Friday, October 12, 2012

Just Get It From the File

TGIF

Yup, I'm late again today.  The workman were back this morning and threw my schedule off.

Well, sort of.  I asked the nice workman to look at a problem with our sliding patio door. It's a double pane and there was liquid pooling between the panes. He determined there was a leak in the seal - a factory seal so, no problem, it would be covered under the warranty.  All I had to do was pull the paperwork from when we purchased the door a couple years ago.

Uh huh.

I want to point out here that my husband and I are both reasonably intelligent professionals.  He's a financial analyst who has tried to retire several times only to be talked out of it by his supervisors who think he's walks on water. I ran a successful IT department for two decades before I retired a couple years ago. 

SO WHY CAN'T WE FILE? 

It's not like we don't try.  Every year or so, we sit down and try to re-organize the family files - bills and receipts, financial statements and insurance policies, medical records and home improvements, warranties and manuals - a place for everything, all organized and clearly labeled.  Then we need the paperwork on a leaky door and it's nowhere to be found.

I did find the warranties for three phones, a clock radio, a CD player, and a microwave oven, none of which we still own.  And there were complete records from the vet on the dog we lost two years ago (God bless his little heart).  But nothing on the sliding door or, for that matter, on the new front door we had installed at the same time.

I'd like to blame my husband. After all, this is a home improvement receipt and that's his department. But...I am the one who's spent untold hours the past month searching for my missing digital recorder (with all the notes for my next book on it) and the only thing I found was the gold cross I'd spent untold hours searching for the month before.

So, anyway, that's how I spent my morning.  Searching in vain for the warranty papers on a very expensive door with a factory defect. I'll go back to hunting shortly, and when hubby comes home, we'll probably hunt together.  Maybe we'll get lucky.

Until next time.

How about you?  What's your home filing system? Nice neat, everything-at-your-fingertips?  Loose papers stuffed randomly in a drawer?  Somewhere in between?

(You know, I never had a problem with my files at work.  Maybe I can blame my husband.)

Hope you all have a great weekend.  See you Monday.


Quotes of the Day:  It is better to have filed and lost than not have filed at all."  ~ Masterson

20 comments:

Maria Zannini said...

My filing sucks. I've resorted to putting ALL my receipts in a big shoe box. Twice a year I go through it and put everything in its place.

I'm about due too. I like to have everything sorted before the holiday bills come in.

My bigger problem is not bills but managing royalties. For some reason once I have my hands on the money, I forget all about that paperwork that came with it. ;-)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Everything goes into a giant pile that I sort into files maybe once a month. Less if I can ignore it that long! We still have warranty guides from appliances that died years ago...

Linda G. said...

This sounds all too familiar to me. Good luck with your search!

Oh, one idea--if you happened to pay for the door with a credit card, you may be able to trace the purchase record that way. You can access old statements online, even. :)

~Sia McKye~ said...

LOLOL! Well, we have this strong box...oh, and the huge glass duck which is supposed to be a cookie holder. Currently it holds important *stuff* from this year. I have another *box* for anything to do with the ranch and a very nice set of files with all my current and past dogs, their registration papers, shot records, sales. It's the most organized.

We have on of those doors too. Unfortunately, it was installed before we bought it. Warranty papers? *wry chuckle* good luck with that. If there were any, we didn't get them, darn it.

Angela Brown said...

Filing must be a difficult thing for more folks than I expected. I have a stack of papers that I should - eventually - get organized into this accordion styled file that I have. Yeah, just all about the doing lol!!

Hope you find it quick, fast and in a hurry so the door can be taken care of.

LD Masterson said...

Maria - Putting receipts in their place wouldn't be such a problem if they'd just stay there. I'm convinced they crawl out of their folders when the file drawer is closed and go visit friends in other files.

LD Masterson said...

Alex - Yup, I found lots of warranties for things we don't have. Very few for the thing we do.

LD Masterson said...

Linda G. - Unfortunately, the contractor purchased the door for us and included it in his bill. Which he gave us with all the various warrenty paperwork. Which was all filed together (including his bill). Which are all missing.

This makes me crazy.

LD Masterson said...

Sia - Maybe we need a duck. :-)

LD Masterson said...

Angela - Why did I never have this problem at work? Home files are just more unruly than business files.

Anonymous said...

Ha ha. Love this post, especially the quote. I worked in IT for several years too, and my husband still does. My work files were pretty much like my home files--not neatly labeled and filed, but I know where everything is. My work motto was: "Documentation is for wimps." My home motto isn't much better. :)

LD Masterson said...

Linda J. - Ha! Don't all IT people believe in that motto?

Mike Keyton said...

Good luck with this. We have two boxes. Everything goes into them. Primitive and time consuming when we have to search for anything, but nine times out ten whatever it is, is there.
We also have an incinerator for when paper takes over the house. Far more effective than a shredder - and infinitely satisfyin.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Since I'm a business owner, I have to stay organized. Everything goes into a file immediately and if someone calls me for information, I can find it in less than ten seconds.

Yes, I'm scary organized that way.

Kimberly Gabriel said...

I agree - I think it's your husband's fault ;) I hope in your search for the receipt you find your digital recorder.

Julie Dao said...

I have a nice, neat filing cabinet, but I am SO lazy about putting papers in it. I usually have a big pile that I toss mail/bills/receipts into, and then until I get around to putting them away, they sit there and accumulate!

LD Masterson said...

Mike - I'm beginning to think primitive is what we need. Fancy and sophisticated sure isn't working.

LD Masterson said...

Diane - I was scary organized that way at the old job. Not sure what happened.

LD Masterson said...

Kimberly - We can only hope. :-)

LD Masterson said...

Julie - I bet you can find things in that big pile.