Back-Up Bliss

We have to keep them in case of an audit.

They grow and grow, and are a pain to file and store.

Outdated and ugly, they hang around for years.

You know what I'm a talkin' about - statements, financial papers, important documents.

In my earlier years, I was an auditor with a financial institution, and I can assure you that it is a good idea to keep the necessary documents.

And, as a homeowner, I declare that it is equally necessary

to find a sane way to keep them!

So, the decision was made to scan and save them digitally.

The plan was formulated to then save them off of the hard drive for safe keeping. 

The dream was inspired to then create digital file copies of the crucial docs to put in a safe deposit box, an emergency folder, and a power of attorney folder.

Oh, what organizational bliss that would be!

So this is my long, likely confusing, probably not interesting post on how I have handled digitally saving and storing my old financial documents (and other papers too). I can only hope it inspires you to attack the ever growing file cabinet by using a system that works for you. 

It has taken a long time, working on it part time here and there.

But, I am posting about it today because I have reached a milestone.

Today, I finally, finally, had enough information scanned and saved

to save off the hard drive.

In fact, I had so much finished, that I was concerned about not having it backed up somewhere yet.

My tools of choice? The flash drive. I am amazed at how much this little bugger holds! I thought for sure that my files would far exceed the storage capacity, but I was pleasantly surprised to have one 2GB flash drive hold it all. I guess I'm not quite up on technology!

Other options? CD's, an external back-up system, an online back-up company... but for the cost and the ease, the seemingly diminutive flash drive fit the bill perfectly for me.

Also, I have a printer/scanner combo with a multiple document feed function. This means I don't have to scan one document at a time. I stack a whole year's worth in and it feeds through while scanning. This function is soooo worth an extra $20-$30 for the upgrade.

So, how did I do it?

If you'll bear with me, here's the method of my madness:

1) Sort paper piles into like categories. This means that bank statements, old college documents, credit card statements, utility statements, health insurance papers, vital documents and such are sorted into somewhat obvious and likely piles.

2) Create shred (or burn) piles: one for those documents that can be shredded immediately, and one for the documents being scanned that will be held onto until the scanned and saved file is officially backed up. (Then that pile can be shredded. I saved my  ever growing pile for quite a while before I backed everything up to the flash drive.)

3) Create folders for those documents that must physically be kept. I keep most pertinent financial documents physically for the current year before shredding (it makes bookkeeping easier). Vital documents such as birth and marriage certificates will always be kept. You may opt to keep some of the next year older year-end statements to create a physical file for your ready-to-run-out-the-door emergency prep folders. 

4) Scan and save. Repeat. Have a system of folders in place to save the newly scanned documents to. If you have a whole year's worth of statements, scan them all and then save them all together as one .pdf file. This is much quicker than saving them all individually.

Once a category is completely scanned and saved, it is moved to a new folder specifically for documents all ready to be backed up. A quick look then easily shows

which ones still have missing documents.

5) Back up those files! Be sure to identify those folders that have been backed up! 

6) The method of back-up used will determine how to go forward in backing up any missing pieces and incoming current documents. CD's are limited, and this step wouldn't likely be needed for external drive and online program back ups. Flash drives can easily have information added, which then can be organized on the flash drive itself if desired.

If you're not yet overwhelmed and thinking I'm crazy, then I have to admit that after all this, I took the time to rename and organize the folders again. The folders that were saved contained more than just financial documents by the time I was at this point, so I renamed them as "200X Docs Saved".

Also, I created one folder "New Info For SAVED Folders TO SAVE", for all incoming information to add to the flash drive when I'm ready. This is where I moved all the folders labeled just with the year: "200X", again, for documents found as I finished the purging.

I also added another new folder, "Vital Docs Saved". This is for all those crucial documents that also were backed up: birth certs, vehicle titles, marriage license, etc.

7) Shred or burn that pile of papers! NOTE: Electronically kept documents reprinted from your computer are viable for most purposes. However, if the document bears a seal, is notarized, or is a one-of-a-kind document that cannot be easily reproduced by the source it came from, I'd highly recommend scanning it, but not getting rid of it.

Phew! Did you follow all that?

I suppose what I most wanted to share with you is that keeping records is important, and keeping them in a manageable and accessible way is important too. 

The good news? It is doable!

How do you manage those must-keep old documents?

Have you gone digital?