Not to mention, it's easy to keep the files organized. And they are really very organized on there.
But there remains a part of my finances that still lives on paper. Whether it's credit card agreements, information I'm accruing for tax season or really anything else that requires filing for financial purposes, these are the things in my physical life that needs a similar system as my online financial life.
Easier said than done.
That's the thing with paper in your physical world that can't be thrown out. It actually takes up physical space, meaning you need to find a place for it to physically live in your own living quarters. No it's not a LOT of space, but recall that I kind of live life like a student, which means I live life within the physical confines of a student. Meaning I don't have much desk space and there are no real concepts of shelves in my home that I rent with two others.
So what happens to paper that has no place to go? They kind of end up everywhere. On my desk, on my shelf, in books and binders and plastic folders.
Finally, after losing the paper that had my dental claim on it to the nameless piles on my desk, I had enough of the headache. I decided to take a leaf from the book of Gail Vaz-Oxlade. I got a goddamn box and a bunch of file folders and began trying to follow through her 12 step program of getting organized.
It worked! Well... kind of.
Don't get me wrong, that 12 step process is a great resource as far as getting on top of your finances and having a clearer picture of your money and your life is like. And is good for people who has similar paper issues as I did.
It's just everyone's finances are different and how they need to be organized can vary widely as well. Gail's system may be mostly encompassing, but it really doesn't fully apply to my general needs or life. For instances, I don't own a mortgage or have a personal line of credit with the bank (well, the LOC is a not yet kind of thing. My student loans being a contributing factor as to why). So those folders would be useless for me. However, I did opt to have an income tax return folder for me to be able to file things like my TTC metropasses and medical bills for the tax year. I also created a folder specifically for my freelance work, which generally falls outside my regular income and is a little more scattered and hard for me to keep track.
Another problem is known as the 'printer problem.' That is to say, my printer ink is out at home. And I'm not about to use work resources to print out my online statements for filing purposes right now. The printer cartridge is on my to-do list though. I just have to be less lazy about going to an office store.
Oh. And another issue is the fact that I'm still in the beginning steps of saving real money. So I can't yet reduce my monthly bank fees with a large stash of cash in my chequing account just yet. It's irking me to bits too because that's $11 a month that could be going to... I don't know... my student loans or TFSA. So that was one of the 12 steps I couldn't do. But I have the capacity to do just about everything else.
Getting organized though is just one step of a bunch of steps of steps in taking full control of my financial life and figuring out my priorities as well, as well as having a positive net income. It's a long and arduous process, something that I wish wasn't so long and arduous feeling right now.
But hey, it's only been a few months and I've got my entire life ahead of me to get it right one way or another.
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