Bollocks!

My debit card has had a malfunction, so before it's replacement arrives , I had to physically go into the bank this morning in order to get some money. I used my driving licence as ID only to be told by the cashier that it was  4 years out of date!
FOUR YEARS!
FOUR FRIGGIN YEARS!
Anyhow, the DVLA were very helpful and said everything should be ok as long as I renewed my licence immediately, which I have done, but the whole debacle has reinforced just how slap dash I am with paperwork.
So! With the spirit that won us the war, I have emptied all of those paperwork boxes from every corner of the cottage into the front room.
Tonight ....I will flex my long forgotten  organisational muscles
And kick some paper ass!


46 comments:

  1. Oh my word, you will be busy! Good luck.

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  2. OMG! It looks as if you got into my house and took a picture of part of the paper mess we have here!

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  3. When you've finished there you can make a start on the pile of papers in our front bedroom. Thank you!

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  4. Crikey ….. I don't envy you this evening John ….. make sure that you have a bottle of something in the fridge to help you along with that lot !! XXXX

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    1. Don't listen to Jacqueline... It would be very cold and uncomfortable to have a bottle of something in the fridge and you'd probably have to kick all the food out to fit in... it's just a stupid idea. Just have a bottle of something while sitting in your sitting room. Much more sensible.

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  5. I suggest a match. Set it all on fire and if anything was real important they will send you another notice, or they won't and you'll go to jail. Either way you don't have to file papers.

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  6. How can a driving licence be out of date? I thought they only expired when you got to about 70?? How do I check mine??

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    1. Look under 4b on the front, all photo driving licences have to be renewed

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    2. I thought the DVLA sent reminders for this?!

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    3. Yes but did they send you a reminder to deal with the reminder? And did they eventually send someone round to do it all for you? No? I thought we were supposed to have a "Nanny State". Ask them where your Nanny was when you needed her.

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  7. I only do one box or bag at a time. But I have been going through my papers also.
    About two years ago I shredded old files and burned up a shredded. I am now on my third shredder not the cheap one either. I live in a border city/state and I destroy as much as possible.

    cheers, parsnip

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  8. 4 yrs.......bloody hell John! and I wish you'd come and see to my pile of papers when you're done there.......

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  9. Imagine being that poor woman I heard on the radio who went to apply for a duplicate birth certificate to see the Registrar had written " Boy " by mistake ! Her whole life / marriage null & void until a court can order the mistake corrected !

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  10. no way will you plough through that lot you will be sidetracked with some think interesting and pile most of it back into a box for a later date i know did that my self this year ( but could get it back out again you have given me a kick in the pants)

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  11. Won't you feel better when that pile is done and dusted :)

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  12. Ha! And I thought it was bad that my husband's license was expired for 6 months before he noticed!

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  13. Serves you right for getting a driving-licence as a credit-card sized one with your photo. They still don't work without your old paperwork, and your old paperwork would have lasted you up till the age of 70 before you had to renew it for any other reason than change of address! (screams with laughter).

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    1. Thought there was up to £1,000 fine if you didn't change your paper licence for whatever reason?

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    2. Good and valid point, Nana. Let's report him (more screams of laughter...)

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  14. Our car broke down in the supermarket car park (with the dogs and family in the car!). No problem, says husband, I've got the breakdown recovery service paperwork in the glove compartment - I'll give them a ring. Guess what? It wasn't there. We were 15 miles from home. He walked down into town and found a taxi driver who was happy to have dogs in his taxi (the rescue dog wasn't too happy about it all) and drove us home (rescue gundog sat on my lap shaking all the way) where my husband eventually found the paperwork in the bedroom in the 'car file'. It would have been fine if the car had broken down at home! A friend then drove him back with the paperwork to the broken down car and he called breakdown recovery!!

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    1. I have a tag on the key ring for my car with the number of my service.

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  15. You have your work cut out for you. I try not to let paperwork pile up because I'm afraid it will kill me and eat me.

    Love,
    Janie

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  16. That paper arse has piles John. x

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  17. John, this is appalling. Do not go to bed until it is sorted. It is not full of nice DVLA people.

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  18. My D/L is good until I'm seventy years old, thankfully no picture required, I was thirty when I renewed it.
    Good luck with the organizing, I've spent weeks shredding old paperwork, I think I spent more time reading the bank statements than shredding them. I've been a millionaire in my lifetime, just saying.
    ~Jo

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  19. And when it all gets to be too much you can walk away and have a nice game of Scrabble with Chris. Looks like a vintage box...is it circa 1965 perhaps? X

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  21. You have paper work in a scrabble box?

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  22. Ger yourself a paper shredder if you don't have one already. It helps when you start to get snowed under!Oh, and box files and expanding files are also good for keeping things in (preferably in alphabetical or chronological order). Oh, and those little coloured plastic envelope-type thingies are also dead handy. Good Luck.x

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  23. My husband David has a similar allergy to paperwork. When we first met, he lived in a different city and I was flying down for long weekends with him. One evening when he was on 3-11pm shift and I was bored, I tackled the thousands of envelopes on the spare bed. Opened, read, contents stuffed back in and tossed onto the bed, for years it looked like. By the time he got home, the whole lot was de-enveloped, sorted and ready for him to say "Keep" or "Bin". It was months before I won the battle of sorting out the 'filing cabinet' (as in papers were stuffed into it, but not actually filed). To this day I am still the paperwork person, for fear of our lives being repossessed. Which is hilarious given that I am a messy, creative slob and he is an anal ex-banker who can do sudoku in 3 minutes. Go figure..

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  24. Looking at that photo... I predict you will just decide on the game of scrabble.

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  25. Where did you get the picture of my living room?????

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  26. On My!, I wonder what you will find. My sister has been helping my middle brother sort out his house. So far she has found $2,000 in checks he never took to the bank.

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  27. You're not alone in this. Just last week we learned our car was two years past its official inspection date.

    I detest paperwork.

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  28. Soooo, what you are really saying is that you are disorganized? Terribly so? Hope Chris can take care of this.

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  29. We have been cleaning out paperwork and clothing....Paperwork? we don't need to keep 15 years of cancelled checks, or old utility payment stubs. If I didn't wear the clothes for the past 2 years I'm not going to.....I don't know how it accumulates but it sure does. Can you burn over in your area or do you have to dispose of properly?

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  30. Enjoy your evening John!

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  31. After reading this I had a hunt for my driving licence I'm ok for another four years - not even sure how you go about renewing it anyway.

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  32. nice one chris job well done save the pads in case you get the squits and need to go out to feed the gang

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  33. I seem to remember, when I first got my driving licence, that it had to be renewed when I was 70. It wasn't widely pointed out that when they changed to the photo licence they only lasted for 10 years. I only know now because I heard an 'info' commercial on the radio.

    Oh boy, I hope you don't find any photos. They tend to be 'show stoppers' and nothing more gets done!

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  34. That photo right there is what Jerry's office always looks like. Immediate palpitations for me!

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  35. Your paperwork seems like Lovely Hubby's, it's a case of it comes in, it gets briefly read and then it gets stacked ready for attention. Two years later the pile is sorted through again, some things get burnt (only the important ones mind), some get attended to and the rest go in the bin.

    My things get opened, read, acted upon and then filed ... I'm a good girl I am :-)

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