My Life in a Box..A Life Organizer - Softcover

Laurie Ecklund Long

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0967439426 ISBN 13: 9780967439426

Publisher: AGL Publishing, 2006

Synopsis

Medical Emergencies, natural disasters, fires, floods, and terrorism...how to leave your house in minutes with everything you need to rebuild your life. Laurie takes you on a scavenger hunt through your house to locate all of your personal, legal and financial documents and shows you how to build a portable file in case you have to face an emergency. Not only will you be shown how to build the file, but you will also be shown how to direct your family regarding end-of-life decisions. This workbook is a "MUST" for even member of the family!

About this title

About the Author:

With nearly a decade of experience as an emergency specialist, Laurie Ecklund Long provides a wealth of knowledge. Along with her other book, The Next 48 Hours, using humor, optimism, and common sense, she will lead you through the workbook and leave you confident that whatever emergency you face, you WILL be prepared. As a workshop speaker for nearly a decade, she has combined her research and personal encounters with crisis to offer hope to thousands.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Chapter One - The Price of Procrastination Pro-cras-ti-nate

Transitive senses : to put off intentionally and habitually. Intransitive senses : to put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done.

This definition from the yellowed pages of my Great Grandfather's monstrous old dictionary reads exactly the like the definition I found online. Procrastination always means the same thing, and each of us does it in one way or another.

We can laugh about this habit, and some even celebrate it during "National Procrastination Week" (the second week of March). But procrastination comes with a heavy price. When a life crisis occurs, the unprepared person must make decisions amid great stress and pain. Their options are usually fewer, and the likelihood of making unwise decisions much greater. Simple steps of preparedness can save you and your family thousands of dollars and unneeded stress, which is the very reason I wrote this book. It's not a question of if crisis comes, but when.

To put it bluntly, you and each of your family members will encounter a natural disaster, tragedy, terminal illness, or death of a close friend or family member at some time in your life. Our culture in the United States doesn't like to face this reality. That's why so few have a plan of action when a loved one dies unexpectedly in a car accident, fire, tornado, etc.

Even when a death due to age or illness happens, the surviving family or friends are often caught without a clue of what to do. Usually shock sets in and everyone runs around looking for insurance policies, obituary information, end-of-life instructions, and valuables, which are often scattered throughout the house. Ideally, everything should be in one place, and in as few files as possible.

My Life in a Box introduces a simple plan to organize all of your personal and legal documents and put them in one easy-to-use file that is easy to locate when a crisis arises.

The need for this became abundantly clear to me when a dear friend's mother developed dementia and began hiding valuables throughout her house and garage. My friend found her mother's living trust in the sewing closet, and moved proactively to find other important documents. This "treasure hunt" went on for weeks while my friend began to build files for her mother, using my simple suggestions. Today everything is in order and the files are in a safe and easily accessible place.

The following chapters address a variety of challenges regarding the funeral industry, insurance policies, wills, trusts, end-of-life issues, natural disasters, and more. You may not be able to relate to any of these situations right now, but sometime in your life you will.

So don't procrastinate any longer. If you or your parents have not put your personal affairs in order, now is the time to take action. By following the guidelines in this book you will be able to organize your personal and legal documents and not leave a tangled mess for your family.

About this edition

• Publisher: AGL Publishing
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0967439426
• ISBN 13: 9780967439426
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40
• Editor: Laurie Ecklund Long