Becoming organized can be a chore in itself, but it turns harder when trying to deal with important documents. When managing your finances, you have to be sure that everything is put together and ready when needed. This is a simpler task than what you may think and it can be accomplished in just two easy steps.

The first step is to categorize your papers. Create stacks that will be numbered and known as specific piles. Stack 1 can be a tax pile, Stack 2 can be the debt pile, and Stack 3 can be the assets pile. These are the most important stacks that you will ever create, because they are basically your life. The tax stack will include tax statements and returns as well as any other tax-related forms. This stack will help make things easier on you the next time you need to do your taxes.

The debt pile will let you know in writing who you owe money to and what the amount that you owe is. Credit card bills and phone bills along with mortgage and student loan papers will be included in this stack. Anything that you owe money on, whether it be a monthly bill or another type will go into this pile.

The second step is to break down the stacks into “past, present, and future” stacks. You may want to find some folders or another type of organization holder for each of these categories in order to better set them apart from one another. Many people use a small filing cabinet or box along with a labeling system that would best work for them. Keep in mind that the only papers that go into the “past” folder are those that are already at least a week old or something that has already been paid off.

The “present” folder will contain all of the bills that need to be paid off and any paperwork that has anything to do with what you currently need to accomplish. If you are using a filing box, then you may want to break the “present” folder down into 2 or 3 different ones to house bills and other miscellaneous papers.

The “future” folder will contain whatever you need to have accomplished in the near future or things that you would like to see happen at some point such as savings for college or tax reduction . It can also include checks that need to be cashed or vacation ideas.