Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.

Proverbs 27:23-24

Our goal of this series is to honor God by taking the first step towards responsible management of the material possessions that God has entrusted to us. In previous posts we discussed how Paul trained himself to serve God with the same intensity that an Olympic athlete trains for the games and how he encourages us to train in the same way because the crown that we receive for our stewardship will last forever.

Today we are going to get right to work setting up our long term filing system. This will work in conjunction with the simple filing system that we set up last week and will give us an organized method of storing vital paperwork.

For supplies we’re going to need file folders. Regular manila folders work great but if you have a few extra dollars I would recommend picking up a few of the thicker, multi-classification file folders. They will last a lot longer and it’s just easier when you can group similar classes of documents into one folder. You don’t necessarily need a file cabinet for this but if you have one sitting around the house I would recommend using it. Many office desks have a drawer or two that are set up for filing as well. If you are using a cabinet of some kind then you’ll probably need to pick up some hanging files in addition to the manila folders. If you don’t have a file cabinet, don’t sweat it, you can pick up an expanding file (or accordion file as they are sometimes called) that will fit all of our needs for around $10. I would also recommend picking up a two-hole punch and some two-hole fasteners like these although they really aren’t required.

How to organize folders

There are several different thoughts on how to label your folders, the most popular probably being the one-account-per-folder approach which means that each bill (telephone bill, electric bill, checking account) is placed in its own folder (along with previous statements). In recent years the tendency for companies to offer multiple utilities has made this difficult. I get my home phone, internet, and cell phone all on one bill which makes it all but impossible to separate them into their own folders. That’s why I prefer the one-company-per-folder approach.

The first thing you need to do is make a list of every company that you have accounts with. Don’t overlook the companies that auto-draft out of your checking account each month. Also, be sure to include things like charities which you’ll want to keep track of for taxes but that may not send you a statement every month.

Once you have your list. Start making files. Label each folder and, with the two-hole punch, install a fastener. Now, if you have paid bills still being stored in the simple file system that we developed last week, go ahead and hole-punch them and put them in their appropriate file. This should be done at least once a month.

Now we have our tracking system and out filing system in place. Next post we will talk about the final step. Making a budget.

Creating a filing system

In a previous post we designed a simple filing system to help us keep track of which bills had been paid. Now we want to expand that system to more thoroughly manage other important paperwork such as tax documents, warranties, auto maintenance records, ect…

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.

Proverbs 27:23-24

The first thing to consider when creating a filing system is which documents you need to keep and for how long. While there is room for personal preference when designing your system you don’t want to go too far to either extreme. I admit I went a little overboard when I first started filing. I saved everything for years– utility bills, paycheck stubs, credit card statements, even the return envelops that came in the bills that I paid on-line (you know, just in case). While I’m an advocate of being safe rather than sorry, I have to say that my caution was not rewarded in this case. I ended up with two file cabinet drawers filled with years of worthless documents, a good portion of which were from a house in another state that was sold years ago. So while we are going to be prudent while we design our system, we are going to ensure that the documents we save are really important enough to hold on to.

So how long should we hold on to paperwork? That depends on what it is. Tax paperwork is usually the most important because the IRS can audit you for up to six years. So for tax forms or paperwork regarding assets that are taxable (such as a car, home, or stocks) we hold onto for at least 7 years. In the case of a taxable asset you want to make sure that you don’t start the counter on that seven years until it’s no longer in your possession. As long as you own it, keep all the paperwork for it. This includes any paperwork for maintenance or home improvements as they can help reduce your tax liability. The tax returns themselves I make sure to hold on to indefinitely. If any future errors are found in things like social security or a retirement account you can use them to track the problem back to when it started. You can save a lot of space by just scanning the returns into your computer as opposed to storing them in a closet. The documents themselves aren’t worth anything, just the information on them.

Non-tax related paperwork has a wide range of recommended hold times. As far as utility bills, credit card statements and paycheck stubs, you probably won’t ever need them more than a month after they have been paid or deposited but I usually hold onto mine until the end of the year and then carry over the last two months into the New Year just to play it safe. Sense you only get 12-24 each year and you already have a folder for them it doesn’t take up any extra space to play it safe. Bank statements are the same way except at the end of the year I throw all of them out except the year end summery. If you don’t want to hold on to these for that long it probably won’t hurt you. You can usually get another copy from your bank if you ask. As far as insurance paperwork, hold onto everything for as long as you have the policy or have claims open plus one full tax year. This doesn’t include those “explanation of benefits” papers you get after each time you go to the doctor. If there is a long term purpose for those please let me know because I put those straight in the trash.

More permanent things such as medical records (not insurance statements or explanation of benefits), pet records, insurance policies, and warranty information you’ll want to hold on to for as long as long as you have the object that it belongs too. In the case of medical records or pet records, that means as long as they’re alive.

In the next post we’re actually going to get our files set up but in the mean time you might want to get acquainted with your scanner. Scanning documents saves space in your house and doesn’t take up much space on your computer. In fact, I have about ten years worth of paperwork saved on a 2 GB flash drive that I keep in a fireproof safe as a backup. If you’re super computer savvy then you may not even need to keep paper files. Programs like Quicken will allow you to scan copies of your bills directly to the program so you can keep digital copies for years to come. There are also digital document organization programs out there for a price. If you know of any good free ones, please let me know. For those of us who prefer to be able to spread out our papers in front of us while we work, then I would recommend keeping the paper files and once a year scanning the old stuff to the computer. Just be sure to make a backup and keep it in a safe place.

     Before we begin, take a look around. How many trophies do you have? What about ribbons, metals, certificates, diplomas, degrees, even report cards? How many are framed and hanging on the wall of an office or on the refrigerator door? And how hard did you have to work to get them? Now consider the fact that one day all of those things will rust, decompose or in some way, return to the minerals that they were originally made of. They are a perishable and temporary monument to the work that you put into them. I don’t mean to say that they were not well deserved or that there is anything wrong with having them, but the fact is that one day they will be gone along with the memories of what they were for. While there is nothing wrong with having something to show for your accomplishments, it’s important that we understand what the true riches are.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly;’ I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

     I wanted to make the point above to emphasize the importance of what we are talking about. The diplomas and trophies that most of us have were not easy to get. We put many hours of training and studying into them and they are a testament to our achievement. Our walk with Christ should not be any different. In the above verse, Paul was talking to the Corinthians about why he lives his life the way he does; to spread the gospel. But I think that the point he makes applies to the way all Christians live. According to 2 Corinthians 5:10 we will all have to give an account of our lives to Christ and receive what is due, whether good or bad. If that is the case, why would we not put at least, if not more effort into training ourselves to be stewards then we did to get our perishable rewards. Paul likens his personal training to that of an Olympic athlete to show that if a crown that will not last (in ancient times Olympic athletes won crowns of leaves, not metals) is worth the incredible determination that it takes to earn, then the rewards that we receive as good stewards will be worth much more.

     How, then, do we start down this path of training? The first thing is to understand that everything that we have, money, talents, time, the very bodies that we live in do not belong to us, but to God. He has placed us in charge of managing them and left us directions on how he wants them used. We will go into more detail about what he wants us to do with them in later posts. The first thing we need to do to get on the right path is to find out what we are already doing with them.

Find Out Where Your Money Is Going

     Yes, even before we tackle the almighty budget we have to find out how much we have to manage and where it is currently going. I’m going to start from bare basics here because I know that most people are not taught how to file, manage bills or keep track of spending in school. I wasn’t. So here is how we begin.

Start An Organized File System. – First off, if you are married, there has to be someone who is ultimately accountable for the money and bills. If you both work on them that’s fine but at least one person has to have all the info, all the time. In my house, I do this job. My wife did it for years while I was in the Navy and out to sea but recently we swapped. She is always welcome to help, but I have to be updated on everything that happens. The person, who is responsible for this, is also accountable to their partner for it so don’t take the position lightly.

     Here is how my wife and I have things set up. First, everyday she gets the mail while I am at work. Anything that comes from a company that we pay money to (including bills, bank statements, charitable organizations) gets immediately put in a folder that is hanging on the door to our home office (you can use anything as long as you both know what it will be. We just did it this way so that things didn’t pile up on our desk). Then, every day when I get home I go through the mail in the folder. Any junk mail is thrown out and any bills are placed in a pile. I then go through the bills and mark the amount owed and to whom on my Google Calendar. You can use any calendar for this, I just prefer Google because I can check it anywhere I’m at. Be sure you put this info on the day that the bill is due, not the day you received it. Then the unpaid bills go into another folder labeled “Unpaid Bills” to sit until they have been paid.

     All in all, this takes maybe 10 minutes a day if you get a lot of bills. Most days, it won’t even take five.

     Here’s another trick though. When you put your bills on Google calendar be sure to click on “create event” and check the box that says “all day event”. This way it will show up on your calendar as a solid bar that is easy to see. Once the bill is paid, we will unclick that box (it doesn’t matter what time it’s listed for) and it will become just normal text in the box. I also put the date it was paid in the event details so that I can come back later. This is an easy way to know at a glance what bills have been paid and which ones haven’t. But we’ll talk about that more later.

          For the sake of the length of this post, we’re going to stop here for now but let’s do a quick recap.

You will need:

-          2 folders (or other document organizer)

-          A Google account and Google calendar

1.       Every day, put any mail from anyone that you pay money to in a folder labeled “Mail”

2.       Open the mail, throw out junk and find the bills

3.       Immediately list the amount due, the day it’s due, and to whom on Google calendar

4.       Put all bills in a folder labeled “Unpaid Bills”