“Life on Earth” – We all know what we’re talking about, right? At this point, we’ve just begun to prepare for the unutterably inevitable.
The main point from last week was to get in touch with how complicated our lives really are! A multitude of details, day-to-day, month-to-month, often year-to-year; sure, it doesn’t seem that complicated if you’re the one who’s handling it (or most of it), but if someone else came along and suddenly HAD to handle it, how would that go?
Right, and Yes: I’ve walked that walk.
I ended last week’s column with “Simplify, consolidate, organize and QUIT KEEPING SECRETS!” OK, one at a time:
Simplify: Do you really need three checking accounts? Two savings accounts? How many of those credit cards have you actually used in the last two years?
Do you really need to have three CD’s with three different institutions? And what about that acre in Eastern Washington? Really? And if you have no idea what that old coin collection is worth, probably nobody else does, either.
Look: Genuine investments are genuine investments – So be it, but I’ll bet you know the difference.
Or how about the old checking account in Fargo that has $1.12 left in it because you never bothered to close it back when your daughter was four? Or the life insurance policy that went out of effect when you quit that job? Or, for that matter, all that paperwork about your employer-provided health insurance back in ’86? Really?
Wouldn’t it be easier to just pay Jack the $100 you owe him and forget about it? Or collect it? And if you’re ever going to actually sell those old “Farmer’s Almanacs” of your grandfather’s, just do it!
You get it, right? Baggage! Baggage is for airports! If you don’t take care of or get rid of this stuff, someone else is going to have to, so I presume that “someone” will be someone you don’t like…
Consolidate: This could mean the multiple accounts, as per the above, or it could just mean trying to get everything in one place; for instance, you keep the checkbook in the desk in the den, but the spare checks are in the closet in the spare bedroom, right next to the copies of your wills, etc. All of the insurance policies you’ve had since the Eisenhower administration are in a fireproof box in the basement – You know that to be true because you haven’t seen the key since Mugsy ran away. And NOBODY knows where the discharge papers are.
You know where those old divorce papers are, but nobody else does, and there’s a reason for that…And let’s top right there, for a minute: If you have something – anything – tucked away that you wouldn’t want your partner of kids or family to find, get rid of it! – Because, it will be found. Think, “legacy.”
You get it, right? If it’s irrelevant, GET RID OF IT! If it’s relevant, try to get it all in the same place – At least in the same room! Preferably, the same desk and/or filing cabinet and/or closet – Whatever! Nothing will make a grieving, tired, stressed-out loved one crazier quicker than finding bits-and-pieces of the puzzle all over the place – Unless, it’s NOT finding the bits-and-pieces.
And as long as we’re talking about “consolidation,” consider this: If you can pay it off, pay it off – It’s smart financially and it’s smart from a planning perspective – Even if you don’t like those creditors, I presume you like your family.
Back to “Where’s what:” Please remember that the fact that it all makes sense to you, or represents an efficient use of available space does not – In any way! – Suggest that it would make sense to anybody else, so here’s my piece of my story:
My mother, who lived alone quite competently, thank-you-very-much, drove down to the corner store to get stamps – She planned on being gone 10 minutes. She did not plan on falling and breaking a hip, being taken to the hospital and having hip surgery the next morning. And she certainly didn’t plan on having a massive right-brain stroke in the recovery room – If she had, I’m sure she would have organized things a bit better (and probably have vacuumed and dusted), but she didn’t, so she didn’t.
So I did – For weeks. And it was a small house; again, this isn’t about me or us, but put yourselves in that situation: How would it go for the one who was left behind?
Too tired to take this on right now? Not enough time? I completely understand, as long as you’re not planning on going out for stamps.
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