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March 22, 2010
Organized files save time and money
Text by Ruth Manimtim-Floresca
I came home one day last month to find a receipt for our Homeowners’ Association fee. My husband paid the collector while I was out. I was dismayed to find that the month indicated on the receipt was January because I was positive I already paid the dues for that month. I only had to pull out the folder where I keep all the receipts to verify and found out I was right. It’s unpleasant to imagine how other homeowners in our village could be charged double too if they don’t keep records of their past payments.
It’s not in my nature to be disorganized with what I consider as important documents. Sure, my computer table may look like a hurricane passes through it regularly but, as I tell my hubby, it is an organized mess where I can always find the things I need as long as nobody touches my stuff. After all, most of these are just magazines and notes for my writing projects.
However, I don’t take chances when it comes to essential documents and other equally important records. In fact, we have been "saved" several times from shelling out more money than we have to thanks to my files.
Here are things I consider file-worthy:
1. Legal documents. These include our birth certificates, marriage certificate, passports, etc. I have a big envelope containing all these plus several photocopies of each. This makes it easy to simply take out a copy for submission to whatever institution when needed without having to scramble finding a store that has a photocopier when time is of the essence.
2. Bills. I found a gem of a clipboard once in National Bookstore that has three strong clips and a logo under each for light, water, and phone. I had my husband nail it near the kitchen door under our bulletin corkboard. Every time a utility bill arrives, it is immediately attached to the clipboard. Once we already paid a certain bill, the paper is then filed in a specific folder for future reference. I simply use old folders from my kids’ school projects. Other papers I file in these are estate tax receipts and homeowners’ fees receipts.
3. Warranties. All electrical appliances we buy come with a warranty. I make sure to also file these and their corresponding receipts inside a big, transparent zip lock bag. We once took out an extra two-year warranty for a washing machine and it broke down before it turned three years old. The appliance store people said they can’t find any records. But they eventually sent their repairman over to fix our machine for free when I dictated the details written on our warranty card over the phone.
4. Receipts. I keep certain receipts for as long as a month in a small envelope. Most stores have a seven-day policy that allows customers to return items for valid reasons within the given time frame as long as you can show proof of purchase. In the past, I was able to exchange items that turned out to be defective (an underwater camera that leaked water on the film and ruined our shots) or were not the right size (my son’s leather school shoes which I bought using a paper cutout of his foot size). The first time I went back to a department store to return something, I was surprised at the long line of people wanting to return or have their items exchanged and that the customer service reps seem to be already used to those kinds of transactions.
5. Sim card kits. My family uses several prepaid mobile phone sims. My eldest son, on two occasions, keyed in the wrong PIN codes and locked his phone. If I wasn’t able to keep the PUK codes in a safe place, he would have ended buying a new sim card and waste time and cell phone load letting his friends know about a new number.
6. People’s contact details. I keep a small box containing index cards where I write down the names, specialization, email addresses, mobile numbers, etc. of the people I interview and encounter in my line of work. It is my way of maintaining a physical database that won’t vanish instantly in case my computer’s hard drive crashes again. Needless to say, I am not a big fan of digital directories. As to updated land line and mobile numbers of friends and relatives, I also write these down in a big notebook with pages arranged in alphabetical order. I am no longer surprised that I seem to have become the "Directory ng Bayan" as certain people seem to have acquired the habit of repeatedly texting and asking me for the number of this or that common friend.
Some tell me that just thinking about getting their files organized is already daunting. But let me encourage you that once you start and eventually get a system in place, you’ll definitely have moments you’ll be grateful you have done so.
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