The next household will be smaller, but the old folders still fill an entire cupboard. You want to sort out documents without hastily destroying something important because of lack of space. The following editorial procedure deals with organising your decision. It deliberately does not name any statutory retention periods and does not replace any legal or tax review.
Don’t start with the bin
First set up a working area for three outcomes: currently needed, deferred for review and to be discarded after your confirmed decision. An unknown document goes into the review group. This prevents incomprehensibility being confused with insignificance.
Sort by specific matters rather than solely by paper size or colour. Documents relating to a flat, an ongoing contract or an unresolved claim should initially remain together. Separate originals and copies clearly, without inferring from that that a copy can legally replace the original.
Every review group needs a question
Write on a short note why you are deferring an item. “I still need it” is not very helpful. More precise would be: “Contract may still be in force; clarify status” or “Original status and further need unknown; consult the appropriate advisor”. Name who can answer this question and what you must present to them.
Work in manageable portions. Finish one group with a clear interim status before beginning the next. Half a cupboard of unordered documents on the floor can make the decision harder than the original folders.
An example with multiple versions
In the fictional household there is an old contract version, later addenda and several printouts of correspondence. Those moving do not simply choose the most recent date as the only paper to keep. They first assign the versions to the matter and establish which parts still need to remain together.
The identical additional printouts are marked as possible duplicates. Before anything is actually discarded, they compare content and attachments. Their result is a small, labelled matter folder and a separately documented decision to discard. No article has to assert a blanket period for all contracts.
Digitising is a second decision
If you scan documents, check readability, completeness and a clear filename. Consider how you will find and back up files later. The mere existence of a scan does not decide whether a paper original is dispensable. With unclear significance, this question remains explicitly open.
Label the remaining folders so that your future self will understand them: matter, time period, status and the storage location of important attachments. Avoid names like “Miscellaneous new final”. The useful outcome when downsizing is not as empty a cupboard as possible, but an orderly filing system whose open questions are visible and whose decisions are traceable.