By Leah McClellan

Yesterday, I decided to organize a little basket I have near my front door for mail that’s not quite junk mail and not quite bills. It’s stuff I might want to look at if I have time: cheap auto insurance. Coupons for local restaurants. A marketing flyer from a local contractor that was stuck in the door.

This was a pretty big pile—I hadn’t gone through it in awhile—and there wasn’t much I was interested in. Until I got to the bottom. Oops.

Two envelopes, both from my township, that were late notices for my dogs’ license renewals. They were due back in January—$22.20 each—and for some reason I didn’t take them upstairs to my desk with the other bills. Somehow, I forgot about them.

I kept pushing it out of my mind. I don’t... More...