A card from Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
This cardholder isn’t only responsible for grabbing the mail every day on the way in the front door. It’s what happens once the mail is inside your home that’s most important. This CPEer will have a system for retrieving and opening mail in a timely, date-sensitive manner, and then handing off invitations, bills, jury duty notices, health insurance reimbursements, tax refunds, etc., to their rightful owner. Perk: This cardholder gets to choose between the Star Wars or Elvis commemorative stamps for your family’s outgoing mail because now it’s your job to buy ’em and stick ’em.
Holding this card means owning all three
Conception
Planning
- Knowing when the mail comes & gets picked up
- Planning what post office you will use and knowing when it is open
Execution
- Retrieving mail daily
- Opening and sorting mail
- Giving bills to “Cash Management & Bills” cardholder, tax forms to “Money Manager” cardholder, invitations to “Calendar Keeper” cardholder, and health insurance forms to “Health Insurance” cardholder
- Purchasing stamps
- Mailing outgoing mail
- Shipping & picking up packages at post office
Suggested Minimum Standard of Care
Is the mail coming in every day and getting sorted in a timely manner? Do packages need to be picked up before they are shipped back to the sender?
A starting point. You and your partner agree the real standard together, and the holder meets it without reminders.
Holding it well
- It’s a Daily Grind: relentless and time-bound. Make sure each of you holds a fair share of these, ideally one from each suit.
- The holder owns all of it: noticing, planning and doing. No “just tell me what to do.”
- Agree the Minimum Standard of Care together, then let the holder meet it their way.
- Not working? Bring it to the weekly check-in and re-deal it. Don’t take it back mid-week.
Put this card on your table
Deal it, agree its standard, and see who holds what. Free.