Make a Personal Document File

If you had to find your birth certificate, marriage license or tax forms from two years back, could you do it without completely tearing your house apart? My husband’s company has hired a company to do an insurance audit.   I received a letter stating that I needed to prove the ages of my children and my marriage status.  Of course I put this off and then last night I started rounding up my paperwork since I now have three days left before the deadline.  I “knew” where everything was and that it wouldn’t take me but a few minutes to get it out of the safe and make copies.   My husband kept telling me that it was very important for me to get this together so we wouldn’t miss the deadline.  I wasn’t worried about missing the deadline and figured I’d be able to fax everything in no time, so why worry.
Well, sorry to say, but husband was right.   I found the kids’ birth certificates, our tax forms and then…. “Where the heck is our marriage certificate?” “When is the last time I’ve had to use it?”   Unfortunately, the hunt was on! I went through every file in the file cabinet at least twice.   I went through all the paperwork in the safe and then realized that I may have a problem on my hands since I don’t have any idea where to look!
I was lucky, I found it in an old photo album before I drove myself nuts!  Now that my paperwork hunt is over,  I am making myself a document file to be kept in the safe.    I would highly suggest this to you.   You never know when you are going to need this info and how fast you will be required to locate it.
Here’s what I am including in my document file that will be kept in our safe:

• Original Birth Certificates of All Family Members
• Social Security Cards
• Passports
• Marriage Certificate

I am keeping my past tax files and pay stubs in the filing cabinet along with the kids’ shot records and our veterinarian records.   I’m lucky I was able to find everything for the insurance company, but next time I will be better prepared.  Stay one step ahead and get your document file together today.