I have a cool automated filing system for things like important documents - its called the FilingShelf (tm), and I fully intend to patent it.

 

Data Entry

Easy - Everything important goes on the FilingShelf. 

 

Data Retrieval

Simple - If I need to find something I know where to go - the FilingShelf.   It might take some time to find what I'm looking for, but I figure that it's time I have already saved by not being obsessive about my filing, so it all evens out and I come out even - or even ahead.. 

 

Backups - Automated and Manual

The system has a built in gravitationally controlled artificial intelligence system that initiates back-up routines:. Now and then things start to fall off the shelf.  
This is intentional and is essential for the smooth running of the system in the long term.  Sometimes I absentmindedly pick up the papers and put them straight  back-up on the shelf as I pass. This is the automated system.  
Other times I may  look at them and decide if I still need to keep them. Some go in the bin, and others are manually put back-up on the FilingShelf,   This pre-emptive maintenance extends the database up-time before required maintenance events.

 

Maintenance and database compacting

There are times when the FilingShelf approaches capacity, and the back-up routines fail. When this happens items that are back-upped to the FilingShelf immediately fall to the floor again. This looping is the systems notification that the database needs to go to the shop for compacting.

 

To compact the database I sweep the contents of the FilingShelf into a big pile in the middle of the floor and sort them by colour:  

    - Red ones can be binned - they're final demands and must have been dealt with already or I'd have noticed the lack of Electrickery/Phone/water/etc.  

    - Green ones are bank statements and Tax demands. They can be binned. If they needed attention I'd have noted the hole in my finances, or I'd be in trouble for not paying the taxman on time.   

    - Yellow ones can go too.  They are white ones that have started to discolour with age. If I haven't needed them in the past couple of years while they've been slowly tanning, then I'm unlikely to ever need them, and can reasonably claim to have lost them should anyone ever ask. 

    - Multicoloured ones are errors and can be binned. These represent credit card applications and were only put on the FilingShelf in a moment of weakness.  I have no need for more cards, be they gold, platinum, black, or 'classic', and filing them represents an abuse of the system.

 

Etc. The database is now compacted and will fit back on the FilingShelf.