Photo: Michael Hession

Papers start flying this time of year. Homework, doctor’s appointment reminders, snail mail, and beyond can pile up quickly. And unless you have a system for keeping your files in order (that’s not just laying them out on the kitchen counter or dumping them in a box in the garage), things can get unruly quickly.

We have some advice for setting up the best, easiest system for filing your important documents—and how to keep them satisfyingly organized.

Get out the sticky notes→

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Photo: Marki Williams

Sometimes, you need to add papers to the pile. When that time comes, use a laser printer. Not only do laser models print sharp text and crisp graphics, but they also run more reliably than inkjets, and they won’t clog if they sit unused for weeks between jobs. We’ve been testing laser printers since 2011, and have found a few that are (actually) easy to set up and use.

We got our top pick up and running in under 10 minutes→

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Photo: Dave Gershgorn

Once you’ve got your physical papers under control, what about the files lurking on your computer or cloud? Senior staff writer and home office expert Melanie Pinola likes to start organizing these spaces by thinking of each folder as a drawer in a file cabinet. You might have one drawer for work, one for your household, one for side projects. With the right setup of folders, tags, and file names, you’ll always be able to find what you need—quickly.

How our home office expert organizes her files→

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