The Circular File: Small Business Files to Keep

To trash or not to trash. That is the question.

How often have you rooted through the trash for that piece of paper you shouldn’t have thrown out? How many times a day do you open your file cabinet and pass by papers you haven’t touched in years? The answer to both of these questions is probably ‘far too often.’ Throwing things out requires thought — it’s not just an excuse to practice your hook shot.

How do you know if you should throw something out? These guidelines may help.

Keep the following:

– Current Materials — Keep all materials relating to projects you are currently working on. When the project is completed, take the file to storage. You never know if your client may want to add on to that project down the road.

– Irreplaceable Materials — Materials related to work you’re still doing, information that is hard to come by or anything you might be able to use down the road.

– Legal Documents — There is no expiration on these. Keep them forever; you never know when you might need them.

– Tax Returns — As a rule, you should keep all your tax returns for at least six years, but it doesn’t hurt to keep them indefinitely.

Trash the following:

– Old Files — If you have a file you haven’t touched for over a year, ask yourself why you keep it. If you can’t think of a good reason, in the trash it goes.

– Extraneous Materials — Junk mail, old phone messages, old fax machine summaries, empty, used envelopes and other similar wastes.

When in doubt, ask yourself what you will use it for, when and why you will need it again and what would happen if you threw it out.

When working out of your home, space is going to be limited. Try to stay on top of your trash and get rid of what you don’t need.

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