It has to do with not keeping track of the cost of items, the things we have repaired, warranties that we don't realize that we have and not having enough time in our schedule to slow down and take a good look at ways to save.

Think about it, do you know if the warranty on the dishwasher is still in effect?

If it is, is it a manufacturers warranty or a store warranty? What does it cover? Where do you call for servicing? This is a lot to try to keep track of and most of us don't do this, it is almost impossible to keep track of everything that we own.

Have you had something repaired on the car and you think you may have had it replaced last year, but your not really sure?

We take our vehicles in for maintenance and wait until they are finished and pay the bill, right? When they tell you that you need to have a part replaced and you think you may have had it done six months ago, is it still under warranty? This is only one way of paying for something twice. Without good records and a fast way of retrieving the information, you are going to lose money.

Did you have someone repair an item in your home and weren't happy with the workmanship and you don't want them back again? Do you remember the name of the person?

Sometimes just remembering the name of the company isn't good enough, the person may quit that company and go to work for someone else. Do you want them to come back? We overlook things like this and in the long run, we are spending money foolishly. This technician may move from job to job and may repair and charge you for the same part many times before you remember that you have seen them someplace before.

Are your records filed in such a manner that you can find all of this information in less than 5 minutes? Probably not, most of us don't keep records that accurate, so it is going to take a while to find the right information. We will have to go through receipt after receipt and last years receipts (if we kept them) and it is almost more work than it is worth, so we forget it and pay the bill. Once again, we have wasted some more money.

Organizing your purchases, warranties, and agreements is one way to combat this problem and probably save you a lot of money in the long run. Wouldn't it be smart to have all of this information in one place, pick up a book, turn to the right page and have all of that information in front of you?

Life can be simple if we organize it to make it that way, then all we have to do is follow the order that it is in. Keeping important information handy is the start to organizing your life the easy way.