Build a Virtual File Cabinet

When did you replace the transmission in the pickup? What was the name of the shop that did it? When did you fertilize the yard last? Do you remember the name of the guy you hired to trim the trees two years ago?


These are all things that you can file in a blog, complete with date and time stamp. Set up a blog and call it The Smith Family File Cabinet, or something catchier if you want. Set it private with no comments allowed, etc. Use labels for your posts like Joe's Dodge Charger or Jane's Prius or lawn care or home repairs. Anything you'd stick in a file folder and hopefully remember where you put it can now go in this blog. We don't recommend storing medical records, or detailed financial records on a blog, but almost everything else would be ok.


Here's an example of a great use of the blog in this manner:

Say you washing machine won't agitate. You call the repair person. Make a quick blog entry about the call to the repair person, including telephone number and the name of the person you spoke with.


After 3 days you have still not seen the repair person, but you are busy with your life and haven't needed clean laundry so time got away from you. Return to the blog for the phone number, all of the information you need including the exact time of the first call (the blog will have a time stamp).


Record your second call in the same way you did the first. Once the repair person comes, get his name, and record what he tells you about the necessary repairs, including the estimated costs.


Record the actual repair in the same way, plus scan the receipt and upload it to the blog, and presto! It's all N the blog! Three months later when it breaks down again you have a perfect record of the whole transaction so you can fight your battle with the company, or in a perfect world where you were happy with the service, you'll have the information you need for contacting the same company when the dryer breaks.


All of this sounds like it takes a bit of time, but it's really no more time consuming than scribbling notes, searching for those notes, or studying the phone book trying to remember who you called.