Location:  The office.  Also known as my living room table.  And sometimes the bathroom.

I’m heading to the break room to re-microwave my coffee (and then forget it and find it two hours later.  In the microwave of course.  That’s where my coffee likes to hang) but then, I spot him – the lawyer.

We engage in meaningless small talk.  Well, I do.  The lawyer does not do small talk.   Passive resistance is usually the route I go with the lawyer, but alas, not this morning.

Me: Well, hey there…  Nice coffee cup.  Can you believe the weather? I like your tie.  It’s time for me to go now.

Lawyer:  It’s time for you to post about Organize Now.  It’s Saturday.

Me:  Saturday is for napping.

Lawyer:  You’re at the office.

Me:  My office is my house.  I can’t ever leave the office.  It’s horrible, really.

Lawyer:  *eye rolls*

Me: You know, a good lawyer does not rely on eye rolling to make a point… Atticus Finch never did the eye roll.

Lawyer:  Atticus didn’t have you as a client.  POST WEEK 5.

Me:  But… (sniffle) It’s about “Personal Information.”  I have to do stuff about credit reports and social security numbers and safety deposit boxes.  This is too hard.  Can’t we go back and repeat the one about priorities?  One of mine is to stay serene.

Lawyer: You will be serene after Week 5.  POST.

Me:  Responsibility is a big old pain in the-

Lawyer:  LANGUAGE, Momsie.

Sigh.

Week 5.  Organize your Personal Information

(dun dun DUN)

Jennifer Ford Berry wastes no time with this chapter.  Paragraph one:  “Could you easily locate your family’s birth certificates if you had to?  Social Security cards?… Personal information is something you would automatically think is stored away somewhere in your brain.  but would you be able to access this information in an emergency?”

Gulp.

Some of it…???

She then lists out the specifics for the following categories: Finances, health and safety.  Some of these I have already neatly filed away, but, for example, I need to:

• photocopy our family’s passports in case they’re lost or stolen (same with credit cards, which I need to update).
• create a health file for each family member (I have started this, but it’s a jumble.)
• store license plate numbers and VINs in ONE safe location
• have easy access to all bank accounts and phone numbers
• purchase a fireproof safety box and USE it. (Um, I have one.  It has a title for my Jeep in there. My 1995 Jeep.  The other cars, and marriage certificates, and birth certificates?  All rather willy nilly in our filing cabinet.  A lot of things are willy nilly in there.)

The main point:  LOCATION.  Having all this stuff filed away is fine, but there should be ONE location with all of it (copies if need be) for emergencies (like, a fire, or theft) is good.

This is being all grown up, I guess.  Usually this is kinda how we operate at our house:

I am thinking it’s time to pull in my Big Girl Mom Pants and conquer Week 5.

But first I gotta go find my radioactive coffee.  Wish me luck.