mercurial scribe

My printer took a dive over the weekend.

First, when I printed our Christmas party invitations early last week, it smeared the ink as it printed. This irritated me greatly because 1) I spent over $150 on this Epson all-in-one and 2) I’m a bit of a perfectionist and can’t stand the idea of sending out less-than-perfect-looking invitations. But alas, I had to.

Then today as I went to print an important financial document that needs to be faxed back right away, the printer stopped taking in any paper. No matter how full I made sure the tray was, it just stopped accepting paper and then valiantly scrolled alternately “Paper Out” or “Paper Jam - remove jammed paper” across its matrix screen.

What does this have to do with debt or money management, you ask?

I had purchased a warranty!

Good ole Staples. I purchased their two year warranty to cover my printer back in May of 2006 and it has indeed come in handy. However, I was also smart enough to have stapled the receipt on the inside of the user’s manual of the printer, which I always keep in my office files. After a few phone calls and repetitive recitation of various numbers printed on the receipt, a nice man named Dave said my *new replacement printer* will arrive within 10 days. After I stupidly remarked “That was easy!” (yes, I actually said that) he replied with this simple comment:

“It was easy because you kept the proper documentation; without it, this would’ve become a much longer ordeal.”

The lesson: keep the necessary receipts handy in your files!

More on how to keep those files tomorrow on MarieHolzer.com’s weekly productivity column!