Personal Records Management, Part One — Essential Information
By Susan Law Corpany

I have had lots of response to my last column on being prepared. Many people indicated that they had forwarded it on to their children and friends. I have decided to take advantage of people’s New Year’s resolve for change and give some specific assignments in my next few columns.

I found myself wishing I could go around the country teaching the class I call Personal Records Management. The reality I find is that in fielding requests to speak at Relief Society birthday parties in March, most opt for a more fun topic, so I have decided to teach this class to all of you online, a little bit at a time.

There will be weekly assignments, and there will be accountability. I want to hear by e-mail to susancorpany@aol.com when each assignment has been completed. I am going to start you off easy with some non-threatening stuff, and we’ll work our way up to the heavy stuff in a few weeks. Every time I teach this class, it forces me to organize and evaluate my own preparedness, and I am overdue for this check-up.

What’s in Your Wallet?

When I teach this class, usually in a Relief Society setting, my one request is that husbands be invited, because it is important that communication take place between spouses on these important subjects. One of the first things I do is invite one of the men up and ask him for his wallet.

I could, of course, invite one of the ladies up and we’d examine the contents of her purse, but there is usually a time limit on the class, and men tend to travel lighter than women. Besides, there is something empowering about asking a man to hand over his wallet.

Once I have the wallet in hand, I ask him to tell me what essential paper or plastic is he carrying that would need to be replaced if I should happen to end the class abruptly by heading to the nearest exit with his wallet.

If I know him well, I might even take a peek inside and mention to his wife that date night that week will probably be to the dollar movie. I might even say that if I don’t know him well, or even if he is carrying lots of cash. (Just trying to lighten it up. Are you laughing? I can’t hear you. Perhaps the three of you who are laughing could sit together and we could build up a little volume that way.)

As I grow older, I come to realize that I am my own biggest threat, prone to setting my purse down in a restaurant and being more concerned about remembering my doggy bag when I leave. Imagine for a moment that your purse or wallet has been snatched or misplaced. Now sit down and make a list of the essential cards and items you would need to replace.

Most people remember credit cards, although they are not always sure which ones. They remember that they had their driver’s license. They remember approximately how much cash they had on hand, and if they are women, they know exactly how much their purse is worth empty.

I, personally, make it a habit never to have a purse that is worth more than I likely carry in it. In fact, once two friends did an intervention with me, forcing me to purchase a new purse because my old one was so worn out. It was, but it had all the right pockets. It is hard to find a purse with all the right pockets, but I digress. Perhaps if I had an $800 purse, I would be less likely to leave it lying around or I would have it handcuffed to my wrist.

After Brother X. gives me his mental list of what’s in his wallet, I hand it back to him and tell him to open it and tell us what he missed. Then come the “aha moments.”

“Oh, I forgot I carry my voter registration card.”

“My AAA membership card.”

“A reminder about a dentist appointment.”

Your Assignment, Should You Choose to Accept It

Without looking, make a list of what you think you have in your wallet. Once you are done, check the actual contents against the list to see what you forgot.

Here is what I have in my wallet:

• Twenty-eight dollars in cash. (It’s irreplaceable, I suppose, even if you know the serial numbers, but also most easily replaced and least damaging in someone else’s hands.)
  
• My personal Picasso — a reduced laminated copy of the drawing my son did when he was six entitled “Stegosaurus Having an X-Ray.” He gets mad at me for still carrying it around and showing it to people, since he is now 26. I will find out after referencing it, whether or not he regularly reads my column. I keep this in the essential “see through” spot where most people keep their driver’s license. It’s irreplaceable, but thankfully, I have made multiple copies.
  
• My driver’s license.
  
• My American Express Card (I don’t leave home without it and have the bills to prove it.)
  
• My Mastercard/Debit Card
  
• My Safeway Club Card
  
• A Macy’s card giving me $15 off on a purchase of $50 or more, good until January 31
  
• Two proof of insurance cards for our truck. As a result of writing this column, you see, I have discovered that I am carrying the wrong insurance card in my wallet, as I drive the Jeep. I usually give one of the truck cards to my husband to keep in his wallet and put the other one in the truck. I obviously put them in my wallet, intending to do that, but did not. Not only do I need to do that, but I also need to find the insurance card for the Jeep.
  
• A reminder card for an eye doctor appointment
  
• A slip from the eye doctor with my current prescription
  
• A couple of receipts for recent purchases
  
• My AAA card
  
• My medical insurance card
  
• My prescription card
  
• The insurance card for the Jeep showed up, only it wasn’t where I usually carry it.
  
• My picture of Christ with the YW Values on the back
  
• My temple recommend, which I noticed expires next month

I used to carry my Social Security card, but they suggest that is not a good idea, with identify theft running rampant.

The second part of the assignment will take less than five minutes, but it will save you a lot more than that if the information is ever needed. Next time you are making photocopies, copy the contents of your wallet, front and back. You can get quite a few items on each page. Keep them in the same order and turn them over, because there is often essential information on the back, such as the number to call to cancel a card if it is lost.

Some credit card companies charge a fee for keeping a list of what cards you would need to cancel in the event of a lost purse or wallet. Why pay them to do what you can do yourself for under a dollar?

Once you have those few pages from the copy machine, fold them, label it as the contents of your purse/wallet, date it and put it in a safe place. If you ever lose your purse or wallet, all the information you would need to replace everything and cancel your credit cards will be at your fingertips. If you have some cards you only carry sometimes, take them along on your photocopying expedition as well.

You never know. Next time you are enjoying a dinner out, you, too, may walk off with the rest of your Pasta Primavera in a take-out container and leave your purse sitting under the table. If you are lucky, somebody honest will find it. That reminds me of another thing to check. Make sure the address on your driver’s license is correct so they can return it.

Susan Law Corpany grew up in Salt Lake City. She attended Utah State University and the University of Utah, and she is currently attending the University of Hawaii at Hilo, on the big island of Hawaii, where she now lives. She is married to Thom Curtis, a sociology professor at UHH. She has one son, a stepdaughter and five stepsons. She recently became a grandmother to the world's most beautiful baby girl and will, on request, furnish the e-mail addresses of her unmarried returned missionary sons to eligible young ladies in an attempt to get more such wonderful grandbabies.

She has stored up a half century of wit and wisdom and began a couple of decades ago to download it onto the printed page. Widowed in her twenties, a series of books resulted from the experience. She is the author of Brotherly Love, Unfinished Business, Push On and Are We There Yet? She considers herself sort of a cross between Erma Bombeck and Eliza R. Snow and says she writes under her first married name "To honor my first husband and not to embarrass my current one." She is currently working on several other novels, and is collaborating on a humorous self-help book called, "Why Don't the Airlines Ever Lose My Emotional Baggage?"

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