February 2015
Snowy, wintry days might be a good time to go through papers and documents and set up some good record keeping. Read below for some more tips on areas to improve record keeping.
5 Areas to Improve Your Record Keepin
I find that people, when looking for important documents (warranties, birth certificates, medical record, etc.), usually wind up spending lots of time on this task, and worse, they actually cannot find the needed document. I know 
how frustrating this can be for anybody. The key is to establish and maintain good record keeping moving forward. I have listed some suggestions below to maintain either hard copies or electronic copies.
If you would like to go paperless, purchasing a good scanner, like ScanSnap, is a wise investment. Just remember to save your files in appropriately labeled folders (not just dropped into “Documents”) so you will be able to retrieve these files easily.Here are some ways to improve your record keeping
Vital Docs should be in a file folder in your file cabinet. They also should be scanned and saved on a USB drive and 
on a secure cloud server (in case of their accidental destruction). Examples of these would be:
Birth certificates
Marriage certificates
Divorce Settlements
School Transcripts
Passports
Jury duty records
Remembering Passwords and User names seems to be one of the hardest tasks to keep up with these days. They should all be kept together in one location. Here are some suggestions to keep passwords together and safe:
Small address book that can be kept in a locked drawer (writing with encrypted password, such as: livingroom33 would be “lvgrm3”)
Software apps like Password1 or PasswordBox
Google Doc spreadsheet that is password protected with one password
Electronic Address/Contacts Book on computer and/or smart phone with encrypted passwords (see “livingroom3” example above)
Home Appliances (washer/dryer, TV, lawn mower, hot water heater etc) records are best stored in a 3-ring binder for easy retrieval. Use tab divider to separate categories such as “kitchen”, “electronic gadgets”, “sports equipment”, 
“outdoor equipment”. You could also store these records in a big, sturdy plastic envelope. (Very important docs to have when thinking about selling your home.)
Alternatively, these records can be scanned and stored electronically.
Manuals
Warranties
Receipts of purchase
Repairs and Maintenance Records
Car Records should be maintained even if you go to your original dealership for car maintenance. Keeping these records is good so that: you keep on a schedule of maintenance; you have proof of repairs if there is a dispute with manufacturer or repair shop; you have great maintenance records if you would like to sell your vehicle.
You should maintain Health Records simply because all your health care providers are not sharing your health 
information with other practitioners or are necessarily keeping accurate records. (Of course, I believe that this should be happening so all of them get a big picture of your health and your health history, but that is not happening currently.) You need to be your own health care advocate and one way in which to do this is having a good idea of your health history. I recommend writing a brief description of a doctor (dentist, nature-path) visit using an ordinary stenographer’s notebook or binder and attaching test and lab results. Please remember to date each entry. A health log should be started for each member of the family. Alternatively, you could create a spreadsheet with all the info and scan in test and lab results to accompany the health info. Store this info on your computer and a back-up location.
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