Interesting thoughts -- we could all improve on paperwork storage in our homes. Two things I think I'm doing well that differ from the above mentioned Script, and someone else might find some ideas in my methods: Taxes. Yes, like Script, I am scrupulous about maintaining records for my taxes. About a dozen years ago I went to the office supply and bought two big boxes of BRIGHT GREEN folders (green like money). I labeled them Taxes 2000 ... Taxes 2001 ... Taxes 2002 ... Taxes 2003 ... and so on. Given my family's typical lifespan, I made enough green folders to take me to age 110 -- probably more than I'll need, but I'm ready! They're all stored in my file cabinet, taking up very little space. Now when I receive anything tax-related -- a charitable receipt, an end-of-the-year bank statement, whatever -- I have a place to file it. In April, I have a place to file a copy of my taxes, and I can go back and see previous tax years. For the rest of my life, this system is in place. Death folder. Ours is a notebook. Two identical notebooks, actually, since we have two children. Our girls are young adults now, but they've never dealt with an estate -- even if they don't open it 'til they're old, it'll be useful to them. It contains a lot of stuff: - A personal letter to the two of them - A list of our wishes about funeral and items we'd like donated to various family members or charities - A list of things they must do immediately; it starts with going to our house and taking possession of the dog, but it also includes small details like canceling our voting registration and destroying any medicines in the house. At every turn this list includes addresses and phone numbers, including the lawyer we suggest for probate, the funeral home our family's always used, and family members who should be contacted. - A copy our will; they know what's in it -- everything split between the two of them - A list of our financial assets -- bank accounts, investments, insurance, deeds/maps of real estate ... when our youngest became a legal adult, we made the two girls co-beneficiaries of every account; note that this was done before either was married, so our two kids -- not future son-in-laws -- will own these items. - A list of the bills we pay each month -- electricity, phone, even the guy who cuts our grass. - Official copies of our birth certificates, our marriage certificates, and the girls' birth certificates -- they might not be needed, but the girls won't have to scramble to find them - A flashdrive with all of the above in digital format plus photographs that might be useful in putting together the funeral Our rule: We keep two years of tax returns in the notebooks ... the reason being that someday an accountant will file our final estate tax return, and he or she will want our last two years of returns -- so every April we pull out the notebook, discard one old return and insert the newest ... so our rule is that every April we look over the notebook and update anything that's changed. For example, last year we changed bank accounts, and someday we hope to add items concerning grandchildren to the book. Our girls know that the notebooks are stored in the safe, and they know where the key to the safe is hidden, and they know it's labeled with a misleading name so that a thief wouldn't look at it twice. Last thought on this notebook: Though this project took us the better part of a year --- we kept remembering one more thing, one more thing that really should be included -- we didn't find it difficult emotionally. I suspect that if we were older and/or one of us were in poor health, it might've been different.

You guys are all way too nice! Sorry trailrunner, we've already had tons of friends calling dibs on the old coffee table, but it's destined to go in the master bedroom. I plan on putting a plasma tv in there and making a little hideout where I can put my feet up on the table and eat chips while watching House and Lost! Oh, I almost forgot. Here's my other two diaries. These first two are actually more entertaining as they were somewhat traumatic and thus fodder for humor. No photos in this one as my camera got lost in the move. My new-house moving-in diary How I redid my powder room in venetian plaster. Venetian plaster diary

Jane - thank you! And I love those statues! I just loved all your pics from Mexico that you have shared. Barb - thanks, and I'm tickled that you recognized the Sue Zipkin dishes. I really love her patterns, too. I lucked into a set of 18 of another pattern of hers - The Sweet Shopee - just took a picture - couldn't you just eat these up? And I really love it when the design is on the whole plate. I'll have to investigate slow's new discovery of grinding off the footers - would really help to use more of the plate on these! I get just about all my dishes at the thrift stores. I've been really, really lucky. The dishes on my WIP terracotta pot (Lynns "Savanna"), is a set of 30 pieces - that I paid $20 for - found them at our local Kiwanis Thrift Store. I was soooooo excited to find them - and was thrilled with the price. Some of our thrift stores are ridulous on their per plate price - like GW - I pretty much quit going there. But I have really good luck at Kiwanis, Habitat for Humanity, and Family Thrift.

I was reading this earlier and am glad to read now that you have had a talk with your Dad. Sometimes it is best to deal one thing at a time. In this case it might also be best to move your Dad into a temporary situation and wait until the better place has a vacancy. I agree your DD deserves your full attention for getting her settled into college. Having just gone thru this with DD getting her daughter, my DGD, settled 3.5 hours away from home, I know it wasn’t easy. She (DD) is having more separation anxiety than I ever thought she would. We went down this past weekend for bid day and to take a few more items and DD admitted on the way home that she hated not being close enough to see things that were happening in her life. For your Dad, can you take the dogs for a period of time until some other arrangements can be made? I know that must be hard. As for his house, I would probably hire a company to come in and clean, and if you are putting it up for sale, only you can evaluate what might need to be done as far as flooring replacement, etc to remove the dog odors. Mattress toppers....we have procrastinated about a new mattress. Do you have Costco? We bought a topper there, had it shipped to our house and are using it now. About to pull the trigger on a latex. Have used the topper for about a year.