Last was a record year for small business startups, with over 5 million new business filings across the United States.
Many of these business owners saw an opportunity in the pandemic. They saw how easy it is to start a home-based business with their expertise, a computer, and a decent internet connection.
If you’re one of them, chances are that you know being a business owner comes with a lot of responsibilities.
One of the things you don’t think about is file organization. You need to manage a home filing system so you can keep your important business and home documents accessible.
Instead of digging for hours trying to find a document, read on to learn how to organize files for better home office organization.
Know What’s Important and What’s Not
Do you hang on to every single document that comes your way? Maybe you don’t know what documents are important and what documents are not.
Home records include things like social security cards, employment records, property papers (titles, deeds, appraisals, easements), and family history papers.
For your business, you’ll need to keep financial and tax records for about seven years. Maintain receipts for every business expense. For business meals, write the purpose of the meal, people present, and business discussed.
You’ll protect yourself if you’re ever asked to submit additional documentation to the tax authorities.
Be sure to keep copies of insurance policies for home and business.
Manage Online and Offline Files
A lot of businesses choose to be paperless, so they keep a lot of their documents digital. You should maintain both a digital and paper filing system.
You’ll need to create a space for paper files and get supplies. Your filing system can be a large cabinet or a couple of small filing bins.
Once you get the space, pick up file folders, binders, and custom binder tabs to make filing your papers easier.
Create Home Filing System Categories
You’ll need to create a home filing system that accommodates both home and business files. Create filing categories for taxes, important documents, business expenses, property papers, insurance policies, and health care documents.
You may have additional categories for your expenses. Dividing your expenses by month or quarter makes it easier to reconcile statements and create profit and loss statements later on.
You’ll do something similar for your online files. Use a naming system that lets you search for files and find them easily.
Create a Filing System for Home Businesses
Managing home and business files isn’t easy because you have files on your computer and on paper. Creating a home filing system that works for your important home and home office documents is essential.
You don’t want to spend hours trying to find a receipt or insurance policy documents when you need them the most. The tips in this guide showed you how to organize files. Follow them and you won’t have a problem finding things when you need them.
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