Save your important documents!

For you parents, this is a no brainer, but for our Gen Yers...say what? I never really gave this much thought before, but as our kids have gotten older, the "real world" has a way of sneaking up on them AND you as the parent don't have copies of the things your kids are doing.

Let me back up.

Your child is in college, they are living off campus and renting an apartment. Some day they may need to prove that. In our case, the state wanted proof that our child was actually a non-resident and a student out of state, four years ago! The good news is that her roommate had a copy of the lease and an ex-landlord was happy to certify that she lived in his house off campus. As Mom, I didn't have copies of either of these leases because I wasn't involved with leasing the house or apartment. (As it should be, I might add). Another example:  A friend's son was marrying a young lady from another country, both of them had to prove, separately, all of the places they had lived since high school and for how long in each place.

It doesn't sound like a big deal, but let me tell you, it's much easier if your Gen Yer gets in the habit of keeping these things in a file starting with college, rather than having to re-construct past documents or searching for past landlords. Maybe the best idea is to scan these items into your laptop and then be sure to back up onto a cloud, or a zip drive...

A) Keep a copy of the lease (and from now on, keep copies of all leases for your records).

B) Keep a copy of your diploma

C) Keep copies of your tax returns

D) Hold onto your pink slip for your car

E) Store your passport in a safe place

F) Keep copies of your school loan, auto loan...

There's a list of things to keep in a safe place. Good Housekeeping has a good list of important documents to keep and where to store and for how long.

Here's the link: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/organizing/important-papers-to-keep

Being organized is a good thing!

~Beppie