Using Time Wisely

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Personal: Voter’s Registration Cards

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Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

How are you doing with your organization? If you feel that you are being pulled in every direction and cannot get to your document organization at this time, then do what is important and use your time wisely. This category of Important Personal Documents is comprised of many quick-to-file items once you have the documents in your hand. Finding the document may take some time, but you might find a few of these items at once when you get to this project.

Continuing with Box 1 and the fourth file slot in the accordion filing system, I have our Personal Important documents. After our marriage license with copies, I have copies of our voter’s registration cards. Paul and I carry our official cards in our wallets, but I keep copies of the entire form/card that is mailed to us. The card has limited information whereas the form specifies our Congressional district, Senate, House, County Council, and Water Shed numbers.

I have referred to the full form when I hear of an election coming to one or more districts in our area. To find our district numbers, I open up Box 1, go to the fourth file slot, and get our voter registration copies. I can then find our district numbers and determine if I need to arrange my schedule to go vote.

The copies will be handy if our wallets are stolen or if our cards become illegible. If I need to obtain another card, I can quickly find our local office address and can supply the registration number for quick replacement.

Keeping the Voter’s Registration copies together with your other personal documents will help you access that information. Spend time getting organized. In the long run, you will save yourself money, energy, and time. Next week, I will group together the rest of the items I have in this file slot. Happy organizing!

Personal: Marriage License

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Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

The fourth file slot in Box 1 of 3 of our family’s important documents holds our Important Personal Documents. After our birth certificates, driver’s licenses, and passports, I will find our marriage license. I have made 2 – 3 copies which I keep paper clipped to the envelope that holds our original certified license.

When we received our official marriage license, I made about 10 copies. To change my name on my driver’s license, social security card, bank accounts, credit accounts, and insurance policies, I had to supply a copy of our marriage license. Since changing all those accounts almost 13 years ago, I can only recall one other time I was asked for a copy of our marriage license. I sent it to the State Department along with my birth certificate when I applied for my passport.

Though I do not foresee needing a copy of our marriage license in the near future, this important document stays safe in my file for quick retrieval when needed. Having all our documents organized in one place/file system helps to save money (not purchasing additional certified copies), energy (not worrying and racking my brain trying to figure out “where I put that thing”), and time (not sorting through piles searching for a document that “must be here somewhere”).  Taking the time to organize will also help you save money, energy, and time. Keep up the great work!

Personal: Passports

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Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

In organizing the mounds of paperwork you have accumulated over the years, you may need to take a break. This process is a marathon. There are numerous categories, with lots of detail, and being thorough will pay off for years to come.

When I initially worked on organizing our documents, I concentrated on each topic a little at a time. Taking breaks and working on other projects helped to distract me from the enormous task before me. By plugging away, I was able to complete the organization and have saved myself money, energy, and time. I know what I have, where it is located, and can access it quickly. Keep plugging away and take breaks when you need it.

In organizing my accordion file, the fourth file slot houses the second category of Important Personal Documents. In this category, I have our birth certificates, driver’s licenses, and passports. Paul and I have passports, but we have not obtained them for our children.

I have Paul’s passport and copies of the last page paper clipped together. I then have my passport and copies of the last page paper clipped together. Then both sets are paper clipped and housed behind the copies of our driver’s licenses.

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Paul and I obtained our passports before our cruise to Bermuda. We printed and filled out the Passport Application Form, located our birth certificates, and purchased our passport photos at Rite Aid during a sale. We placed these documents in a secure envelope with our payments and mailed them.

We received our accurate passports two days before departure. When we renew these passports, I will be sure to start a minimum of 2 months prior to the date needed. Coming down to the last few days was worrisome to me. I also did not want our passports with our birth certificates sitting in our mailbox or at the post office while we were away.

I felt so relieved when the paperwork arrived. Once I had verified that all the information was correct, we made copies of the last pages of each of our passports. We gave Paul’s parents copies in the event that we lost our passports in Bermuda. We could contact them for our passport numbers which would prove our identity and hopefully, allow us to return home. Thankfully, we did not lose our passports, but we prepared for the worst case scenario.

Our passports are due to expire next year, so I will need to review the renewal process. The process has changed since we first acquired our passports.

I will be visiting the U.S. Postal Service site. The process is explained, and the cost and payment types accepted by the Postal Service and the State Department are listed in a parallel format. If more detailed information is needed, I will search the State Department’s web site. If pictures will be needed, then I will follow these instructions for creating my own passport photographs.

When the new documents arrive, I will verify their accuracy, and then file them in this second category of Important Personal Documents in the fourth file pocket in Box 1 of 3 of my important documents. Next week, I will continue to share another item in this same file slot. In the meantime, take a break if you need it. Your documents will still be around when you return from your time away.

Personal: Driver’s Licenses

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Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

On Sundays, I am sharing how I organize our family’s important documents. A complete overview of my 3-box system can be viewed by clicking on this link. We are organizing Box 1 and have already addressed the first category: Credit Report/Card Documents. We began the second category of Important Personal Documents last week, and continue to add documents to this fourth slot in an accordion file.

After our family birth certificates, I have copies of our driver’s licenses. I made about 5-6 copies of the front and back of each of our licenses. These copies have saved me time when applying for jobs, opening a bank account, and for proof for insurance. I also keep the copies in case we are victims of theft. If I lose my purse or someone steals Paul’s wallet, we will have our license number to report.

I have used a paper clip to hold Paul’s copies together, another clip to hold copies of my license together, and then a final clip to holding all the copies together. Having them organized in this way makes getting to one copy very easy.

Additional items you may place here would be any correspondence from the DMV and renewal notices, payments, and receipts. I keep renewal payment receipts until I receive my new license. Once the new license has been received, I shred the receipt and renewal documents.

The entire pack of photocopies and DMV information is placed in the fourth file slot of my accordion file, ready to be accessed when needed.

See, I kept my promise. This discussion was less frustrating than waiting at the DMV.

Personal: Birth Certificates

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As we move on from the Credit Report/Card Document file, I hope your task gets a bit easier. The second category in my file is Important Personal Documents. I will share what I have in this file.

Here is the checklist from the Protection Portfolio system by Suze Orman:

  • Birth Certificates
  • Adoption Certificates*
  • Driver’s Licenses
  • Passports
  • Citizenship Paperwork / Green Card*
  • Military Service Records*
  • Marriage Certificate
  • Agreements: Cohabitation, prenuptial, postnuptial, etc.*
  • Domestic partner registration*
  • Support: Child and Spousal*
  • Divorce Decree*
  • Death certificates*

Items with an (*) are additional records Suze Orman suggests for this category that I do not have in my file.

Some of these personal documents are needed to verify your identity. I am extremely careful to keep the information on these documents very confidential. In the wrong hands, you could be the victim of identity theft. Please be careful with these items.

The first set of documents in my file is birth certificates for each member of our family. When asked for your birth certificate, you will need to produce a record from the Office of Vital Statistics. We found this out the hard way.

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

When Paul and I moved back to South Carolina, we went to the DMV to get new Driver’s Licenses. After producing my personal records, I was sent to the next window. Paul presented his personal documents, and his birth record was not accepted. He had a certificate of birth from the hospital with the doctor’s signature. The DMV would not accept the certificate. We had to purchase a birth certificate from the Office of Vital Statistics in the state of his birth.

Once that document was obtained, then he was able to present the proper documentation to get his Driver’s License.  The amazing part of the story is that a document ordered over the Internet by anyone was more authentic to the DMV than a certificate signed by the delivering doctor at the birth.

For more information about birth certificates, you can read this explanation from Wikipedia.

TYPES OF BIRTH CERTIFICATES

The two types of certificates are the Long and Short.

LONG: The long version includes parents’ names as well as the other pertinent information. It is also a larger certificate than the short version. The long version is now required for passport verification.

SHORT: The short version is a little larger than a credit card. It can be easily transported if necessary. I use the short version when I take a lap child on a flight. The airlines require proof of age for the child, and the short version of the birth certificate suffices.

OBTAINING YOUR BIRTH CERTIFCIATE

If you only have a certificate of birth or cannot find your birth certificate, then you can order one or more for a fee. To order your birth certificate, you can:

1.       Use a search engine (Google, Swag Bucks, Yahoo!, etc.) and search for: “(your state of birth) Office of Vital Statistics.” If you were born in South Carolina, then search “South Carolina Office of Vital Statistics.”

2.       Follow the prompts to place your order. Each state has a different application and fee process.

Having recently obtained my youngest daughter’s birth certificate, I ordered 4 long certificates and 4 short certificates. The first long certificate cost $12, and the 3 additional were $3 each. The first short certificate cost $12, and then $3 for the 3 additional short ones. I paid $42 for all 8 birth certificates.

I order multiple copies since the first copy includes a research fee. To save money later, I just order a few extra copies for the additional fee of $3. If I have to reorder, then I have to pay the research fee again. I would recommend having a minimum of 2 copies of the Long version, but I do order more for safe keeping.

After obtaining birth certificates from the Vital Statistic Offices in the states in which we were born, I paperclip them by individual, then use a huge paperclip to hold all our birth certificates together. I then place them in the fourth compartment of my file box under the heading of Important Personal Documents.

Do you have a copy of your birth certificate, or do you have a certificate of birth? Prior to our experience at the DMV, I did not realize there was difference. I trust you are better informed than we were regarding birth certificates. Happy organizing! Keep working. You are using your time wisely in getting these document files complete and organized. See you next week on a discussion of Driver’s Licenses. I promise it will be less time-consuming than standing in the DMV line.