New School Year Prep: Filing System

My beautiful new hanging files :)

I'm getting organized for the upcoming year of piano lessons this week. One of the things I did recently was to replace my cheapo file folders with lovely new hanging files. For the tabs, I downloaded a template and printed professional-looking labels for each family with whom I work. Sorry you can't see my knock-out font choice, but I must blur names to protect the innocent. Wait, maybe I can show you. I'll do a mock-up with fake people for the sake of illustration...

Here you go:

Label template provided at the folder manufacturer's website.
The font is American Typewriter. Last names size 18, first names size 12.

So what do I put inside these folders? Not much since most of my record keeping is done electronically. But I do need a place to store registration forms, artwork and little cards my students give me from time to time, newspaper clippings, and worksheets. 

How long do I save paper documents? Not long at all. I generally keep things as long as the student is currently enrolled. After that, I return sentimental items and shred anything that is no longer needed. If I kept everything from every student I ever taught, I'd probably have to rent a storage building. So while I was filing new documents for the coming year, I purged old stuff that was out of date. It's a fresh start. Love it!