The Postman Always Rings Twice

Sloan and I meet at the client's home in Westchester County, New York. The client is a lovely young mom. She greets us at the door wearing her white tennis outfit. Half of her home is under construction due to a large renovation project. She is a tad bit anxious as she tells us that she has an entire bedroom full of unopened mail.

Sloan and I enter the bedroom that is full of bins upon bins of mail. In my head, I begin to wonder how this family lives like this. Are the bills paid? Are wedding invitations lost in space?

We start right in tackling the massive load of unopened envelopes. The client proclaims that "it just got away from her when they began their home renovation project". Clearly, this has been going on for a lot longer. Sloan and I are extremely respectful and tell the client that this happens often.

There are stacks of holiday cards. We open each and every one of them. Holiday party invites are also amongst the mix. DId they ever attend any of these festive gatherings? Wow. I now start to wonder if the client's husband knows about this. He must. Perhaps it was he who pushed her to contact us for help. Christmas cards from grandparents far away are opened. There are lots of checks made out to the children with the words "Merry Christmas" in the Note section of the checks.

The client disappears for a bit. Sloan and I look at each other with quizzical expressions on our faces. What is going on here? How does this happen? I find the the dog's vaccination paperwork. Then, there are a slew of veterinarian bills. Does this family file income taxes? How could they with all of their paperwork strewn about in this bedroom?

The client comes back to the bedroom that we are working in. We smile at her and explain that we are making good progress. We sort the mail into various piles: utilities, medical and dental, pet, children, home improvements, work, keepsakes, school, bank and broker statements, gifts, checks...Once we have everything sorted into its respective categories, we then sort each category by year.

I head back down the first floor to grab my lunch. I almost break my neck trying to open the zippered plastic door that is keeping the dust from the construction work from entering the second floor. I grab my smoothie and head back upstairs to our domain.

We find a lot more cards. Birthday cards. Birthday cards with lots of money inside. Are the gift givers still waiting out the thank you notes for these gifts or do they somehow know the situation here?

The client tells us how much better she will feel once this big project is finalized. We completely understand. We try to give her advice on how to proceed going forward. We create a whole new filing system for the family. It will be quite easy for the client to stay on top of things once she learns the new system.

Until then, the family will be a lot wealthier once they deposit all of the Christmas, birthday and anniversary checks that were sitting in bins in a second floor bedroom. Here is to hoping that the client will maintain the new system. If not, we will happily return to help her.