Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with checklist

Help me help them now that she's passed on

Unicorn on the cob — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:41:54 -0800

My grandmother died this morning. I'm going home to help out the family, but I would like to make a list of things I might not remember before I leave so that we don't forget anything. This is the third death in my family since March, and unfortunately, my dad and aunt are overwhelmed right now so I've offered to take some time off to go home and help.

Dad is dealing with my baby sister's wedding at the beginning of next month and my aunt has health and family issues of her own, so I have been asked to go home and help pack up and disseminate things like clothing, shoes, purses, etc. while my aunt figures out what to do with furniture and financial assets. I'm the only one in the family without small children who lives nearby that can help out, I'm just inexperienced with things like this and want to make sure I cover as much as I can while I'm there.

We have to prepare the home for sale now that both grandparents have died. I wanted to make a checklist before I went of things to do, like:

1. Call all her doctors, dentist, hairdresser and nail person and cancel upcoming appointments.

2. Get copies of the death certificate and mail to all utilities with a written request to terminate services.

3. Take plants/flowers left over from the funeral and donate them to the local hospitals and hospices (I can do this, right?).

4. Should I shred things like paid bills, unused checks, deposit slips, that sort of thing? I have a small shredder I can take with me.

5. How do I cancel her mail if she's deceased? Should I put in a forwarding address to my dad or aunt's address and let one of them deal with cards or random mail that trickles in after the bills are taken care of?

6. The house is already in my aunt's name, so putting the house up for sale should not be a problem, nor should the taxes, etc. is there anything I might not know about regarding that which I could pass on to my aunt (i.e., you've sold a home after a death and something was different/odd about it vs. a regular home sale)?

7. Photos. I've been tasked with taking hundreds of older photos and creating a digital archive so that family members can access, save and print copies if they so choose. Any suggestions on software? Paid services that would make this easier than me scanning them in myself? Picasa vs. Flickr? Etc.

8. Online memorial page. My grandfather has one through the WWII memorial service; can I create one for her online, too? It would be nice to have a URL I can point people to that cannot attend the service this weekend and where I could post photos and information about her. Does such a site/service exist? Have you used it, and did you like it?

Any suggestions from those of you who have had to box up and dissolve another person's life, thank you in advance. I've read old threads like this and this and they were helpful, I'm trying to think of the post-memorial service stuff that people assume others are taking care of so I can take care of it myself this time.

I'm sure my grandmother had a will; I'm not worried about legal stuff, dividing assets, that sort of thing. I'm thinking of the more banal stuff that you don't realize you need to do after you've planned the service and had the funeral. Thanks, everyone.

Checklists and timelines for moving a business

Gravitus — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:17:57 -0800

Checklist and Timeline for a moving a business. Wholesale warehouse plus retail business. I googled for some checklists with timeframes but they were so ambiguous that I could make one faster than piecing together all of the different stuff into one master checklist. However my time is so chewed up I don't really have the time to make a comprehensive one.

Does anyone know of a good master checklist for moving a business that includes warehouse inventory, CSR's and all of the office stuff as well? I need to worry about moving everything from desks to the network to phones to electrical service into the new facilities. I have inventory racks, materials, tools, adhesives, etc... and about 6 months to make it happen.

I started a list and it always seems like I am overlooking a solid time line of when certain events need to happen. If anyone has some good links or ideas, that would be awesome. I am not opposed to buying a template or something that drops into excel, etc. This would be my first move in a business setting that I am fully in charge of and I don't want to drop the ball.

Online checklist for a set of tasks a group must complete?

CaptApollo — Fri, 01 May 2009 07:24:59 -0800

Online checklist/progress tracking software? I need to walk several hundred students through the process of enrolling at my university. This includes both online and 'real world' tasks. I'd like to add a page to my website where students can see the list of tasks they need to accomplish, download forms as PDFs or complete them online, plus check off real-world tasks. They would need to be able to come back and pickup where they left off.

Ideally, this would us Facebook Connect, or Google Friend Connect (OpenID). I could probably bolt that onto some existing 'checklist framework' however.

Vacationing checklist

vermontlife — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:23:53 -0800

Packing for a trip to the NJ Shore. Do you have a check list you use when you take a family vacation in a rented house/condo? more inside.... We rented a house and now I need to think of EVERYTHING we might need there. We're going Aug 1 - Aug 8. I have a husband, baby and a 13 year old. We're staying with other family (FIL, MIL, BIL, SIL (where "IL" is In Law)). Normally MIL packs everything, but this year FIL is very sick and going through chemo/radiation treatment for esophageal cancer at hospital 2 hours away in Philly. I volunteered to work with SIL to bring all that is needed for the week. I've never done this before and feel some pressure not to forget anything.

Do you have a checklist to share or any tips for me to use? Emphasis is on food stuffs, but remember we can buy things down there (Jersey veg and fruit). Bonus points for thoughtful things to bring for FIL.

Home Inspection Checklist

amanda — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:04:22 -0800

What should I be looking for during a home inspection? I'm a first-time buyer and will be there for the inspection tomorrow. What should I be looking at while the inspector is looking? Will I be following him/her around or do you generally leave them alone to do their thing? Also, my realtor set up the inspection for the house, the sewer scope and the soils testing (it has an oil tank). I guess in some cases you're not supposed to trust your realtor to put these things together because of a conflict of interest? Up to now, though, she has seemed thorougly competant, insightful and honest. After being braced for the worst she has turned out to be really great for us.

I'm in Oregon where agents are either buyer's agents or seller's agents if that makes a difference.

I look forward to any tips or advice on this -- the house appears to be in really good condition but this whole process makes me queasy.

checklist for life practicalities?

phoenixy — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:46:15 -0800

What do I need to do in daily life that I don't realize I need to be doing? I'm a recent college grad still getting used to this "real life" thing, living in an apartment for the first time.

What do I need to be careful about not forgetting? I'm looking for general life things that a person can forget to do or not know they're supposed to be doing--like changing the oil in the car, or filing taxes, or contributing to an IRA, or registering to vote, or checking abandoned property records, or doing breast self-exams, or getting a dentist appointment or booster shots for the cat...generally, things you don't realize you were supposed to have done until it's a considerable time later and you think, "shit, why didn't I do that?"

Book or (better yet) website recommendations would be ideal here. I hope this isn't too open-ended of a question.

FWIW, I don't actually have a car. I do have a cat, though, and a roommate.