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Thank you for the suggestions.  I am sorry I didn't thank you sooner - the email alert that I got a reply to my post ended up in the spam folder of my email. 

Currently, I have different sides of my family organized in different ways and it's a mess!  I like the idea of all the information for one person in one folder titled by date. That does seem like a good way to find the orginals when I want to refer to them again.

I knew I would get some good ideas here!   

Thanks again,
Lisa

I can’t say all of my notes are organized, but it is something I am working on.  I use a computer program and every now and then, print out family group sheets.  I am, probably unnecessarily, worried about just having the information on my computer.   My sister had a computer crash and even the backup of her information would not load back in - what she printed was all she had.  I put my family group sheets in sleeves in binders. When I find something new, I can just add a pages to the binder. 

I have a lot of random papers from when I first started researching.  To avoid adding to the pile, now I put all notes into my program - some labeled as “possible”.   For example, I had a couple possible 1880 census that could be my gg-grandfather.  I noted them, and later when I found his obit, I realized the siblings mentioned in the obit were the same as one of the possible census.  Keeping this note with the person in my program (or in the binder) was much quicker than sorting though a pile of random notes.  Also, it helps me not waste time looking up things I already found.

If I find something on a website, I copy and paste the link of the site into my notes with the information found.  If I have a thought about a person when analyzing what I have found, I will put my initials and the word “note”.  Sometimes it is even a note of what I have searched and what to look for next. 

I personally don’t have an online tree, so I am not the best person to advise you regarding that, but I would think you would want to have your tree as your own.  I have found many well researched, but others with errors.  Someone who has an online tree would probably be able to advise you better on this.

Hope this gives you some ideas on what will work best for you.

Lisa

Doing a search and finding a posting on a message board..thinking that I found someone researching my family..only to discover it was posted by my sister or one I posted long ago...

Lisa

I found this one in Gilpin, Colorado.  A couple things don't match your posting, but they are close.  Is this who you are looking for?
Lisa

Residence : Nevadaville Town, Gilpin, Colorado

Noble, William   boarder      Born April 1876   age 24   Gold Miner
William came to the US in 1898 (been in US for 2 years)
Born in England, his parents were both born in England
He can read, write and speak English

He is a boarder with the UREN family: Alfred (head), Janie (wife)
Alfred H. (son), Frannie (daughter) and Edith M. (Daughter).
There is another boarder with the family, Fred Mitchell.