe deposit boxes anything of this sort.

*Important numbers-all doctors, family members, vet….location of will

The second part and this is the part I used the plastic sleeves for….

I divided this one into sections.

1. Birth certificates and social security cards.

2. Certificates-Marriage Licenses, Divorce papers-should you have some, for me my teaching certificates,military papers too.

3. Religious-as for Catholics…Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation and Marriage from the Church.

I’m hoping to also add a section for each of us with a recent photo and fingerprints.

Now here’s the key. Store the binder in place you can reach in the house close to the door or in a well used area but unseen. That way when you have to bail it’s close by.

Now you tell me-what am I forgetting?????

Organizing the Mess-Filing Cabinet Edition