The time has come for me to share with you, faithful readers, one of my secrets of success — or at least, for keeping myself and family somewhat organized.  It’s the Colored Folder System, pretty much exactly what it sounds like: your standard, .79 cent, 2-sided with pockets, DuoTang folders, in color, for keeping track of all our papers. I worried briefly that the topic might be too trivial, but after pursuing various posts and also some newspaper articles, nothing appears to be too trivial, so I only hope that someone, somewhere might find this information useful.

Clearly, everyone must develop some way of coping with the copious amounts of paper that come into their lives, through work, school, travel, house projects, or just being a citizen and taxpayer. I know the various types: the “deal with it this instant, and get rid of all but necessary” type; the let it pile up until needed type; the hanging file type; the “I do every thing on-line” type; and the “put it in a drawer” type.” Those methods work for some, but not all of us.  After some experimentation, I have found the Color Folder System is what works best for me.  

 Once again, I learned something from one of my students. A gal, on an I.E.P. with significant learning and emotional issues, explained the system to me. She was introduced to it in Special Ed, and it had gotten her as far as English Comp. at the Community  College. With the help of the Colored Folder System, she and I got through a research paper on “Euthanasia” with rather good results: a different colored folder for Intro., Conclusion, and each of her three main topics. She wasn’t into index cards, but had a place to put her notes and copies of her primary materials.  Not bad, I thought.

From there, I went on to the Colored Folder System for all my Comp. students, for research papers, but also to send essays back and forth between student and teacher – pre-writing and drafts on one side, polished essay on the other – a neat little package, our vehicle of communication. As a result of this, I have accumulated dozens, if not hundreds of folders for use of my own, complete with students’ names and section, subsequently crossed out and given some other title for some other purpose. Colorful memories of past students, recycled into another life.  Portable, adaptable, and easy to handle.

In my house, dark blue is for Dylan; purple for Bruce, related to school colors.  Red is for medical/health issues, because red is the color of blood; white for matters related to my mother: health, housing, sites of interest, because of the snow on her head. Green for my Uncle Dick, because of Vermont, the Green Mountain state.  Every trip and travel adventure has its own royal blue folder, for blue is the sky and sea, the great unknowns (Ok because I had a lot of those). Every travel folder contains flight information, hotels, sites, itinerary, train or bus schedules, maps, tickets, sometimes reservations for a show or museum.  After we return, the excess or unused info. is tossed into the recycle pile.  The rest remains as archive of our travels, should I want to check, or someone should ask for a recommendation. It’s all there. 

So, there you have it, the Colored Folder System.  Good for many, if not all occasions, a record of the past or preparation for the future.  The green folder once marked “Dicky’s Pre-Arrangements” turned into “Arrangements” and now contains the funeral program, the mass cards, and yes, the invoice for the burial.  This system is not rocket science: simple, perhaps childish.  Yet I like the way the color coding helps me keep trivial information out of my head; I just have to know it’s there, where to locate it. By and large, if any of us needs some piece of information, I can put my hands on it fairly quickly.  And I like the symbolism of what each of these categories means to me. Plus, should anything happen to myself or my husband, and future generations are searching for that celiac blood test, or my uncle’s discharge papers, they can find it in a folder, if they know the right color.