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The Household Book

The book

The Household Book Twelve sections, two editions, and the First Week for whoever opens it.

Accounts, policies, the people to call, where the key is, what you would want. Written down once, kept in a drawer, read once a year.

Or fill in page one first, free
Section one, People to call, as it is laid out.

How it reads

A page asks for one thing at a time, and says why it is asking.

Each section opens with a short paragraph for the person who will read it later, so that the page makes sense to somebody who did not fill it in. Then the fields, in the order that person would need them, with room to write and room to cross out.

Where a page reaches the edge of what a book can do, it says so and names who to ask. A page that pretends to be a lawyer is worse than a blank one.

Three files arrive together

What you receive

The screen edition

Fields you fill on a computer or tablet, then save and print.

The print edition

The same pages, laid out for a pen. Letter size.

The First Week

Seven pages for the person who opens it, in order.

What is inside

Twelve sections, in the order they are bound.

It is laid out so one section can be done in an evening. People to call is ten minutes. Money is longer, because money always is.

  1. 01

    People to call

    Who to call in the first hour, the first day and the first week, with the numbers beside the names.

  2. 02

    Where things are

    The will, the deeds, the titles, the passports, the birth certificates, the spare key, the safe and its combination.

  3. 03

    Money

    Every account, what comes in, what goes out on its own, and every loan.

  4. 04

    Insurance

    Life, home, auto and health, with the policy numbers and the number to quote them to.

  5. 05

    The house

    Utilities, the furnace, the water shutoff, the alarm code, and who fixes what.

  6. 06

    Vehicles

    Titles, loans, registration, and where the second key is.

  7. 07

    Work and benefits

    Employer, retirement accounts, pensions, Social Security, and veterans' benefits.

  8. 08

    Medical

    Doctors, medications, allergies, and where the advance directive and the health care proxy are.

  9. 09

    Digital life

    Phones, email, the password manager, and what you want done with each account.

  10. 10

    Subscriptions

    Everything that renews on its own, and how to stop each one.

  11. 11

    Dependents and pets

    Who collects the children, who feeds the dog, the vet, and the medication.

  12. 12

    Wishes and letters

    The service, burial or cremation, what you would rather they did not do, and pages left blank for letters.

Before section one

The First Week is for the person who opens it.

Seven pages, in the order they will be needed. What to do today, who to call this week, what can wait a month, and what nobody has to do at all. It is written plainly, for somebody reading it on the worst week of the year, and it points at the sections of the book that hold each answer.

  1. TodayWho must be told, and who can wait. The three calls that cannot wait, with the numbers.
  2. TomorrowWhere the documents are, and which ones the funeral home, the bank and the county will ask for.
  3. This weekMoney that must keep moving: the mortgage, the utilities, the payroll if there is one.
  4. This weekInsurance and benefits to claim, in the order they pay out.
  5. Within a monthAccounts to close, subscriptions to stop, and the letter to send to each.
  6. Within a monthThe house, the car and the pets: what keeps running and who is doing it.
  7. WheneverThe letters, and everything that nobody has to do at all.

The Household Book. First Edition

$34

Once. Three PDF files, by email and on screen the moment you pay. One household, as many devices and as many printings as you like.

If it is not right for your house, write within thirty days and we refund you. Card payments are taken by Stripe on a page Stripe hosts. We never see your card number.

What this book is not

It is not legal advice. It does not make a will, a trust, a power of attorney or an advance directive, and it does not tell you what yours should say. It records where they are and who holds them. For the rest, a lawyer licensed in your state is the right person, and the book says so wherever it matters.

The nine things people ask.

No. A will is a legal document you make with a lawyer, or with a service licensed in your state. This book records where your will is, who the executor is, and everything the will does not cover: the login for the electric bill, the vet, the gate code, what you would want played. Nothing in it is legal advice, and it says so on the page.
In the file on your own computer, and on the paper you print. We never see a word of it. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, there is no account and no app. The only thing we hold is the email address you bought with, and it is printed in the footer of every page so the file is plainly yours.
Both editions arrive together. The screen edition is a PDF with fields you fill on a computer or tablet, save and print. The print edition is the same pages laid out for a pen. Many households do both: type the accounts, hand write the letters.
It is laid out in twelve sections so that one can be finished in an evening. People to call takes about ten minutes. Money takes the longest, because it means finding things. Nothing has to be complete for the book to be useful. A half filled book is worth far more than an empty drawer.
Yes. Letter size paper, dollars, and the accounts and benefits American households actually have: Social Security, 401(k)s and IRAs, Medicare, the county recorder. Where something differs by state, the page says to check yours rather than guessing for you.
Whoever you tell. Most people show their spouse or an adult child where it is and leave it at that. The First Week at the front is written for that person: what to do today, who to call this week, what can wait a month, and what nobody has to do at all.
Yes. One purchase covers one household, on as many of your own devices as you like, printed as many times as you like. A copy for a parent's house is a second household and a second book, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
No. You buy it once and the files are yours. Sit with the book for an hour once a year, cross out what changed, and it stays true. Nothing renews and nothing expires.
Write to us within thirty days and we refund you. We may ask what was missing, so that the next edition is better, but the refund does not depend on the answer.

Still deciding

Fill in page one first. It is section one of the book as a single page, free, and it is the best page to judge the rest by. If it is useful, the other eleven are $34. If it is not, you have lost ten minutes and gained a page your family should have anyway.