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I’ve tried a LOT of filing systems to contain my papers and documents and this system is the BEST. I’ve been using it for over three years and never plan to change it. The maintenance is super easy, the setup is simple and the colors make it extremely fast to find the document you are looking for. Because of this system, I don’t dread the filing process 🙂 PLUS, its more fun instead of plain manilla folders!

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Hi everyone, it’s Alejandra. And I’m sitting here next to my filing cabinet, my filing cart and I want to show you guys the filing system that I use inside my house that’s like super easy to set up. It’s fun to use. Yes, like filing can actually be fun with a system that I’m going to show you guys. Yeah, it’s easy to use and there’s like minimum maintenance. So if you’re not a paper person and you like dread filing, let me show you the system I use and maybe you can change the way you think about your filing cabinet.

How to Organize Your Files with Freedom Filer Filing System

So I’m going to try my best to film this and still be in the view. This system right here is called the FreedomFiler.

Here is exactly what it looks like. It’s a kit that looks like this.

How to Organize Your Files with Freedom Filer Filing System

How to Organize Your Files with Freedom Filer Filing System


Color-Coded Filing System

And the reason why I think it’s more fun than traditional filing is because the system is color-coded. So each color file symbolizes a different type of document.

So red stands for something, blue stands for something else, green stands for something else, etc… It makes it a little bit easier to find exactly what you’re looking for – like find the folder that you’re looking for – to stick a paper inside, or find a folder to retrieve a paper. It’s just a little bit easier and the way they do all the labeling in the system requires less maintenance.

A lot of people go through their filing cabinet annually and have to recreate folders based on if some kind of bill changes or their car changes. For example, if they label Honda Accord on their label and then when they sell their car then they had to go create another file with like the new name like Toyota Prius or whatever. So using the system, you just create label once and that’s it. You just create the label once. So that’s another reason why I really like this system.

Organizing Financial & Tax Papers

So the green section is for all of your financial-related documents. So like any bank statements, money accounts, retirement account, mortgage statements, credit cards, savings, all of those statement-type stuff and financial document related stuff goes in the green section. I like to think of that as like money is green so then your files are green or your financial files are green.

And then the light blue section is all of your tax documents that you save throughout the year and then you use to complete your taxes. So for example, that’s like your W-2, your 1099, any interest pain on anything, personal property tax, all those documents that you get throughout the year that are tax-related that you’re just like, “OK. Where do I put this?” That goes in the light blue section.

Filing Important Papers & Documents

How to Organize Your Files with Freedom Filer Filing System

How to Organize Your Files with Freedom Filer Filing System

The red section is all of your permanent documents. So like stuff that you would never throw away. So that could include like obviously, your birth certificate, your passport, your social security card, any warranties or manuals that you have, any health records, dental records, education records, any like records that’s permanent, like anything that’s permanent will go in the red section. So I like to think of it as red is like vital, important, like high priority so anything that’s like in that category I just talked about goes in red.

So the orange category right here is any kind of document that is continuously updated or temporary. So that could mean like your medical insurance policy. So every year, your health insurance sends you a policy book that’s like this thick and most of us don’t even read it but we keep it. So that policy they give you, they send it to you every single year, right? And so when they send you the new one, you can take the old one and just recycle it or shred it, do whatever you need to with it. And then just take your new one and put it inside the new orange folder. So orange is stuff that comes in, comes out, comes in, comes out, gets updated.

Purple, do you see the purple? I don’t really have that many purple documents. The purple is like hobby stuff, extracurricular stuff like I have return labels there and then there is like some passwords and stuff. It’s pretty much just like hobby, I don’t want to say, miscellaneous because you shouldn’t have a miscellaneous folder but it’s just like stuff that doesn’t fit in any of the other categories. It’s more like extra stuff.

Keeping Tax Returns Organized

Dark blue is all of your tax returns. So you file your taxes and then the IRS send your return back so all your returns go in the dark blue section. And again, that’s sorted by year. There’s actually different ways you can set up that category of files. But pretty much, it’s like by year or by decade.

So that’s all the colors here. So just by color-coding your filing cabinet, like it can make it a lot easier to find what you’re looking for in less time. I think it makes it more fun. It’s not just like your manila folders which are kind of boring, right? Like you open up your filing cabinet, it’s nice to see like all these pretty colors.

Maintaining Your Color-Coded Filing System

[VIDEO] How to Organize Your Files with Freedom Filer Filing System

[VIDEO] How to Organize Your Files with Freedom Filer Filing System

So I just love this system for so many different reasons. I love the maintenance. I love how it’s color-coded. I feel like I can find things really fast. And I also like how all the tabs are like – they’re not all in one line. They’re not like zigzagged. But they’re like – well, they’re zigzagged but you can see all of them like nothing is hiding behind another file. So you can just see everything.

So before I end the video, let me go back to the example of how I told you that there’s like minimum maintenance when it comes to this system like having to recreate the labels every year. You don’t have to do that. So for example, this is my auto records folder. And I have all of my auto records from the car I have now. So if I sell my car or if I get rid of my car, I can still use this folder because it says, “auto records” and not the make and the model of the car I have now. Do you see how the labels kind of vague? So it just allows you to not have to recreate the label itself.

So another example would be if you label like let’s say you label one of your folders with like Comcast for your internet and TV bill. So let’s say in like two months, you switched to Verizon. So then you’re going to have to go back and like create another folder for Verizon, right? So you have to create your label again. So with this system, the label itself will just say “utility bill” or “cable and TV bill”. It won’t say the exact name which means you won’t have to recreate the whole label again, which saves you a lot of time.

So I have shown you my filing cabinet. And again, I will post a link below the video of where you can get this. This is what it looks like when it’s mailed to you. Let me open this one for you guys. When you get this system, it doesn’t include the folders so you’re going to have to buy the folders separately. So pretty much, you get a welcome packet and this is like instructions and then you get, these are all the labels that comes with it. It’s like sheets of labels just like that. And then you get even more instruction that tells you exactly how to set it up and the best way to use the system.

Again, it’s just awesome. I have tried different – I’ve tried maybe like five or six different filing systems and I’ve had this one for over three years now and I’m not like dying to switch it. It’s working. It’s easy to use. My fiancé uses the same system with his filing cabinet and he is not the paper person but he does well in his filing cabinet. He like maintains it and he finds what he’s looking for and yeah, he just maintains it.

So anyways, that’s my tip for today. And I will see you guys soon. Bye!

About Alejandra

About Alejandra

Since 2008, organizing expert & certified life coach, Alejandra Costello has taught thousands of students in 132 countries how to get organized through her video-based training programs. Her YouTube videos have been viewed 100+ million times. Named 1 of the 5 most organized people in America by HGTV and “The Decluttering Queen” by Good Morning America, Alejandra’s expertise has been featured in The New York Times, Oprah.com, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, Woman’s Day, Parents Magazine, and CBS. 

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