I have a layered back-up system, and I still don’t feel like it’s enough. Every day I back up my crucial files — Quickbooks, todo list, etc. Every few days I back up everything to a hard drive on my desk at home using Apple’s Time Machine. What I’d like to do is start an offsite plan where every week I bring in another hard drive, back it up redundantly to there, and bring that hard drive somewhere else, like the office or my mom’s place.

As for purging, I do the same thing — wait until it gets to be too much and then purge. Though I try to be judicious in what I keep in the first place. I try to throw away as much as possible.

I keep file folders for physical stuff - every client gets one. The most current stay near my desk, and then get archived to a file cabinet. Once in awhile I go through the cabinet and chuck stuff I feel is too old/dead. Electronically, I pluck notes, passwords, serial numbers, etc. and put them into a Mac program called Yojimbo, which I can sync between computers. I’ve moved about all my spreadsheets into Google Docs. For email, every project gets an email folder. For email archives, I have one folder - “archive” - Apple Mail’s search functionality is great, so one folder is fine for this. I auto-purge my junk and deleted mail every 30 days to keep things running nice and clean (Mail has this option in preferences). On the Mac, Time Machine auto-backs up my computer to an external drive every hour. For further safety, I have another backup hard drive I keep in a fire/water proof safe box. For off-site backups, I use Apple’s free Backup program to back up my accounting files, eBooks, etc. to my MobileMe (.Mac) account. I can use this same program to backup to CD/DVD and toss those into my safe box too.

My system is similar to Matt’s …although I didn’t know about Yojimbo (thanks, Matt)! I have physical files for each client (multiples if I’m working on a large number of projects for them) which I keep in vertical files right next to my desk. When a project is completed, it goes into a filing cabinet. I purge the filing cabinet stuff periodically — if a client hasn’t done any work with me for a while or if the files are really old. I do save proposals and research that I might have a need for again.

I also have keep folders on my desktop for each client. These hold all current or ongoing projects, organized into separate sub-folders. Once projects are completed, they go into a client file on my hard drive. I’ve recently been keeping a Today’s Work file on my desktop which gets backed up every night to either my .mac account (my laptop) or a hard drive for my desktop. This makes it easy for me to find everything I’m currently working on. For files I don’t expect to use regularly, I’ll back them up to a CD and delete them from my computers.

I keep my email somewhat organized by having separate folders/mailboxes for each client. Keeps my inbox much less cluttered than it used to be.

The latest Mac OS makes searching for files, emails and any other docs super easy and quick. I love it1

I use Apple’s Time Machine to back up to an external drive daily, but I’ve been thinking about an off site solution as well.

I discovered this company off of FreelanceSwitch and it looks promising: http://mozy.com Anyone familiar with it? Or other easy offsite options?

I’ve found it easiest to go through things by one “type” at a time. For instance, I went all-digital with my music earlier this year and put in a CD to rip every time I had a break. Then when I was done, I sold most of them at Reckless. Anything else is up on swaptree.com and the remaining few take up considerably less space in my apartment.

I do the same thing with movies, comic books, going through papers, etc. I think the reason it works to go through one media type at a time is that it’s easier to track progress when doing things in smaller chunks. Good luck!

Most of the following info is irrelevant to those with electronic files, but nevertheless, here’s the organizing industry’s take on how long to save documents:
Taxes: 7 years The IRS can challenge your tax returns for up to three years after they have been filed. They have six years to analyze your tax paperwork and audit you if they find you have unreported income. Therefore, it makes sense to keep tax paperwork for at least seven years. Afterwards, you may still want to hold onto actual returns, but accompanying materials, like receipts, W-2s, 1099 miscellaneous forms, and statements about interest earnings can usually be discarded. One caveat about W-2s, which list monies paid to social security. You may want to save those to prove what you are owed by SS at retirement.

Bank: 1 year, except for checks that support tax filings
Credit card statements: 1 year, except when needed for tax filings
Utility bills: no longer than one month (once you receive your next bill, you know your account is OK)

You may also be interested to know that in paper-filled offices, every 12 file drawers represents one full-time employee. Doesn’t that make you want to dump every drawer?!
AMY