Clutter

Say Goodbye to Paper Chaos with Important Document Binders

Stop dumping your bills, statements, and other paper forms in a filing cabinet. Instead, use task-specific binders to ensure easy access to your documents.

By Lisa Woodruff, Updated on May 9, 2025
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I know how desperately you want to wave a magic wand and — poof! — transform your paperwork chaos into order. I also know that streamlining my own paperwork was a process. And I’m a professional organizer! Today we’re going to solve your paper dilemma (bills, bank statements, and other documents).

Use Binders for Paper Organization

I use binders rather than filing cabinets. Here’s why: Filing cabinets are not portable, and you’ll most likely never remember everything that you put inside. Worst of all, there’s no limit on the amount of paper you can keep. This holds us back from staying organized.

After failing to get my own filing cabinet organized, I compiled task-specific binders to use instead. I organized my papers according to when I would need them, or how I would use them. Now I no longer waste time digging through years of papers in a filing cabinet to find the documents I need to take to a meeting or appointment.

Helpful Binders to Start (or Maintain) Today

Medical Binders

ADHD management often requires numerous providers. Each new clinician will likely ask for the following information:

  • individual medical history
  • family medical history
  • medication list and log
  • mental health and mood tracker
  • immunization record

[Download This Free Guide: Organize Everything Today!]

Taking the time to type out and record answers to these common questions will reduce your cognitive load and speed up new patient appointments so you can get on to the reason for your referral.

Next, you’ll want to keep a written list of symptoms, notes from meetings with doctors, and medication dosages over time. These documents, which will include information from multiple providers, should be kept in a medical reference binder — one binder per family member. This makes it easy to coordinate care between different clinicians and practices.

Organize 365 has created a free downloadable medical emergency information binder for you to use at home to record your health history, medications, allergies, and diagnoses. (Go to additu.de/organize365 to find the download.)

The Warrior MAMA Binder

I created the “Warrior MAMA binder” to navigate and advocate for my kids’ needs. (MAMA stands for Managing All Medical Alternatives.) Charting the complexity of necessary school interventions and Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings can be overwhelming at times. This binder helps by encouraging you to bring medical records to school meetings and medical appointments, which facilitates better and quicker decisions regarding treatment, medication management, and educational planning.

[Read: Filing Cabinets Don’t Work for ADHD Minds]

Here’s a list of what to include in your Warrior MAMA binder:

  • official letters of diagnosis
  • standardized school test results
  • IEPs
  • intervention plans
  • medication list and log
  • medical test results
  • notes taken at doctors’ appointments
  • notes taken at school meetings
  • schoolwork samples

I remember the first time I truly understood the power of paper documentation. I was in an educational meeting, requesting support for one of my children. The educators said my child’s test scores did not warrant support. I opened my binder and pulled out a test — it was from the previous year, from a different school and with a very different score.

The room went silent. This team had never seen such a variation in scores on this assessment. The educators, who had dismissed my verbal account of the score, became concerned. Now they were ready to take action to help my child.

Important Document Organizer: Next Steps

Lisa Woodruff is CEO of Organize 365.

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