A sample binder

Claire’s binder,every chapter filled in.

Claire Ellis lives in Oakland with her two kids and Biscuit. She wrote this for her sister, Tess, over one Sunday, and reads it again each April.

Read her nine chapters See the page Tess opens

/ Claire’s binder

Binder / Contents / First Calls Reviewed in April

First Calls

Current

Name the people your trusted person should call first and why each one matters.

What you’ve written

Your words

The details you’ve kept on this page.

Primary contact name

Jonah, our brother, in Berkeley. He knows the family and our lawyer. Call him before you start making arrangements.

How to reach them

Text him first, then call. His number is in the shared contacts on my phone, and on the card inside the green folder.

Backup contact

Lena Patel, next door at no. 14. She has the other key and will be over before you finish asking. Then HR at work.

Context for them

The kids’ pediatrician takes calls after hours. That number and the lines for our lawyer, our tax preparer, our insurance agent and the Schwab advisor are all on the card in the green folder.

Binder / Contents / Household Reviewed in April

Household

Current

Make the home legible: who lives there, where basics are, and what routines should keep going.

What you’ve written

Your words

The details you’ve kept on this page.

People in the household

Milo, who is nine, June, who is six, and me. Biscuit counts too.

Home base

The house in Rockridge, Oakland.

Keys and access location

The spare key is in the ceramic bowl on the walnut sideboard. Lena Patel, next door at no. 14, has another.

Daily routines

Trash and recycling go out on Monday night. The Wi-Fi details are on the card behind the router.

Binder / Contents / Money & Accounts Last touched in March

Money & Accounts

Begun

List institution references and payment context without storing sensitive numbers.

What you’ve written

Your words

The details you’ve kept on this page.

Institution references

Wells Fargo: checking, and the mortgage Charles Schwab: the brokerage Vanguard: my IRA Fidelity: the 401(k) through work

Income and deposit notes

My paycheck lands at Wells Fargo on the 15th and on the last day of the month.

Advisor or payroll contact

The advisor at Schwab, whose line is on the card in the green folder. Our tax preparer has the last seven years of returns.

Practical notes

The Vanguard IRA names you as beneficiary. I still mean to write down how the brokerage is set up.

Binder / Contents / Insurance Last reviewed in September

Insurance

Needs a look

Name the policies that buy time and the people who can explain them.

What you’ve written

Your words

The details you’ve kept on this page.

Policy references

Term life with Northwestern Mutual Group life through work, with MetLife Home insurance: new this year, still to add

Agent or benefits contact

Our agent at Northwestern Mutual; the direct line is on the card in the green folder. HR at work knows the MetLife policy.

Where policy documents live

The green folder, in the top drawer of the desk in the back bedroom.

Practical notes

You are the beneficiary on the Northwestern Mutual policy. The MetLife one is separate and goes through work.

Binder / Contents / Documents Reviewed in April

Documents

Current

Point to certificates, titles, deeds, estate papers, and the places they live.

What you’ve written

Your words

The details you’ve kept on this page.

Document locations

Will and advance directive: the green folder, top desk drawer, back bedroom Birth certificates and passports: the fire safe Car title: the file box in the office

Attorney or estate contact

Our lawyer drafted the will, keeps a copy, and will handle probate with you.

Safe or lockbox location

The fire safe is on the floor of the hall closet. Jonah knows where its key is kept.

Practical notes

The advance directive names you to make medical decisions for me. My hospital is Alta Bates. When the time comes, order fifteen certified copies, not five; every bank and carrier wants its own.

Binder / Contents / Devices & Access Reviewed in April

Devices & Access

Current

Describe the devices and account pathways someone should know about without writing private details here.

What you’ve written

Your words

The details you’ve kept on this page.

Device references

My iPhone, usually on the nightstand The MacBook in the office The iPad the kids share

Primary email reference

My Gmail, the one the bank and the school write to.

Password manager reference

1Password, the family account.

Practical access notes

The phone passcode, the email password and the 1Password master password will each go in a sealed envelope addressed to you. Until then, none of them is written in this binder.

Binder / Contents / Bills & Subscriptions Reviewed in April

Bills & Subscriptions

Current

List the charges and services that should not surprise someone in the first week.

What you’ve written

Your words

The details you’ve kept on this page.

Recurring bill references

Mortgage, Wells Fargo: monthly, on autopay PG&E and EBMUD: monthly Comcast: monthly After-school care: weekly

Autopay reference

Almost everything comes out of the Wells Fargo checking.

Renewal or cancellation notes

Keep Spotify for the kids, and iCloud for at least a year; the photos are there. Cancel the Adobe plan before it renews in May, and The New Yorker.

Practical notes

AAA renews in June, Costco in August, the Audubon Society in November. None of them are urgent.

Binder / Contents / Care Routines Reviewed in April

Care Routines

Current

Capture care routines, pickup context, medication locations, and backup helpers.

What you’ve written

Your words

The details you’ve kept on this page.

Care routines

School pickup is at 3:10, at the side gate Biscuit: one scoop at seven in the morning and six in the evening June’s inhaler: one in her backpack, one in the kitchen drawer

Caregiver contacts

Lena next door can take pickup at short notice. The vet’s card is in the kitchen drawer beside Biscuit’s treats.

Medication or supply location

The kitchen drawer beside the fridge.

Practical notes

Milo falls asleep with his lamp on. June will tell you she is allowed a second story. She is.

Binder / Contents / A Letter for Them Written in April

A Letter for Them

Written, not sealed

Leave a human note alongside the practical binder, even if it starts with one paragraph.

What you’ve written

Your words

The details you’ve kept on this page.

Opening note

Tess, you are the person I would call, so this is written to you. Start with Jonah, and then with today.

Practical reassurance

Everything the kids need for the first week is on the Care Routines page. The rest can wait for Jonah and for you.

What you want them to know

Let Milo help with Biscuit. Let June choose the story. You don’t have to get any of it right.

What I’d like

No service. A small gathering at the house with the people on the contacts list, and no flowers; give to the Oakland Public Library Foundation instead. Remind the kids about Aunt Joan on May 19th and Grandpa on August 4th. Yours is November 22nd. You will say not to bother. Do bother.

Read Claire’s letter all the way through

Sample · fictional household · read only

What goes here

The first page anyone reaches for, because the first hour is mostly phone calls. A short, ordered list of who to ring first, who to ring after hours, and who will simply come over. Names beside numbers, with a sentence next to each one so the person reading knows how each person fits into your life. The order matters. You are writing for someone who has just put down the phone and needs to pick it back up.

The first call: the person who should hear it before anyone else
The doctor’s after-hours line, and the practice that has the records
The friend who will come over without being asked
A neighbor, and what they’re willing to do

What goes here

A short orientation to the house, written for someone who may not have been there in years. The address as the post office knows it. Who lives here, including Biscuit. Where the spare key is and who else has one. The alarm code and the trick with the back door. The neighbor who will let a delivery in. Small things, but the kind of small things that turn the first week from a series of locked doors into a series of solved ones.

The address, exactly as it appears on a piece of mail
Everyone who lives here, four-legged ones included
Where the spare key lives, and the neighbor who has the other one
The alarm code, and what to do if it goes off at 3am

What goes here

Not balances and not logins. References. The names of the banks, the last four of each account, the brokerage the retirement money sits in, and the credit union nobody quite remembers you joined. Where the safe deposit box is and which bank holds the key. Account numbers belong on this page only as identifiers, never as a way in. The point isn’t to hand someone the money. The point is so they know where the money is, and which institution to call on Monday morning.

The bank names: checking, savings, the credit union from college
The brokerage the retirement accounts sit in, and the advisor’s name
Where the safe deposit box is, and which bank holds the key
A reference to where the tax returns from the last three years are kept

What goes here

The four policies most households have, and the people who actually answer the phone for each one. Life, home, auto, health, each with a policy number, a carrier, and the agent or broker who knows your file. If there’s a small umbrella policy nobody ever talks about, it goes here too. This page exists because at the moment someone needs to call the insurance company, they shouldn’t also have to figure out which insurance company. A line and a number is enough.

Life: carrier, policy number, the agent who placed it
Home: carrier, policy number, the broker who handles renewals
Auto: carrier, policy number, claim line for after hours
Health: plan name, member ID, the number on the back of the card

What goes here

Where the originals live, not the copies, not the scans, the actual paper. The will and the name of the lawyer who drafted it. The deeds, the titles, the marriage and birth certificates. The folder you keep tax returns in. If anything is in a fire safe, this is where you say so, and where you say where the key is. The instinct to write “various places” is the instinct this page is here to overrule. Specifics, with locations.

Where the will is, and the lawyer who drafted it
The deeds and titles: the originals, not the copies in Dropbox
Birth certificates, marriage certificate, passports
The fire safe, and where the key to the fire safe lives

What goes here

The hardest page, and the one this product was built for: where the laptop and the iPad live, and which phone everything else routes through. Three details on it will be sealed on your device, for the person you name, before they reach us. Sealed envelopes are planned for Family and not available yet.

What goes here

A short ledger of what goes out every month, and a decision on each one. The mortgage or rent, of course. The utilities. The streaming services that add up without anyone noticing. The gym nobody’s been to. For each line: keep it on, switch it to autopay from a different account, or cancel it after the next billing cycle. The second month is when the small subscriptions surface. This page is so the second month is a short afternoon, not a six-week archaeology dig.

Mortgage or rent: who it goes to, on what day, from which account
Utilities: gas, electric, water, internet, the one with the awkward login
Streaming and software: what to keep, what to cancel after one cycle
Memberships: gym, club, that magazine that keeps renewing

What goes here

The page nobody wants to write, because writing it means imagining a Tuesday afternoon you’re not there for. Who picks the kids up from school. The pediatrician, and the dentist, and the after-hours number that actually works. The pet’s vet, allergies, medications, the brand of food that doesn’t upset their stomach. The babysitter who already has a key. Anyone who reads this page is going to be tired and a little frightened. Write it for that reader. Plain sentences, real names.

Who picks the kids up, on which days, with what permission
The pediatrician, the dentist, and the after-hours line
The pet’s vet, allergies, the brand of food that doesn’t upset their stomach
The babysitter who already has a key, and how to reach her

What goes here

The only page that isn’t an inventory. A short letter, or a few of them, in your own words. To your spouse. To each of the kids. To whichever friend has done the work of being there for years. Not instructions, not logistics. The things you would actually want them to know on the morning they open this binder. People often start the rest of the binder so they can earn the right to write this page. That’s fine. The page waits patiently. It is the reason the other eight exist.

A note to the person who will be holding everything together
A letter for each of the children, dated
A short paragraph for the friend who kept showing up
Anything you want to leave in your own words, however brief

Claire wrote nine chapters. Tess reads them by time.

Three days, then a week, a month, a year. Each entry links to its chapter.

Addressed to

Tess

Tess, start here. Everything else can wait.

For her, in this window

What needs you in the first three days. Nothing else.

First Calls
Who to call first
Jonah first, then Lena next door, then HR at work. The pediatrician’s after-hours line is on the card in the green folder. The order matters: Jonah knows our lawyer, and Lena can be at the house in a minute.
Reviewed April 12
Documents
Where the will lives
Top drawer of the desk in the back bedroom, in the green folder. Our lawyer keeps a copy — number under First Calls.
Reviewed April 12
Documents
Advance directive
Signed copy is in the same green folder. Hospital choice is Alta Bates. Tess is the named decision-maker.
Reviewed March 30
Devices & Access
To be sealed
Phone passcode
Addressed to Tess. Planned for Family.

Shared by Claire · April 18

Claire can take this back at any time.

Three envelopes Claire will seal for Tess.

Anyone with Claire’s link can read the nine chapters. These three will stay closed. Each will be sealed on Claire’s device, addressed to Tess, before it reaches us.

How security works

“My iPhone, usually on the nightstand.” Phone passcode · from Devices & Access The words will be sealed. To be sealed

“My Gmail, the one the bank and the school write to.” Primary email password · from Devices & Access The words will be sealed. To be sealed

“1Password, the family account.” Password manager master password · from Devices & Access The words will be sealed. To be sealed

Where a binder sends them.

It sits beside the papers and people you already have, and makes each of them findable.

The will. It says where the will is, and who drafted it.
The safe-deposit box. It says which bank holds the box, and where the key lives.
The lawyer. It names the one you use, and the number that reaches them.

What a sample can’t show you.

Real names and numbers. Your binder is built with the names your family already knows: the lawyer who drafted the will, the credit union from college, the after-hours line that picks up.
A link Claire can take back. Claire can take the link back whenever she chooses. It stops working at once, for anyone holding it.
Printed instructions for the envelopes. With Family, Claire will be able to print one page for the fire safe, the offline way in. Tess won’t need to know how it works.

Claire took a Sunday. You can start smaller.

Start your binder

Add three names today. The other chapters can wait.

Claire’s nine chapters

Where a binder sends them.

What a sample can’t show you.

Claire took a Sunday. You can start smaller.