Task: Organize Your Home & Vehicle Maintenance Contacts

Here’s a way to think about this task: Who do you call when a pipe bursts and it’s pouring through the walls, or when an infestation is underway, or when something important breaks that you can’t fix and it’s time to admit defeat and call in an expert?

The “expert” doesn’t need to be a person; it can be a company you’d call to get something fixed, like the power or cable provider. To start, it’s best to include all the vital ones a person would need if something major happened, be it your family, home sitter, or babysitter (when those are a thing in our lives again). Start with these:

• Cable/Internet/Home Phone
• Cleaning Service
• Electrician
• Exterminator & Pest Control (Termites included)
• Garbage & Waste Removal
• Handyman
• HVAC Cleaning & Repair
• Landscaping
• Mail/Local Post Office
• Plumber
• Pool Care
• Roofing Contractors & Repair
• Security Amenity (example: number to the front gate if it applies)
• Security System: Name of the security company and account number
• Septic Service Technician
• Snow Removal

When you scan this list you’ll notice it’s full of sleepers, which means contacts that don’t seem important until a crisis hits. To make some of the more unusual contacts more accessible without putting them all in your phone is to create a digital document, or even a piece of paper, with a list of situations. Think of it as a FAQ or Troubleshooting guide to your house and come up with clever situations while you’re at it. For example: If the roof completely caves in; if the basement is filling up with sewage; if a tree looks dangerously close to smashing the house.

For issues with cars and vehicles, do the same thing and keep the contacts simple:

• Vehicle Service Center
• Mechanic
• Dealership (if applicable)

If you’re thinking about how you pay for your home or car, don’t. We’ll get to that in due time.

Your Task

Compile the contacts you’d call to get something fixed and functioning again. Then put them in your phone where they can be easily located, or on a sheet everyone in your home that can be easily found.

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