A Legacy of Peace (Not Stress)

During the month of June, I attended 4 funerals in 4 weeks.  It's gotten me thinking quite a bit about life and death and all of the other BIG questions we tend to forget about on a day to day basis.

I'll probably have a few related posts, but in the meantime, I was reminded to tell you about my Legacy File.

A Legacy File is something for your family to have on hand should something happen to you.  It's a file to help them love you more and stress less.  Think about it.  How many different bills do you pay each month? In most families, there is a primary paper-worker, and an incredibly-grateful-to-them-spouse.  Does the grateful spouse know where to find stuff in case the paper-worker is suddenly unavailable to do his/her job?

Here are some things a legacy file should include:

• Bank information and account numbers
• Bill information
• Birth certificates (copies)
• Wills (notarized)
• Life insurance paperwork
•  Social Security cards (copies)
• Wedding certificates (copies)
• Etc.

As I began trying to get my files in order, I literally LONGED for the days of yesteryear when we weren't so connected with 3,000,572 different passwords.  Seriously.  It's crazy!

So, on the off chance that a loving relative would want to update my status, or check my e-mail, or whatever, I created a honkin' HUGE document for my family.  One copy is in our safe, and one copy is with trustworthy relatives who've promised not to open it unless necessary (after they oooo'd and ahhhhh'd over it first in my hearing).

Here's what mine ended up looking like (with personal information changed, of course!):

I know.  You're impressed.  Your mouth is actually hanging open, isn't it?  Yep.  Happens to me every time I look at this list, too.  :D

Go ahead.  Savor the moment.  Ahhhh.  

It took me several months to compile everything, so to save you the stress, I've uploaded the Word document here.  You can go in and change all of the fake (and slightly humorous) stuff and put in your own information instead.

Just save a copy of the Google Doc to your own Google Docs (you'll need a Google account), and then you can edit all of the info.

Remember, times of loss are difficult enough without wondering how to do basic things like logging into bank accounts to pay bills.  Leave a legacy of peace.  Not stress.