Converting to Digital to Better Organize
If you run your own home business you know that tracking your finances and managing the associated paperwork is critical. But even personal documents related to banking and taxes need to be organized to avoid getting overwhelmed. If you are tired of a stack of papers sitting on your desk and would like to get better organized, we have a few tips in this article to help you get started.
Convert to Digital
In this digital age there really isn't much need to keep stacks of paperwork laying around. Heck, even the IRS will except scanned copies of things like a receipt that you can quickly generate with a portable or receipt scanner. For larger documents like bank or investment statements a document scanner is a better choice and will allow you to quickly scan even double-sided papers.
And after you get a backlog of paperwork all scanned in and organized you can avoid any further disorganization from occurring by setting up a scanning routine like once a week or once a month. Not only will your financial documents be better managed but you can also feel safer that nothing will be misplaced or accidentally discarded over time.
And since we are talking about converting to digital, let's talk about old family photos and slides. I knew someone who had a stack of photos and slides piled up in their office with the intention of preserving and archiving through boxes, but that is only half the battle. Buy a scanner or check out some film to digital converter reviews and get all of those items digitally archived.
Financial Statements
Most banks now have online banking options for all customers which include the ability to download things like monthly bank statements in a PDF format. Rather than hold onto paper statements you can easily download your documents to your computer each month and cancel the paper. By doing so you not only avoid the paper clutter but you are also being environmentally friendly. In addition to banking statements, many credit card companies also offer electronic formats of monthly statements.
Tax Time Paperwork
Most people know that they need to hold onto their tax returns for many years after filing. But if all of those files are taking up a lot of space or you are concerned about misplacing them you can also create digital copies with your document scanner for saving. Most document scanners should be able to scan your small W-2s and receipts in addition to your actual return so that everything you need is now digitized.
General Advice on Archiving
When scanning in all of your financial documents you may want to consider what you do or do not need to keep any longer. If you have statements from 15 years ago it may not be necessary to keep those anymore but instead just digitize the last few years worth. Keeping scans of your W-2 indefinitely may be useful if you have not yet applied for Social Security benefits.
And be sure to keep at least 6 to 7 years of tax documents. Beyond that you will need to use some common sense and risk weighing. Luckily, once the work of scanning is over the final product won't take up nearly as much physical space and you may find yourself happy to keep all of your documents forever on your computer.
