The original Dread List I posted back in August is in serious need of an update. This week, however, I did manage to tackle something that's been hanging over my head for quite some time.
In my previous life as a demonstrator for card- and scrapbook making supplies, I had a credit card vendor's account, which meant I could accept credit cards for payment of supplies. This was years ago, and yet, I somehow never got around to canceling the account. At $4.95 a month, the fee wasn't exactly a show stopper, but after a few years, it does rather add up.
What does that have to do with organizing, you ask? In a word, everything. Because I had let my filing system slide and was organizer-less at the time I opened the account, I didn't have any of the information handy in order to close it. Unlike our shared accounts, which Alpay meticulously maintains, my vendor account had been neglected. The paperwork for it was . . . somewhere. Without it, I didn't know my account number, wasn't sure of the cancellation policy or what my responsibilities were for closing it. I didn't have the customer service number, and wasn't even sure of the name of the service I had used. In other words, I was in a pickle.
Happily, the service recently underwent some changes and issued a letter, complete with account number and customer service number. It took about twenty minutes to find the letter, call the number, wait on hold, and cancel the account. The woman who helped me through the process suggested I call back in five business days to ensure that the account has been closed. With my new organizer in place, I jotted down on a 3x5 Circa card the relevant information, including the account and service numbers and the name of the person who helped me, and put the card in front of next week's calendar. No need to add the customer service number to my address book, as hopefully I won't ever need it again. Nor did I want to write the task onto a specific day on my calendar, as it doesn't really matter which day I call to confirm. Once the cancellation is confirmed, I'll pull out the 3x5 card and shred it.
Canceling the Vendor Account
