A GOOD FINANCIAL RECORDS SET UP CAN HELP WITH OTHER ORGANZING ALSO - SUCH AS WHICH AIR CONDITIONER ARE THESE INSTRUCTIONS FOR AND DO WE STILL HAVE IT?

 Did you ever buy something because it seemed like a great idea to help with organizing, not use it right away and forget about it?  

Well, one of the places we go to in Pennsylvania is a farmer's market which is also a general merchandise/flea market.  Most of the vendors are out doors, but there are some buildings with indoor vendors.  For decades and decades there was an indoor vendor who sold tools and related items – he finally retired and sold his business to someone else.  The new owner has expanded the type of items he sells and sells household items and office supplies (and I am sure I have mentioned – I love office supplies, used to play with them as a child and still think of them as FUN).  He is buying at auctions and such so he has a big assortment of items.  I always make sure to go through his office supply aisle carefully.  

When going through his booth this past Friday I was suddenly reminded – a few years ago I had bought a package of tabs to put on hanging folders which one would print the name of the folders by running it the tabs through one's computer.  (These are made by a well known label company.)  I had completely forgotten about these labels.  When we came home I checked and the package was exactly where it belonged – in the plastic stacking trays file holder next to where our printer had been (and our latest printer is) – this holds assorted items to run through the former copier, now printer next to where they are located.  One problem I have been having with going through these hanging folders is that I could not keep track of which ones I have been through and which I have not – plus since the labels on them face forward and this is the bottom drawer of the file cabinet – and add that I wear eyeglasses so when I bend down to read the file labels – my eyeglasses swing out of line – if not off my face – I get confused and start going through folders I have finished with.  

I started printing these new tabs for folders that I have been through – easy to read as name points upwards on the file folder and easy to see which files I have been through.  

One of the folders I went through this past week held instruction manuals for large appliances in our house – air conditioners, refrigerator, dehumidifier, and similar.  I put several instruction books into the recycle pile to get rid of them and then across one which was confusing.  

It was a manual for an air conditioner (we have individual through the wall units in our house).  It was dated as a June 2008 purchase.  I looked up at the unit in the office – not that one.  I knew we had just purchased a new air conditioner for our bedroom last year – this was not that unit, but it could be the one which was there before and had been removed.  The air conditioner in the smallest bedroom (the one most of my teddy bears live in) dates back to the former owner, as does the one in our studio.  It was not for a portable air conditioner, so that left out the one we normally used in the living room or dining room which died last year. Before that we had window unit in the living room, but that had come from our old apartment – and would have been purchased in the 1980s.   Hmmm, There were pictures, but several different ones.  Old bedroom a/c made the most sense.  I asked husband if I was forgetting any air conditioners.  I was – the one in his wood shop (garage).  We were not sure what year we bought same.  We were trying to figure it out – keep as from old bedroom unit or keep as from current garage unit?  I suddenly had a flash of sense!  I use Quicken for our financial records.  I looked up 2008 and in July 2008 – I paid for the air conditioner we had replaced last year in our bedroom.  So it was the one from the old bedroom unit and it went into the recycle pile.  

It is amazing how much keeping good financial records (especially ones which can easily be searched) can help with general organization.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -  

Keeping good financial records is important to do for many reasons, including one's income tax – figuring out which major item was purchases when or how much it cost is part of that.  

How are YOUR financial records?  There are many programs which help with keeping track of where your money goes.  Using the computer to do so takes only seconds when you make a deposit or write a check.  It helps at the end of the year when you do your income taxes as well as making a valid budget to follow in future years – what you spent last year can be looked at to figure out what you can/should spend in this or future years.

SETTING THE RV FOR A TRIP, A PRINTER PROBLEM, AND GOING THROUGH ACCUMULATED WARRANTY AND INSTRUCTION PAPERS

 Still have not gone away – currently planning to do on Friday and we have done more to get the RV setup and ready to go – replaced the paper goods, soaps, and the like which we took out back in the spring of 2020 when we were first in “stay at home” and husband was sure we would run out of same.  It took almost a year before we used any packages of these items and had already bought replacements by then.  

He is just planning a day trip, so I don't have to make up the beds or such, just get everything where it belongs and secured so it won't move around during the trip.  As we started doing this we came up short something – we have 3 spring loaded curtain rods which we put across the aisle of the RV – under the bed when it set up, just across the aisle when it is not, to hold items in the small aisle area in place so they do not come forward if we have to stop short.  The curtain rods are missing?!  I know where I keep them when we are not using them, but we had cleared everything loose out of the RV when we took it in for work on its generator a month or two ago.  Husband put everything back in.  We have checked everywhere in the RV which is a long enough space for the curtain rods to fit into.  We have gone though our house where items from the RV were in the house.  No – not anywhere.  Since they are not expensive items and I had thought the springs in them were going back in mid 2019 when last we traveled, we went to Walmart to buy new rods – none in the right size in Walmart.  So, we went to the other Walmart near us (technically both of these of these stores are in extended walking area of our house in opposite directions – we may not have a Walmart as big as they are elsewhere, but we have a lot more of them) and found them there in silver/grey, doesn't matter to us that they are not white as long as we can find them in the future.  

This past week I have also been going through one of my file drawers.  This drawer holds instructions and warranty information for things in the house and also travel items – maps, brochures (from places we visited, want to visit, or both) and, on the sentimental side, tickets and such from past visits.  The latter items involve discussion with my husband as he feels a need to keep them more than I do.  I did get rid of a good stack of old maps – we can get new ones free from AAA, the roads have probably changed since they were printed and he uses his multiple GPS devices (simultaneously- sometimes they seem to be arguing - “turn here”  “no – turn there”).  

I try to scan the instructions into the computer if they are not large and not likely to need to be pulled out and used quickly.  After they are scanned (and same is backed up) I get rid of them.  I did decided to keep the instructions for his stationary bicycle even though I scanned it – if we were to get rid of at some point by donation or sale it would be good to have the manual.  In going through these papers I came up with an assortment of instruction manuals for items I was not sure if we still had and handed them to him to go through.  This started him looking again for the battery jumper for our RV if there is a problem starting it – we finally ended up finding it as a result of this – he had put in our van when we had to drive our RV to the dealer – 2 states away – and leave it with them for repairs. Our car was “not feeling well at the time and we had to take the van to come home in – this was in 2018 and he had not put the battery jumper back in the RV since, hence it being missing.  So, going through all these papers solved a mystery and we don't have to buy a new battery jumper  for the RV.  

I have folders by year for warranty papers – for example if we buy something this year and it has a 1 year warranty, the warranty papers will go in the 2022 file folder – at the end of 2022 the papers in the file will be gone through and most will be thrown out and the file folder will be used for another purpose.  Right now these folders go to 2026.

We had been having a problem with our all in one (printer, scanner, fax) in the office.  The pages were grey marked all over.  We cleaned the drum per the instructions – dry – no change – then cleaned the drum per general instructions found online -with alcohol – no change.  Husband looked up ordering a new drum – US$170!!  Quite a chunk of money.  While debating what to do we happened to see a printer/scanner in Walmart for US$99.  Hmmm. The all in one can still be used for scanning and faxing (and printing junk items for me that I don't care if they are pristine) and buy the unit for nice printing and husband can scan without having to walk all the way to my desk for $99 or we can buy a new drum for US$170 – and then might need to buy a new toner cartridge also…  Husband started looking at what else is available – fax machines are hard to find these days.  (I would figure that same would mean that people no longer fax – our is used very rarely since we got it and only once in the past year – but that was to receive a fax from someone who had to send me tax info and was at his suggestion, so people must still use fax machines?  (Post to me and tell if you/they do still fax machines please.)   So we decided to buy the new scanner/printer.  

Not as easy as these sounds – well, the buying is, but we needed someplace to put it.  Before this problem we had planned to buy the color printing version of the same all in one machine for husband as he needs to do color printing and is not happy with the printer he has (and we were soooo happy with this unit before this happened).  We had planned to get rid of the photocopier I “inherited” with my dad's accounting practice when he died and put his printer there – having a second copier was important to this as I need to have one for work and cannot trust not having a spare one.  So we had to carry to the copier outside and leave it for sanitation pickup  - or someone coming past our house, finding our house and taking it for their self (which would did happen and makes me happy that it will still be used).  It is from the 1970s or 80s and is rather heavy – and we are rather weak.  We took out the tray and removed anything we could to make it lighter and then carried it down the stairs – one step at a time – and out to the curb.  We then taped the rest of the items – tray, toner in carrier, cord, etc to it.  

So far this setup is working.  Biggest thing we had to do was that the new unit was plugged directly into a wall outlet and we really wanted it in a breaker box.  So we bought a long, heavy duty extension cord.  Husband ran it around the perimeter of the room (not an easy thing – behind furniture, under his work table, under his desk and then up between our two desks).  

So all in all, it was a busy week – RV, instructions and warranty papers, and old copier out, new scanner/printer in.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Most weeks when I look back not much seems to be have been done.  A week like this one when a lot was accomplished and problems solved feel very good. 

VACUUM FOLLOWUP AND KEEPING TRACK OF WHAT HAS TO BE DONE

 Saturday night last week husband had an idea.  He took one of our older vacuum cleaners, opened the bottom of it and took out the roller.  He then plugged it in and tried to vacuum with it – it works fine without the roller – no roller, no hair problem.  We did find out, which I am sure we knew and forgot over the years since it was used, that the on/off switch is broken on the old vacuum – it is on if it is plugged in – better than being turned off when plugged in.  

We returned the other vacuum we bought.

Husband figured out how to attach hose and floor shaped piece to a small wet dry vacuum we have.  Between the two – we can vacuum as much as we need to.  We only have 3 rooms (office, studio, and teddy bears' room – aka spare bedroom)which have carpet so the floors mostly do not need the roller brush that is the problem with the hair.

And if he will use the vacuum cleaners – yippee for me.  I mostly do the cleaning in the house (and in the RV).

Speaking of our little RV – we went out today with a print out of the list of what we need to have in it for a trip.  While we pushed our July 4th trip back to last week and then pushed it off until July 4th, 2022, we still want to get it ready for a trip, even if only a day trip.  (Moved it back to next July as easier than calling each time we decide we are not ready to travel plus we know we have a reservation for then as they normally fill months in advance.  We can make reservations for trips between now and then as we go along and decide we are going.)

In normal times we keep a lot of common items in the RV – hand soap, shampoo, dish soap, suntan lotion, toilet paper, paper towels…  In March 2020 when husband was in a panic over the coming pandemic and lack of available items in stores, we took many of these items into the house in case we needed them.  Oddly, when he looked through quickly a few weeks ago the holder piece for the toilet paper holder was missing and we bought a new one as we knew we had NOT taken that into the house.  

I have the list and check it before each trip we take just to be sure.  Much of it is items we pack for specific trips – clothing, jackets, shoes (though we keep slippers in the RV), snacks, chargers for everything we bring, plastic bags of all types and sizes, and so on.  In this case we were just checking what items normally stored in the RV we need to replace.  I made notations on the paper as we ran down it.  We found out we need to buy new toilet liquid (goes into the tank to help dissolve the tp and get rid of odors and help make what goes into it into “liquid”).  I put it on the shopping list.  

So now we know (though I am sure we will miss something) what has to go back in in addition to what we put in for each trip.  

In addition to the check list mentioned above, I also have a small checklist of what we need to make sure that when we leave our RV space each day we have done what we need to do – disconnected and put away the electricity connection and the cable wire which we use to connect the RV to the connections in the site.  I also list the water/toilet connections although we generally don't use the water connections at all (we fill the clean water tanks before leaving home) we do need to “dump” the sink and toilet water tanks before we leave our last morning at the campsite (on longer trips also during the trip once or twice).  I have reminders to check that curtains are open around the RV (closed at night for privacy), decorations we put out have been taken and stored, things inside the RV are shut off and put away in place so they don't move about while driving – don't want a plastic box coming at one's head if one has to stop short for example.  Jackets and sweatshirts back in place on the third seat and seat belt around them to keep them there.  Cabinets have to closed and the closures snapped closed to hold them close while driving and so on.  I have all these items listed on this smaller checklist and I check off each item or note that it was needed to be needed that morning with an “X”.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
If you do something repeatedly – make yourself a check list of what you need to do it.  I use a computer spreadsheet – easy to change if needed and easy to print out when needed.  

BUYING A NEW VACUUM CLEANER

 We have several vacuum cleaners.  

There is an upright one upstairs  - actually standing up in the corner of the bedroom as there is no place to keep it.

There is a small wet/dry vacuum in the office upstairs.  (Why there?  Well a vacuum in the office is convenient as lots of shredded paper ends up on the carpet and it is easy to use for same (on the dry setting of course).  

There is another upright vacuum in the front hall closet on the main floor.  It is held standing up against the wall with velcro attached to the wall.  There is also a hand held vacuum hanging just inside the door to basement from our kitchen.  

The basement has a normal sized wet dry vacuum.

The garage/wood workshop has a BIG wet dry vacuum as it goes into clear pipes around the inside of the garage walls and the various standing power tools connect into it so that when the tool is in use one opens a small door where a short pipe from the tool meets the big one around the wall of the basement – this allows most of the saw dust to be sucked into the pipes and then into the vacuum.  

I have never liked vacuum cleaners since I was little – they make too much noise for me.  I use sweeping tools instead.  I have been very bad however, for a number of years and even more so the past year past during the pandemic, at actually using anything to clean the floors or to dust.  Does using the toe of a fuzzy slipper count as cleaning?

Husband had been getting more upset about how the house looks – he claimed that one could get lost in the dust on the floor.  He decided the problem was needed a better vacuum (at least he did not decide that what “we” needed was a better wife).  He has been reading and studying about the newer vacuums and what to buy.  

So last Friday we drove out to the Walmart over the county line as they had the stick vacuum he has seen on TV and he decided was what we needed.  The Walmart near us carries this vacuum also, but all the cartons looked open (should have been a clue).  

We took it home and he immediately set it up.  First problem – the commercials say it stands alone – it only does so if one removes the motor section and hangs it from a hook lower down on the stick – not a great thing to have to take it apart and put it back every time it is used.  He cleaned our kitchen and part of our studio with it.  Kitchen has vinyl floor, studio has carpet.  He tried to clean the air conditioner in the studio with it – using it without the floor cleaning piece – not as successful.  Despite their advertising it does NOT clean up to the wall and there was about ¾ to 1 inch of a line of dirt around the walls which it did not/could not pick up.  We had to dump out the dirt cup twice while using it (okay, there was at least 6 months of dirt on the floor).  Hair is not suppose to get caught around the roller – it does get caught. We had to cut the hair off the roller of the vacuum with a pair of scissors before repacking it.  Then again also, we both have long hair.  

He then took it upstairs to the bedroom and cleaned the wood floor up there with it.  Similar problems and even more hair caught under it and again the dirt cup had to be dumped twice.  We decided it was not for us.  We packed it and did so.  

He then started looking again.  The same company makes other similar vacuums – he decided we needed the next size up.  It actually stands on its own when assembled (no need to take the motor off), holds more in the dirt cup and so on.  He read the instructions online this time to avoid any surprises.

We bought the larger one.  Today we set it up and tried it.  Similar problems to the first problem and much heavier.  So we repacked it to return it.  

We never did get to the living room, or dining room floors – both wood, or the spare bedroom upstairs- carpet and only one of our studio was vacuumed as the other side is covered in “stuff” mostly as a result of canned goods and such being on my work table there  -  so other items were moved to the floor.

While he is the one looking for a new vacuum I realize it all my fault.  If I had kept up with the sweeping (I use a modern version of a broom that comes with replaceable pads which I will not name, although it works very well as opposed to these vacuums) he would not have decided that we need to get a new vacuum and we would not have gone through all of this.  I do use one of the hand held vacuums to pick up the debris left after sweeping.

Now, to be fair, I have had my eyes on a device which holds a bottle of cleaning liquid and vacuums it up  after shooting it onto the floor to clean it, which is used to wash floors. Problem has been that we don't like scents – especially floral scents – which its cleaning liquids have.  They now have a lemon scent which we can both probably deal with and we will buy same.  It is mostly for my kitchen floor which gets dirty of course, more than getting dusty.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK – Always take advertisements “with a grain of salt”.  I know this. Husband knows this and will make fun of people who fall for advertisements.  I knew these vacuums would not be as advertised, but hoped that they would be better than they were – he actually thought that they would be as advertised for some strange reason.  

What do you use to clean your floors?   Well at least the floors are mostly clean right now.

NICE WHEN A WEEK ACTUALLY GOES RIGHT

A better week.  

Day after I wrote last week's post I was surprised to receive the renewal for our van – since it was suppose to take until sometime next week to reach us.  Weather has been terribly hot and we are not going anywhere, so we have not changed the window sticker yet.  (Van parked on our driveway so not a problem that the old sticker is still in the window.)

And – after being told that I could not renew that prescription both by our pharmacy and our medical insurance – we received a call Monday asking why we had not picked up the prescription yet and we only had 2 more days to pick it up before it went back into stock!  We went in to pick it up – I was sure that they were going to charge the full price for it – after all, it was the only insurance saying it would not pay for it yet that stopped it from being filled – and if that was that was the case – I would say to put back into stock for now.  Surprise!  It was charged at the usual co-payment.  Not exactly sure how this happened, but it did.  

When we went food shopping last week we stopped at a Wendys near the supermarket for lunch.  This particular Wendys has never been the best, but it is greatly lacking right now – not sure if change of management or if we just never had lunch there before – we used to go for dinner on some Saturday nights.  

How nice it was to go in the supermarket, make only one trip into it, and do our entire food shopping and not even have a problem fitting all the bags in the cart after we shopped.  We have not shopped for a normal sized shopping order in over 15 months.

And then, also on Thursday, we did something else we have not done in over 15 months – we went out for dinner!   Back in the normal times we would go to an Asian buffet for dinner on Friday nights.  We went on Thursday night as we figured it would be a lot emptier than it would be on Friday night.  Very pleased that they handed us large gloves to use when going to the food bar and masks were required for same.  A number of unused serving trays on the food bars  – but not sure if this is due to it being now or if this was always the case on Thursday nights, though we presume the former.  

Everything we do these days continues to involve being organized.  We have to remember to bring our masks (no longer required by state or local government, but often required by the various businesses we are going to  - plus we feel safer with them on.  I carry at least two plastic sandwich bags in my pocket when we go anywhere – we can open doors (at stores without automatic doors) etc with them on our hands instead of touching the doors with our bare hands.  The Corona virus counts here may be very low and we may be fully vaccinated, but I know of too many people who will not the vaccine and feel safer not touching doors that everyone else is touching.  

When food shopping to prevent needing to continuously up and down the same aisles or need to go back to the store in a day or two as we forgot something – we make sure to shop with a list.  I have a strip of paper on the refrigerator for us to list items we are going to run out of – try to do this in time not to run out.  Unless we are going for less  than 10 or so items I write them into a computer spreadsheet.  On one of our early trips into the supermarket during the pandemic I listed by type items that we might use by aisle number – though it is my numbering system – the first aisle we go to in the store I have as aisle one, the next one as aisle two and so on through the food items.  After food is listed non-food items -  cleaning, vitamins and such.  Next on my list is refrigerated items – which involves walking back to the far end of the store, followed by meat items and lastly frozen items.  As we walk through the store we can pick easily find the items we need to buy.  I try to keep each section of the list to match the order in each aisle.  Putting them in this list also helps as my handwriting is terrible and I can always read what I printed out – while I cannot always figure out what I hand wrote on a list. While we are a bit more comfortable walking around in the store, we don't want to be in it longer than we need to be.  I am packing the cold items in different bags than the non-cold items as I am still wiping everything down with alcohol when we come home and want to make sure that I get to all the cold items quickly.  

When we go out food or other shopping we have to remember to bring bags with us these days.  Just as our area went into the pandemic last March, it became illegal for stores to provide plastic shopping bags and either a county or large city could impose a fee for paper bags or the stores in area which did not do so were allowed to charge up to 10 cents a bag for paper bags.  Our areas does not have the fee so it is up to stores if they are going to charge and whether they charge the entire 10 cents (plus a penny a bag in sales tax) or not.  Most, of course, are charging the full 10 cents.  One dollar store which is location of a chain store will automatically put one's items in a paper bag and charge for it – not ask if one wants a bag, even if one is buying one item.  They got me once with this.  The two times we have back I quickly say that we have our own bag.  What we have been going is carrying some of the old plastic shopping bags with us into stores other than when going into the supermarket for more than a couple of items when we bring double bagged paper bags with us.  If the plastic shopping bags are folded down correctly I can fit 4 of them (maybe even more) in each of my two back pockets leaving my hands free until we are done shopping and I am bagging the items we bought after we ring them up.    So, I have to organize our bags also.  When I first read a book about organizing the author said that one does not keep bags - “Have you ever walked into a store and they did not have bags available?”  I still went on keeping most of the bags we got which were normal sized or larger.  Husband made the same comment to me as the author had printed and I replied “you never know”  Up until this law went into effect I had been using those plastic shopping bags as free garbage bags for our bathroom and bedroom little garbage pails.  I now still use them – but dump them into (upstairs) the office pail and (downstairs) the kitchen pail and put the shopping bag into the little pails to use again unless they are messy.  My stash of bags that I would “never need as the stores always have them” will last us for years at the minimum, since they are being used over and over again.

What have you been doing differently to deal with all of these sorts of things this past year plus?

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Who ever thought that going food shopping for just what one needs in the coming week would become something looked forward to.