2023 Declutter & Organize Your Life

[startsmart]

Dec 2, 2023 14:33:07 GMT -5 tcu2003 said:

Nov 28, 2023 11:02:50 GMT -5 startsmart said:

megaptera - I got the snow here in SE Kansas and it is mostly melted now. Glad you drove through safely! 

debthaven - yay for reimbursements! 

I need to get to the grocery store for the one ingredient I need for a recipe but it's so cozy indoors and cold and windy outside. Even the cats are curled up in the sun and under the blankets for warmth. I'll go soon and luckily I put my shoes in front of the space heater after going out in the snow so they should be toasty. 

Tomorrow at the Christmas parade I should really bring blankets and extra scarves and gloves, it's going to be cold! 

I forgot you are in SE KS! That’s where I grew up and where my mom still lives (for another week or so), so historically, we’re in that area pretty frequently as it’s only about 2.5 hrs from our house.

lol I regularly drive 2-3 hrs to Kansas City,
Joplin, Tulsa or Wichita to do shopping in “real towns.” If you’re ever out my way or want to meet up lmk! I always forget to check messages on this forum but if you tell me there’s a message I’ll go find it

We had a second parade today in my town and gave away 75-80 cups of cocoa. We also remembered the donation jar for the scholarship fund so that was successful.

[bean29]

ETA) sorry I meant for this to be in what are you doing right now).

I need to go to work today, but I have a mani-pedi at 10am. Which means I won’t get there till 12:30 or 1 pm. DH asked if we were putting a tree up. Yeah. We need new flooring. I want something different than he is willing to consider. I want to remove tile in entryway/hallway. He says no. Part is he thinks entryway s/b tile, other part is removing the tile would be a major project. So I told him today maybe we should just buy new carpet. We were going to do wood or vinyl plank flooring.

I talked to Amazon/eero and partially got wifi working on my phone, but still can’t get into Alexa/Audible/Kindle. You have to be on wifi to download books, so it is a huge problem for me. I am ready to take phone back…but old one was not adequate and this issue is not new. There is info about it on reddit. So it needs to be resolved by Amazon or Apple. I don’t have time for this either.

I was at work for 2.45 hrs this afternoon. I had to clean a bitt before I went to work. Round trip to & from work is an hour. Had to leave to take mom to church. So a lady walked up to mom and gave her a note card that Christian Women’s Luncheon is at 1 pm Tuesday and her friend N will pick her up. She is to bring a dessert. WTF assign my mom to bring a dessert if they know she has memory problems? Did they hand her the note card in front of me hoping I would make the dessert? I am going to call DS and see if her DD can help Mom. I think my DS is busy too.

I should be asleep, but have been awake since 3:30. It will come back to haunt me later when I am too tired to function. I’m

[Sharon]

Yesterday I changed the sheets on the bed, did three loads of laundry (all folded and put away), and ran the dishwasher.  Then I primered my office space and the hall from the office to the front door.  I was so tired last night and my knees were on fire but I got it done.  I'm not sure if I will paint today or not.

[wvugurl26]

Today all the paper has to go so we can decorate for Christmas. The amount of junk mail that comes in this house and needs shredded is ridiculous. Fall is hard for me to keep up with the house, we travel nearly every weekend. Then I was also sick for a week.

I also need to consolidate the boxes from Christmas purchases. I've got stuff I intend to sell on eBay so I don't want to recycle all of them.

[debthaven]

DH finally finished going through the boxes in his office/DS2's bedroom. Some of it went to the basement, but he also threw out/recycled a lot. At least it's out of that room now. All that's left are the antique sewing machines. DH still has to deal with those.    

I ordered another Xmas present, so getting there (very) slowly. And chose another that I need to order.

Great news on the car repair startsmart !

Would you ever consider a fire pit for the papers wvugurl26 ? Burning is more fun than shredding. 

I'm working 8h this week (on Zoom).

[TheOtherMe]

I am declaring that I am done with Christmas presents for the kiddos.  The gift for the Toddler that was being returned to the company will eventually get there.  The gifts for DN3's stepson have arrived at their house.

I know they are very relieved not to have to keep everything show house ready and that didn't last a week.  I know it was always hard for just me and cats.  They have a kid and two big dogs.

[debthaven]

You'll be so happy to get your basement back TheOtherMe !

Congrats on finishing the move and closing on the old place snapdragon !

bean29 I wouldn't want to have carpet in the entry, personally. It would get pretty dirty I think.

[wvugurl26]

We have a fire pit but it's rain all day today in the forecast. They are likely not getting shredded today but just bagged up and out of the way.

[debthaven]

wvugurl26 I put papers and small packaging in the fire pit as I sort/empty them, and burn them later when the weather is okay. Ours has a lid so the contents don't get wet.  

We used to burn paper in the fireplace, but you're not supposed to burn paper in the insert, so I use the fire pit more often than I used to. 

[debthaven]

Just a reminder

My friend A (who I've pulled away from in the last year) has just been scammed for at least 10K. PLEASE EVERYBODY, BE CAREFUL!!!

Here we constantly get emails from delivery companies saying we need to pay postage, or customs (because as Anglophones we often order from the UK). A fell for it. 

ABSOLUTELY NO JUDGEMENT!!! By the grace of Gd go I!!!

Nobody is immune to being careless one day, but A is very difficult on the best of days... so at this point I'm pretty much done with her. 

finnime I know your DD dealt with this too.

May all of these scammers rot in hell!!!

[TheOtherMe]

Dec 3, 2023 16:35:31 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Just a reminder

My friend A (who I've pulled away from in the last year) has just been scammed for at least 10K. PLEASE EVERYBODY, BE CAREFUL!!!

Here we constantly get emails from delivery companies saying we need to pay postage, or customs, and A fell for it. 

ABSOLUTELY NO JUDGEMENT!!! By the grace of Gd go I!!!

Nobody is immune to being careless one day, but A is very difficult on the best of days... so at this point I'm pretty much done with her. 

finnime I know your DD dealt with this too.

May all of these scammers rot in hell!!!

I am so sorry about A getting scammed.  I hope I would recognize the scam but I know they are good.  I know one very intelligent person who came so close to losing everything.  

[wvugurl26]

My uncle did basically lose everything. And took most of my grandma's life savings. He claims he paid it back but that's $25k short. Uncle would not listen to anyone who said it was a scam and his son is so conflict adverse he would not force the issue. In his mental state recovering from a bad bout of myasthenia gravis, he should not have had control of his finances.

I hope there is a special place in hell for scammers. I think the stress from it absolutely accelerated the decline of my aunt and my grandma.

[debthaven]

I hope there is a special place in hell for scammers.

Same here wvugurl26

I'm so sorry about your uncle/grandma. It's just heartbreaking. 

[debthaven]

My question now is, so how does one protect one's savings?! DH said, um, just don't get scammed. How very helpful!

I'm thinking there should be two "layers" at the bank (for lack of a better word) so that if one DOES get scammed, the scammers can access PART but not ALL of it. 

Is there such a thing?!

[debthaven]

I just wrote to my banker to ask for advice. A is at the same bank. 

[debthaven]

I nearly got scammed two summers ago. We were in the car heading south on vacation. I never take my computer on vacation.

I got an email saying that my gov't health insurance card was expiring, I needed to update my contact info. I had my doubts, but they did NOT ask for any financial/ banking info, so I updated my contact info (which they had). 

They wrote again two months later telling me my new card was now ready, and I had to pay for postage to get it sent to me. Hmm... I never had to pay for postage before. At that point we were back home so I had access to my computer. I googled it ... scam. 

We have an elderly friend in our theater troupe ... she gets scammed AT LEAST once every two months!!! You'd think she's learn at some point, but NO!

[debthaven]

And scamming the elderly (but not only, they're just an easy target) existed even before the internet.

A close friend's grandma and great aunt lived in two small houses in a forest. They both had a wine merchant who would sell them wine. He played the two sisters off against each other for YEARS. My friend's grandma died soon enough after her last order than my friend's husband was able to cancel the ridiculously huge order, but he looked into it and saw what had happened.

My ex's grandma moved to Nice to retire, her DH died shortly afterwards. There was a woman taxi driver who would drive all the elderly women because her clients "felt safe" with her. After R died, my ex/late FIL realized that she'd been charging her clients 2 or 3 or 4 times for the same ride. They were all elderly women on their own. The taxi driver would say, dear, you still owe me for X/Y/Z ride, but no rush! I trust you! They were mortified, so they'd immediately write her a/another check.

My ex/late FIL sued her for that, but I don't know what happened.

[Opti]

Dec 3, 2023 16:56:55 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Dec 3, 2023 16:35:31 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Just a reminder

My friend A (who I've pulled away from in the last year) has just been scammed for at least 10K. PLEASE EVERYBODY, BE CAREFUL!!!

Here we constantly get emails from delivery companies saying we need to pay postage, or customs, and A fell for it. 

ABSOLUTELY NO JUDGEMENT!!! By the grace of Gd go I!!!

Nobody is immune to being careless one day, but A is very difficult on the best of days... so at this point I'm pretty much done with her. 

finnime I know your DD dealt with this too.

May all of these scammers rot in hell!!!

I am so sorry about A getting scammed.  I hope I would recognize the scam but I know they are good.  I know one very intelligent person who came so close to losing everything.  

Very true debthaven. Anyone can be scammed in a moment of weakness or under financial duress. And this is the season they are out in force fishing for your money and info.

[wvugurl26]

In my uncle's case, don't send money via PayPal. I had a friend in federal law enforcement looking into it then I saw the bank statement with PayPal charges and foreign transaction fees.

Unfortunately real estate records are public so that's how the scammer got in touch with my uncle.

I would also say if it's something you aren't expecting wait a day or two and think about it.

[debthaven]

I would also say if it's something you aren't expecting wait a day or two and think about it.

Good advice! The problem is that at this time of year, most of us ARE expecting a delivery. That's how A got screwed.

And although I HATE what Amazon does and represents, I DO safer ordering from them than from a new vendor, ie another website I have to enter my payment info.

So while I don't LIKE Amazon, I DO trust them.

[moneysquirrel]

Just checking in.  Life is almost back to normal.

*Managed to catch up on laundry and most of the other things I couldn't do because of restrictions  
*Still in the process of getting Christmas items in place but should be able to finish the rest this week. 
*Had a craft show yesterday and last one of the year is this coming Saturday if all goes well.
*This week is the last week of classes
*My passport came in and I updated my Global entry account 
*Got the gifts for the little ones on my list -- Need to pick up one or more items and I will be done.

Re: Scamming -- I try to be very careful.  I use virtual credit card numbers for online purchases and lock them asap after the amount is on my card.  I also have a separate checking account that I use for venmo, paypal, and square. It has very little in it and I use those services rarely -- mainly square and venmo at the craft shows to accept payments.  I use a virtual CC for purchases with paypal. I have a tendency to track everything -- its the nerd in me -- so it helps me be aware of things.

Hope all are doing well.  Will try to check in a little more often.

[snapdragon]

I just put together a teal/aqua metal cabinet for overage in the bathroom!

I have to move the bed about 1 foot over for ease of use, so I need to slider furniture feet things which I just found. They are small but I just don't care right now. 

Did 3 loads of laundry yesterday. Of course, its piled on my bed at the moment.

Washed dishes and need to put them away here soon.

I am really truly going to start on the media cabinet next. I went and grabbed to electrical screwdriver of ease of building.

I also found a empty check register. My old one filled up late last month and I have been using a scrap of note paper to keep track. 

[finnime]

I still have to go through the mail I kept from before Thanksgiving and file it away as appropriate. Plus a hundred more housecleaning chores. I'll get there.

[Iggy aka IG]

Well, we didn't get additional predicted snow yesterday which is fine with me.  

When working from home Friday, I did three loads of actual laundry, and ran an empty load with Tide Oxi washing machine cleaner.  Friday, I deleted 3,100 old email and cleared off half of my physical desktop.  I tossed a few things and relocated a few others.  Yesterday I did another three loads of laundry, and still have one more to do.  I also:

-Kept up on dishes
-Ice trays were refilled a few times, and the Keurig prepared for the week
-Scrubbed the interior of the slow cooker with Dawn Concentrated.  Not the stone liner, but the actual inside of the exterior if that makes sense.
-Planned this week's meals
-Put away the Sam's Club order
-Finished some light reading
-Boiled eggs and processed produce for the week
-Decorated the house, and most of the tree
-Scrubbed one toilet
-Put the guest pillows and blankets into storage and two old pillows were tossed
-The former guest room lamp will be relocated to my home office
-I'm compiling another bag of stuffed animals for first responders
-I cooked up some ground beef for tonight's tacos

The "Cardio Cave" is starting to take shape.  My treadmill still needs to be relocated into it, but there's no rush.  For display, DH and I each chose framed pictures of the two us reflecting happiness and healthfulness.

ETA:  The above chores resulted in 3,600+ steps yesterday.  

And the UPS guy just came and went.  He selected a water and one food item from the basket I set up last week.  At some point, another building tenant added a box of protein bars.  I love it.  

[debthaven]

You're always so productive Iggy aka IG !

moneysquirrel I have never heard of a virtual credit card ... I will look into that! 

Yay snapdragon for putting the cabinet together! 

Hairdresser appt tomorrow, then a work lunch, then I'm picking DH up from the dentist. 

[TheOtherMe]

I thought I might have gotten scammed over the weekend as one of the companies I regularly deal with sent a notice out via email that my credit card needed updating.  I following the link and updated.  Then I got nervous.

So this morning I called them.  Their system had changed and the emails went out prematurely and I did not give my credit card info to some unknown person.

I was relieved.

[debthaven]

What a relief TheOtherMe !

I emailed HR today to ask if they could extend my current work contract rather than give me a new one in January, because of my health insurance issues. They'll probably refuse. 

I have to pick DH up at the dentist tomorrow, so I'm hoping C may has enough time to do my paperwork. But I'm not holding my breath, it's probably too early. 

[TheOtherMe]

Yes, I just blindly did what the email asked.  It had the same logo as the invoices have.  

I am glad I called because she said other emails also went out and she was expecting more calls.

[debthaven]

TheOtherMe you know my DH is a graphic designer.

The first thing he tells everyone who asks about this is, click on reply, and compare that email address to the one you usually exchange emails with. Most people don't bother to do that. Second, check for obvious spelling errors. 

For sure, the scammers are getting smarter. But (per DH) that's a starting point.

PS. DH's skills helped nail a student who lied about her days off/missed exams/flights home. She also plagiarized the emails to/from her parents. The person I used to teach as a history professor is now in charge of the Bachelor students. I still teach him.

G told me, I KNOW something is off, but I can't prove it! DH gave G the ammo to prove it! (G is also the friend/colleague we took to Ikea last month.)

[moneysquirrel]

Dec 4, 2023 14:29:53 GMT -5 debthaven said:

moneysquirrel I have never heard of a virtual credit card ... I will look into that!

debthaven -- One of the banks I use provides virtual credit cards which are attached to your real CC number.  A number is created for everyplace you want to use one online.  It is only available at that particular store. So a number created for Amazon is only available at Amazon.  Also you can lock the cards once the charge has been applied to your real CC number.  I think I have about 20+ virtual cards and almost all of them are locked. Since the numbers are linked only to a specific store, if that store is hacked the real number has not been compromised.