This is how I maintain my records as well, they are stored in chronological order - Surname (Maiden if necessary), Given Name, Date Of Birth, etc....
I have been doing Family History on my family for 10+ years and the number of records are extensive and you absolutely would not believe the number of overlappers there are; it seems like you are making a lot of copies and doing alot of work however in the end you are saving yourself tons of work when you want to work on that person alone and their decendants...