Unfortunately, we are all human and sometimes checks get misplaced, or forgotten about.

Should David sacrifice his safety because of some misplaced do-gooder sympathy and worry about hurting the homeless guy's feelings?  

@Nathan Gesner your eager optimism of enforcement is admired but misplaced.

Both you and the tenants should bring your copy of the move-in inspection report {Note: print off an extra as the tenants invariable have misplaced their copy}.  

By the time they decide to move, they have often misplaced the form, so we give them another one as soon as we hear wind that they are considering moving.

to be honest, most tenants wouldn't have taken care of landscaping or new sod.....and the fact that this 'slumlord' installed landscaping or new sod refutes your whole point about him not taking care of the property..i would never sod my rentals, so i guess he's way better than me..seriously, i think you're pissed at the wrong person..be mad at the idiot tenants and hold them responsible...your frustration at the landlord is misplaced and is the reason our country is going in the direction we're going..let the tenants slide..blame the landlord for things they didn't do..i agree with steve..go pick up a frisbee or learn how to paint

We had a problem with our property manager who "misplaced" many of those money orders. 

The lawyer drawing it up seems to be misplaced spending but that is his option.  

With a phone call I might forget or if I make a note I might misplace it.

If you feel really uncomfortable with numbers and terrified that you might misplace dollars, then I would consider software, but being that it is a smaller triplex, and that you have opened up a credit card and checking account already, and Excel sheet should be just fine until you start to scale to 6+ units.