Bills, hosp/drs notes, stubs statements, eob’s, 📝 PAPERWORK

amother

Mon, May 03 2021, 2:26 pm

Sorting through YEARS worth of paper Can't Believe It

Help

Please share your organizing/storage tips and what’s ok to toss.

Tia!

ETA, please no judgement! I’ve barely been home the last few years- in/out of hospital. So TONS of unopened bills, statements etc & a gazillion insurance papers and labs records and discharge papers...

amother

Aquamarine

Mon, May 03 2021, 2:34 pm

All hospital stiff is electronic now. Dump all

Dump any paid bills

Keep anything outstanding

amother

Babyblue

Mon, May 03 2021, 2:52 pm

Keep it for at least 5 years.

amother

Mon, May 03 2021, 9:52 pm

Bump
Please share your paperwork organization tips
Thanks!

amother

Indigo

Mon, May 03 2021, 9:54 pm

Can you scan and save on computer? Or use a loose leaf binder.

ra_mom

Mon, May 03 2021, 10:10 pm

Sort the documents by year. The pile for each year should be sorted in chronological order. Then scan each year's pile as a separate PDF.
Good luck!

amother

Burlywood

Mon, May 03 2021, 10:13 pm

Bills- Open and dump everything except the last version of each bill/ collection letter.
Save all insurance eobs. Dump the extra legalese papers at the end. Keep all eobs together in date order they are printed by Insurance, I bundle them by year. Check that insurance paid properly if your getting hit with bills.

Dr notes are prob helpful, possibly sort by Dr and then date if u can. Dump redundant and irrelevant info. It's not always easy to quickly find the ehr online when u need info. And many places have a 24 months search limit, so don't be so quick to toss.

Don't worry now bout scanning. That's a luxury.

Good luck!

Scotty

Mon, May 03 2021, 10:37 pm

No judgement!!! I HAVENT been in hospitals and I still have piles of med bills to sort through! They multiply like rabbits (one visit can spawn six recurrent bills from eight doctors...)

What I found works for me is what posters have said above:

1. Buy some super sturdy binders (matching colors), three punch hole punch, a bill 200-count package of plastic page protectors “sleeves”. Some dividers if you want to get fancy.
2. Empty your kitchen table, sit down when no one will bother you, make a big coffee and turn on some calming music. I’m not kidding. You need to keep your sanity and this sort of thing is overwhelming for everyone.
3. Put a garbage can next to your kitchen table.
4. Dump all papers onto table. In batches if need be.
5. Congratulate yourself for attacking a job that most people try their best to avoid and dive in proud of yourself!
Open envelopes and throw them out immediately.
Sort papers into stacks: bills, EOBs, receipts, Other.
6. Go through one stack at a time:

EOBs: throw out the legal papers (tho check both sides sometimes they print one side legalese the other important stuff). Then sort all into chronological order (this will take a while.) THEN hole punch and put into Looseleafs, labeling binders by the year(s) on the spine with a sharpie or label. Admire them when you’re done!!! Let that encourage you!!

Bills & other: sort through by bill. DONT throw out anything yet - sometimes the bill went rather quickly to collections and a different company, and you can’t figure out where the bill is now (match them up by payment amount and date of service.) put each separate bill in its own plastic sleeve.
Anything that you have a receipt/paid for, toss the whole plastic sleeve with bill and receipt in your taxes pile (usually a deduction). Anything that still needs to be paid, put in its own binder for later when you will have time to call the provider up and set up a payment plan and/or compare it to the EOBs you can now easily reference to figure out how much you are actually responsible for.
WHEN YOU DO CALL, write all notes about the call ON THE BILL itself for easy reference, including what time and date you called, who you spoke to, and the reference number for the call (always ask foe a reference number or at least a full name before hanging up.)

It’s ok if this takes a few sessions! Once you set up a system then filing even a small pile is easier.

In theory switching to paperless is great but for now you need to sort all this paper - consider switching for the future and maybe one day pay for someone to scan all this for you but for now a few organized binders will not be the end of the world.

Doctors notes:
When you go to the doc, write his name on the top of the paper and the date, then scribble notes below. I actually use a small binder planner that fits into my pocketbook for this or even notes on my phone but loose pieces of paper are also fine if you can manage to keep them safe long enough to put them in plastic sleeves into one binder. Keep in chronological order, and hole punch any documents (reports... printouts...)or put in plastic sleeves too.

Reward yourself and realize this is a HUGE JOB that most people don’t have and you are managing the best you can!!! You will feel much better when it’s in one place. I like to leave lots of extra plastic sleeves in the binder so I can always slide in notes even when I’m in a rush.

Hatzlocha! You deserve a medal!!

amother

Mon, May 03 2021, 10:47 pm

Thanks everyone!
So the good news is that I’m working on this for the better part of the last 24 hours (break from 2-9 am which included a little sleep and getting kids off to school, a quick bathroom & lunch break & call to doc & break to cook a quick supper & spent some time with the kids....)
Anyway, I already have a full 13 gallon garbage bag of papers dumped (no I’m not shredding it Can't Believe It

) already have my entire floor spread out with piles & piles of Amex, chase, Amazon statements sorted. For now I started off with a file box & put medical papers in there & now I gotta tackle the rest.

👋

Scotty

Tue, May 04 2021, 11:27 pm

Wow you rock!!! Reward yourself - you deserve it! Hatzlocha! And remember it’s okay if it takes a few days or longer!