The Cost of Replacing Documents

We had all of our birth certificates replaced five years ago. At that time, a homeless services center handled it for free, including providing a temporary mailing address. We are doing this a second time out of pocket, starting with the priciest document. Here are the direct costs:

Money order: $50
Processing fee: $1
Printing: 10¢
Envelope: 15¢ plus tax, total: 16¢
Stamp: 58¢
Notary public: $15

Total: $66.84

That should probably include at least 10¢ more. I think they failed to charge me for the photocopy of the ID.

Hidden expenses: We need a mailing address and, for this item, a phone number to list. My mailing address is $15/month. I paid that today while taking care of this. I also bought a new phone today because I have not had one for two months. That cost me another $37.35.

All told, I spent $119.19 today to get this process started.

We need to do this twice more. The next two times should be substantially cheaper, in part because the $50 fee for the document is unusually high. The fee is usually closer to $25. Also, I will already have a phone.

But I wanted to list all expenses accurately while I can. If you need to do this on your own, there can be lots of little expenses that add up quickly. This list should give you some idea of what those might be.

The total cost shown here should represent a "worst case" scenario, not an optimistic one. It isn't intended to scare anyone. My hope is that it will help other homeless people avoid nasty surprises that they can ill afford.

I think it is problematic to only show a best case scenario with the lowest possible fees. Hopefully, when you add up your costs compared to mine today, you will be pleasantly surprised instead of freaking out.