STILL SCANNING INSTRUCTIONS - AND - ABOUT TO START TAKING DOWN INDOOR CHRISTMAS

 Sorry to miss posting last week (again) somehow I “lost” Wednesday.

Been doing more instruction manual scanning. In addition since the last time I bought new USB flash stick drives was 2019 I need to buy new ones for at least some purposes as they do become less reliable if overwritten again and again. My husband should enjoy this – he will get to wander around in the chain computer store (which is technically up the street from us – albeit at least a mile away and in another community) when we go to buy them. The ones I need are not expensive especially since we buy the store's house brand of them. I will then copy the info on my older ones to the newer ones and have the older ones to use for “junk” storage.

It is now time for us to start taking down our indoor Christmas decorations. Tree will have ornaments removed and stored in their boxes, the lights removed, and then the tree will be disassembled and it all will be stored away in various places in the basement. The other decorations generally “visit” us a bit longer – but not much. Have you started (or maybe even finished) storing away your Christmas decorations? At least one house locally still has its outside lights on.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Please keep yourselves safe from Covid as it makes its comeback.

 or

Have to go finish the dishes now.

COVID 19 #30 - USING YOUR TIME STUCK AT HOME TO WORK ON ORGANIZING

 Welcome to 2022.  

2020 and 2021 have not been easy years for any of us.  We all hoped that by now life would be back to close to normal, if not fully normal.  But we seem to be mostly starting over – again.  

So how have you been using your time at home?  Have you been working on decluttering and organizing your home – or your life or you have been sitting and watching things on your TV?  

I have been trying to catch up on decluttering.  I am close to finishing a project to scan instruction  manuals, warranty papers, travel information, etc. onto flash stick drives to use in my computer.  (We keep all data on same not on our hard drives.)  I back up daily and weekly onto other flash stick drives and monthly onto an external hard drive – just in case. I did go through the travel brochures, old travel ticket stubs, and maps when I started this project.  I kept very few - I consulted with my husband about many of these items.  I scanned items (not maps – except some of those handout maps from various communities we visit often) we decided to keep onto the flash drive I take with us when traveling (can be used in our laptops while traveling).  In a number of cases we checked to see if the attraction that the brochure was for still existed – a very nice restaurant in a community towards the western side of Virginia that we had been to a couple of times – decades ago – still exists, menu is different (it was in the brochure) and the prices are higher – so it was scanned and kept as we hope to head in that direction again. Three hanging folders emptied and the papers recycled.

I have been working on instruction manuals/papers and warranties more recently.  I had one overstuffed hanging folder just for same for our RV.  I have scanned this onto a special stick flash drive so they can be taken with us when we travel – something we could not do with the large number of manuals and warranty papers themselves (it is a VERY small RV.)  I am almost finished with this project.  I will then go back to see what else I can scan and toss or just toss from the drawer.  

In addition to getting rid of all of these physical papers it is now much easier to actually find the item needed.  Before I would I open the filing drawer – bottom of two – and have to lean down to see in the drawer – when I do this my eyeglasses swing forward (and sometimes fall off) so I have to grab them and hold them where they help me see what is the file drawer.  Now I just put the flash drive in a computer – if none are running, turn on the computer and I can quickly find the needed information – and if the print is too small (especially for husband if he is the one looking) I can make it larger and easier to read.  

Of course some instruction manuals are just TOO BIG for this and are being kept in the drawer they were in.  

You do have a scanner for your computer – don't you?  One of the best things to help organize papers.  I wrote about same way back in October 2016  to see the article -

 http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2016/10/scanners-and-printers-and-how-to-use.html

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

What projects have you been working on while home?  Have you been using your time wisely or just wasting it?

APOLOGIES FOR MISSED LAST WEEK'S POST AND FILING/SCANNING PAPERS

 OOPS!!!  When I sat down to write tonight's post I realized I never posted last week.  My apologies.  Have you found that your sense of time passing has been negatively affected by staying home during the pandemic?  Mine has.  Something seems to me that it occurred last week and when I look in my calendar/items done list – it was months ago.  Since we cannot change the past, on to this week's post.

In between keeping up with normal daily and weekly stuff to do, I have scanned and saved, then put into the pile of paper to recycle more of those warranty papers and instruction books.  I have finished the ones for stuff in our office (furniture and other stuff), the ones for our computer stuff, and I am working on our telephones and related items (such as answering machines).  

Today I got in two quick scans as I was finishing up with other work for the day – account reconciliations for statements from the credit unions.  

 I pulled out the first telephone instruction manual to scan – a cordless phone - and looked at the picture on the cover.  Hmmm, it should be over there on husband's office work table  - it isn't?  I know the phone in question is white, I can see it sitting on husband's table – but the one there is … red?  I put the book aside until husband finished what he was working on.   I pulled another “book” out of the pile – the phone on the wall next to my side of our bed.  It is not actually book.  This leads me to mention - “Who the heck designs this instructions?”  Many of them are not books, but rather a large piece of paper folded into sections – the sections as they appear on the paper do not actually always make sense.  In this case at the front of the folds is the title “page”.  After that I was not sure what order the “pages” were intended to be.  I scanned what was there and if the order is wrong – so be it, it is still usable.  I realize the manufacturers do not intend the instructions to be scanned or copied – but!!!!!  Sometimes the pages fit as a letter sized scan, sometimes as a legal sized scan – this one had one set of instructions which started on one “page” continued on the next and then partially onto a third one.  The first two “pages” could be scanned (side by side pages) as a legal sized page, but then the other piece was hanging there with the next section of the instructions!  Another similar large paper consisting of “pages” at one point had the sections numbered in a clockwise direction and then one had to go the next “pages next to them and figure out how they fit into the instructions!    

How do YOU keep track of your various instructions and warranty papers in case they are needed again?

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Filing papers (of any type) may seem to be boring and useless – but one day everyone finds that they need some paper of theirs and cannot find it.  Filing in a logical way helps one keep track of papers that one may or will need some day.  Filing does not have be alphabetical – files can be labeled and used for certain types of papers – as long as papers in files and the files are arranged in some way which makes sense to you – that is what you need.  (In my scanning I have put the same instruction file in more than one folder when not sure  where to put it.  For instance – office telephone instructions scan is in both the telephone and the office files on the drive.)

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. 

AS LONG AS I AM STUCK HOME FOR THE PANDEMIC - I AM CLEARING OUT MY FILES OF OLD ITEMS

 I have been figuring that while we are stuck home most of the time due to the pandemic I will get some long undone projects done.  One that I have actually made some progress on is cleaning out my filing cabinets.  

We have 3 half height (2 drawer) filing cabinets.  I say “we” but basically they are mine for files for my husband and myself.  When we lived in our apartment there was no room for full height filing cabinet so we bought 2 half height ones and used the top for a place to keep needed items which had to be kept out.  When we moved to our house we kept the 2 cabinets and added a third.  This has been a good idea as our computer printers/scanner is kept on top of them – a solution to 2 problems, where to put the printers and where to keep files.  Our desks sit facing each other with one side of the desks along the all and the cabinets on the other end of the desks – facing away from them into the room (basically into the walkway between the filing cabinets and the book shelves across from them which are along the wall.

I use the top drawer of the first cabinet for our personal items.  I use regular manila folders in this drawer.  I have been using the bottom drawer of that cabinet for two sets of folders – instruction manuals/warranty papers for items around the house and for travel brochures/maps and such.  The top drawer is fine as I go through our personal folders annually.  (Note – paid bills for us are NOT kept in this cabinet  - I have an accordion folder next to my desk chair for same.)  

The bottom drawer below that is rarely gone through, though I have been working for a couple of years on scanning the instruction manuals and warranty papers into my computer to make them either and quicker to find – unless they are complicated manuals such as for the refrigerator or a major tool.  I have gone through and removed duplicate travel brochures to only keep the most recent one.  These two drawers are generally very full by the end of the year.

The top drawer of the middle cabinet has been used for financial matters for our craft business.  Bills for the business do go into this drawer and I go through it every year to remove bills and store with our personal ones.  It also has information about craft shows we have done or want to do, and stores/online businesses that carry items of interest to us.  

The  bottom drawer of the middle cabinet has two different sets of files – in the front is the files for my embroidery chapter and in the rear are the files for our reenactment unit.  (There are less files for the embroidery chapter which is why they are in the front.)  Since this drawer is almost on the floor and I am getting older it has become more problematic to get to the reenactment unit files – if nothing else when I lean down my progressive lens eyeglasses shift and everything goes out of focus.  I have wanted to shift one or the other to a different drawer to help get rid of this problem. I also have to sit on a small step we keep in the room to see the files which are further back in the drawer.

In the top drawer of the third cabinet was some additional files for our craft business and catalogs – lots of catalogs – mostly for our craft business, but some for us also.  We rarely order from catalogs or otherwise, but when we need something for the craft business we can go through and find what we need and who sells it and decide who to buy from and how to do so.  Of course we have not received a new catalog in probably over a decade, so the catalogs are not current.  

In the bottom of the third drawer of the third cabinet are my files for accounting clients, etc. and some files for husband related to his certifications and websites through which he has done counseling plus some files left from his former job - he quit over 10 years ago.

I figured that as long as I am stuck home anyway whenever I have some time while in office I would work on going on through the catalogs to see what to keep and get rid of the rest so I could put the two files for the 2 clubs into separate drawers.  Yes, Covid-19 is giving time at home to clear out old papers.  

I started a new spreadsheet for the catalogs.  I take some out and decide if we would still be interested in what each if for.  No longer interested – catalog info is put in the spreadsheet (after checking that the business still exists) and then the catalog goes into a pile to recycle.  With the spreadsheet info we can either go the website of the company or call for a new catalog if we need it.  Catalogs we are still interested in I check to see if the business still exists and how well their items are shown on their website.  If the company still exists, again I put the company's info in the spreadsheet.  If the website shows the items they carry – catalog gets recycled.  If the company is gone – catalog gets recycled.  If the website does not show what they carry and we are still interested, I keep the catalog even though it is old.  Amazing how many catalogs were recycled –  of course I remove the mailing info first and shred it.  

Today I started going through my old accounting files.  If I have not worked for the client in several years I make sure that all of the info in the file has been scanned into the computer and shred what is in the file.  (I keep copies of client's taxes other than the most recent year done as pdfs in my computer.  I keep the most recent year on paper as it is easier to refer to the following year when preparing that year's return.)  I also have been going through the other files in this drawer – forms I have to file for me to be able to prepare tax returns, proof of classes I had to take, returns shredded before I started keeping the record of same in a spreadsheet, etc. are being scanned into the computer (this is what I worked on today).  Clients who I go to and “do” their books have more papers retained than those who I just prepare income taxes for, including a traditional file folder that I take to them when I am working at their location so anything related does not get lost.  I filled my shredder basket today.  

I have a few more accounting files to go through and then I will go through the files I keep for husband for his counseling practice.  For convenience the two businesses will continue to share a file drawer.  

I plan to separate the two clubs into separate drawers and move the travel items into back of the drawer with my embroidery chapter's file since (as mentioned) there a lot less of them than of the reenactment unit's files.  We will travel again one day – when the corona virus is in control and it is safe.

I will continue to scan in the instructions and warranties books for things in the house and hope to get it down to a limited number of items which have too much info in them to get rid of.  Since small parts that came with items are also in this drawer, I will end up bagging and labeling them and keeping them in this drawer also.  

The drawers are so much emptier than when I started and easier to use.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

If you are stuck in the house anyway – use your time to work on getting rid of unneeded things.  There must be some papers that sit where they are just because of lack of thought of them.  Try to find them.  Decide if you need them.  If you need a copy of them and NOT the originals – scan them and shred the originals (birth certificates and marriage licenses are among the items that one needs to keep the original).  If you need to keep them – set them up so they are kept in some sort of order.  As someone raised in business I prefer papers in a file folder in a file drawer – what works for you to keep to track of the paper originals you need to keep?

BAD WEEK - STARTED AS A SHORT POST

Okay this is one of those weeks. 

I had to call our reenacting unit’s insurance company - again - as it has been 3 weeks and we have not received the renewal of our insurance policy - and I paid them 4 weeks ago when I called to find out where the policy was. 

I also had to redo their emergency list as we had a new member join and he had to be added, okay, I did not redo the entire list, just add him, but then I had to email out the list out to the board members - again, and print a new list for us and to keep in our HQ - again.

Worst of all this week is suddenly the computers were not working right.  Emails did not go out.  We had trouble printing.  We had trouble scanning.  Husband traced it to the Internet equipment.  We have a modem from our cable co ($10 + taxes per month) and we have our own router.  Husband decided that since the modem was replaced (due to problems) less than 2 years ago it must be our router. 

Last Sunday we bought a new router at Costco.  It looks like a space ship - no really, it looks like a space ship from Star Wars or something. 

Monday we spent the day setting it up.  Since it was so large it involved moving almost everything on the work area of husband’s desk.  (He has a work table as part of it covered in papers and stuff - that luckily was not affected.)  To do this I had to clear off my desk and throw the 2 piles (do and scan) into one pile on the floor on top of a pile of folders waiting to go to our reenactment HQ for storage in the file cabinets there. 

Have you ever seen the wires from a computer twisted around each due to them being added into as time went along?  Well, I have a computer, husband has two, we each have a laser printer (why two of them - one is color and the other scans) plus a couple of ink jet printers he has and a tape machine that can be printed with the computer.  I spent a good deal of time under the desks pulling wires loose for this project.  We even had to move husband’s computer - it is under his work table and I managed to disconnect something when I did this.  I then had wires going over my desk in an attempt to get all the wires separated. We managed to get it all set up and fit all of husband’s stuff back onto the working part of his desk.

We went to activate the router.  The instructions consisted of a card that said we needed to sign in using wi-fi to the company’s website to set up an account with them to start.  Quite frankly at this point I thought, “hmmm, an account with them, stupid instructions, bring it back”, but not husband.  We had to figure this out as with no router set up, we had no wi-fi (and without wi-fi we could not set up, yes, the router).  We really don’t like to have things like this on our cell phones, but he managed to connect to the wi-fi from our cable co in the street using his phone.  We managed to get through all the steps - until it told us that we had to print something from the cell phone by wi-fi - how?  We don’t print with our cell phones.  I wrote down the info instead.  Huge space ship of a router, stupid sign up - I knew this was a mistake (an expensive mistake). 

But then it was all set up and he was using it.  After dinner I was down here on my laptop.  The entire system was just as bad and just as slow.  So - maybe it was the modem.  Before going to bed we packed it up and I pulled the latest cable bill.  Tuesday we went to our cable co - on our way out, the new cable bill arrived - of course.  Luckily they are still at their location and the employee did not try to push their new system on us.  We stopped for lunch and the daily trip to the post office to pick up mail at our box and then home to set up the modem.

The set up went fairly quickly - we have set this up several times, but when we were done the lights were not flashing in the correct colors and manner.  So I got to sit on hold until a man answered - I don’t know if it is was their phone service (we don’t have phone service through them) or what, I had trouble understanding him.  He looked up our connection and said that all was correct.  Husband tried it and it seemed to be working better and quicker. 

We decided that since the problem seemed to be the modem, we would return the router.  We packed it up and did so on Wednesday and then we went to a computer store and bought a different router which was on sale - husband decided that a newer, more powerful router was a good idea.  On the way home from the computer store we stopped in Walmart for some unrelated items we needed - the same router we had just purchased was $40 cheaper there - husband had looked online and the Walmart site had none other than from third parties.  So, we bought it again.

I have to put out the newsletter for my embroidery chapter on the last Wednesday of the month. I had actually worked on it a bit on Tuesday - normally I do it all on the day it is due out - not much to do - I use last month’s meeting info to thank people who did stuff then in the thank you for last month section, I put in this month’s meeting info, I put the small blurb from the chapter president on the front page in the spot for it - most months I remember to change the month on the front page, I update info from our Region in the page(s) for same and ditto our National in the page(s) for same, and remove events and exhibitions that are past date and add any new ones which have come my way.  After it is done I attach it to an email along with any other needed attachments (info about classes from Region or National, how to sign into new National website, etc.) and email it to the members. I then email a copy of it to other newsletter editors in our Region and to some others from National/Region who need a copy.  Lastly I send a copy to the chapter’s email address with blind copies to an assortment of people who said they were interested in joining and members who have quit the chapter.  (No really, it takes maybe an hour or two most months.  Of course this month there are all sorts of things that went awry - including the chapter president writing a full page message as it is the end of her presidency.  After working on it in advance I finished it about midnight last night.

Then I realized that I had to have the annual renewals (with checks for dues) for the chapter out to National and Region by May 31 - Saturday.  Normally this is not that hard.  Normally there is a list from National of the members they have - no list, no form to send to them with the payment.  So, my solution normally would be to go to the members list in a database, sort it for the renewed members and print out the list of same.  Problem - as of 2 months ago the database no longer sorts and I have to copy it over - item by item/person by person - to a new data base of some other sort (this one is very old software that I liked).  But I don’t have time to do that NOW.  So I sat and made up a list of renewing members by copying each item separately - member number, first name, last name of each person to a word processing program page.  I then filled in a renewing page for a rejoined member as National  needed all her info again.  Then I filled in a new member form for a new member with her info.  Then I calculated and wrote a check for their dues and wrote a cover letter for all this.  (And I scan all checks written and the bill/supporting paper for them into the computer so I did that too.)  I have a blank copy of the form to send to them with the calculation of the amount due and copied and used it.  It asks for the name of “the current president” - uh, oh.  We will be having a vote next week at our meeting and will have a new president - I put the woman who is the president now.  I listed our new membership chair as same (and listed me as treasurer).  In my letter I mentioned the changes and that the information about same would be sent after next week’s meeting and the election of the new president.

Onto the Region renewals - at least I don’t have to list everyone.  I had a copy of the Region’s form, calculated what was due on it.  There was a place for the membership chair’s info and I put in the info of the new chair.  Wrote a check (scanned again) and a cover letter and I was done - 2 am.  And I then realized that not only I had not posted to all of you, but I never did the laundry either!

Today we returned the router we bought at the computer store and set up the one from Walmart.  For about 10 minutes it did not seem to work, but then husband figured out the problem and it is now working.  Of course I had to climb under the desks again and sort all of those !!%%$ wires again.                 

I received an email from one of my fellow embroiders - the newsletter said that we are having an election - who is the candidate and who is the new membership chair?  DARN!  I knew I forgot something from the newsletter - I sent out an addition to it with who is running and the info on the new membership chair.  (I had apologized in the email with the newsletter for any errors or omissions due to the craziness.)

As I write this the second load of laundry finished washing - first load should be dry - and I will when I finish writing this I will go down and switch loads before posting. 

We have a 2 day event reenactment event this weekend - with setup on Friday afternoon, so I will fall even further behind.

I have to remember that we are expecting a copy of the insurance policy for the unit and  - oh, I forgot - I received a new ATM card last week as mine is expiring, guess what?  Yes, there was a problem and I had to go in to get a new one (they couldn’t do it by telephone).  It was the wrong kind - the kind that rich people get.  So I have to hope that shows up in the mail soon.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Yes, there are weeks like this and one just has to drop everything else and get stuff done, even if it means that one posts a day late.  What else can one do?

A QUICK TRIP AND I CAUGHT UP ON MY PILE OF STUFF TO DO

Well, I had a bit of a chance to catch up this past week.  The pile on top of my desk which has to be done before I get to the folder of things to do, is down to scanning in articles from various issues of a magazine related to reenacting that I convinced my husband that we don’t need to keep in full.  Much of these magazines are ads for items related to “the hobby”.  There seems to be 3-5 articles of varying length that he wants to keep.  He has gone through the magazines and circled in the table of contents those articles he wants.  I am scanning in the articles here and there as I get a chance - luckily they are not in color so they scan a lot faster. 

We did go away for the day last Saturday to the state sheep and wool festival.  We have never been there before.  It went as our trips go.  The ride there was suppose to be 2 hours.  Husband printed the directions from Googlemaps.  He also turned on the GPS app in his cell phone.  They did not always agree.  The road both sent us on for most of the trip is a picturesque limited access road that curves around and through mountains.  It was so curvy that husband was getting motion sickness, even though he was driving.  We were pretty sure we could not go home the same way as he could not deal with the curves again - especially in the dark with no street lights.  When we were towards the end of the trip there the two sets of directions varied from each other.  The Googlemaps version had us get off the main road sooner than the GPS.  We decided to go with the GPS and stayed on the road.  All of a sudden the GPS froze.  (We eventually figured out that there was no cell service there!)  Now we had a problem.  As we kept driving and tried to remember where the GPS said to get off the road, I saw a sign to the fairgrounds we had to go to and we exited the road.  10 miles to the fairgrounds and no further signs appeared.  I had out the Googlemaps directions and kept looking for roads that were listed on it.  We were approaching one and I had to calculate quickly - turn right or left?  Luckily I guessed correctly and we turned right and not much further on came to the road the fairgrounds were on.  Fair was okay - not a worth a trip back in the future.  (Very limited weaving related items - other than wool, of course, which we could not afford - and weaving items were why husband wanted to go.)  Talk about disorganized - I noticed that people had a small booklet with map and vendors in it.  I walked back to the gate and asked for one - I was told that they hard run out “3 hours ago”.  This means that 3 hours into the first of two days of the event (which ran 9 hours the first day) they were out of their handouts - not good planning to me.  After we drove to a, yes, another Golden Corral about an hour from the fairgrounds and vaguely on the way home.  Dinner was another bust and I will not bother you with the details unless someone writes and asks.  Now we had to get home.  I looked at the (paper) map and found that an Interstate road near the restaurant headed in the general direction of home, that connected to another major road and that just left figuring out how to get to one of 3 bridges after those two roads to get us home.  I have a mapping/GPS program in my other laptop (the good one) which I had brought with me (I generally take it on trips for something just like this) and I am able to find a place by looking at and moving the map and then adding a start, end, or via point there.  I did that with several points so that the route would stay where I wanted it and it had no problem getting us home.  It was much a quicker trip home than the one getting to the area and straight road - no curve after curve.

Just for fun - and my luck, I did get a mailing from Equifax that I am, of course, included in their latest security breach.  I tried to find out how to do all the things I need to do with them as a result, by mail as I will not put my information online and don’t trust doing it by phone.  I sort of got an answer from their recorded info phone line and have sent in to them about this.  Now I will also send in a request for husband as our credit info is mostly joint.  Then I will be calling Trans Union and Experian to do the same with them.  And I have such a unique name that I have been sure that I am the only one with it in the world - now there may be many of me if my identity is being used by others.  What will happen to my 843-850 (it varies some months) credit rating now?

I wrote the newsletter for my embroidery chapter in only one afternoon - first time since we changed to this new format I was able to do so, it was common before.  One member’s email is suddenly bouncing back and she did not return my phone message, so I mailed her a printed copy and asked for her new email.

I am packed, my laptop is charging, and I am going to a client tomorrow.  I have written checks for bills to go out in the mail on Friday.  I have calculated how much I need to transfer from savings to checking to pay the bills and have cash for a trip next week (we hope).  The needed papers are in my “Friday errands” envelope.  I have a deposit slip with these papers as I am due to get a check from my client tomorrow and will deposit it Friday also.         

Laundry is in washer.  First load about to go to the dryer when my cell phone alarm rings that it is time to go down again.

I did so well that rather than take a shower tonight in a rush at the last minute and go to bed with wet hair, I was able to take a leisurely shower before dinner.  Ahhhh.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Work at what is piled up little by little, try to keep more from being added and there will be less left in your “pile” of todos. 

I know my stack of todos will be piled up again soon - especially if we take a short trip next week - but sooner or later it is gone again.

Don’t eat all the Halloween candy - and check what your children eat before they do.  Have a safe Halloween.

                   

SHREDDING AND SCANNING

I have been very busy scanning bills and shredding papers - two separate, but slightly related projects. This has taken me only about 4 days - and by days I mean 4 sessions of a few hours each.

First the scanning - Last month I decided and posted about  - 4-13-17 POST
 - deciding to scan in bills as I pay them.  Understand if I pay a charge card bill, I am only scanning in the statement, not every slip - even I am not that crazy - this is to make it easier if I need to view or need a copy of what I paid.  Per the earlier post this is the result of needing a bill from last year and not being able to find it.  I was lucky enough to have a scan of the bill and was able to use that for reference. 

So I have since been scanning each bill as I pay it. For our personal checking account I am scanning them into my data drive.  I set up a folder for the year with a subfolder for each month to make it all easier to find.  For our business checking account I am just using a folder for the year as we write very few checks.  I will go back when I have a chance shortly and scan in the bills from earlier in the year.  

Once a year I empty out the oldest storage box of records - I have 9 boxes so it is the one from 9 years before - and refill it with the previous year.  I cannot do this in earlier in the year as I want to include in the new year’s storage, the papers needed for income tax and our bank statements through the end of the prior year and I like to have the last statement we have at hand - some of our statements come in quarterly, so this can not be done before mid-April at the earliest and generally later than that.  This year since I did not put our business return on extension I was ready to do this switch over now.  I have been getting rid of 2007 records to make room for storage of 2016 records.

I was already to get rid of the 2007 records when the thought hit me - why not scan in the 2016 bills so I have them for reference before I store them away.

Second, the shredding - Before I get rid of the old records (in this case 2007) I shred them.  I shred and shred and shred.  I actually ended up with almost 39 gallons (3 kitchen bags) of shredded papers. Some papers I toss in the shredder without looking at, others I check first. 

Which ones do I check?  I look through the checking statements - personal and business - and keep any checks which paid income taxes or sales taxes (for the business).  I keep these (or a scan of them - front and back) forever.  I set them aside in my “to file” holder on my desk to file at the end of the week when I do filing.  They will go in my tax files - personal or business - depending on what they are for.  I also go quickly through our credit card statements.  I look for any large amounts (over $100) and check what they are for.  If they are for hotels, food, etc. I just skip them.  If they are for a specific thing I look at them.  This is especially true for expenditures for the house which may add to its cost (technically its “basis”) when we or our heirs one day sell the house and will lessen the profit on that sale.  Anything else large I look at and sometimes discuss with my husband if we need to keep it for any reason.  Almost always anything other than house related bills go into the shredder.  For 2007 there were few bills that I looked at and those were large food bills or hotel bills.  One bill was for a clothing item for me to wear when reenacting.  I pulled that bill and made a note of the name of the company as reenacting friends have asked where I bought it and I did not remember.  Now I have the name to give them. 

Now here is where I took a big chance on being able to do two things at once.  I had the large plastic box of 2007 records and a cardboard box (that originally held large manila envelopes) which was holding our 2016 bills.  Two tasks to do - which to do? 

Both of course. I would put a bill from 2016 in the scanner and hit the scan buttons.  I would then take a handful of papers from the 2007 box and shred them - setting aside the bank and credit card statements.  I did this for 3 days - working in checking the statements and shredding them also.  I managed to not shred any of the 2016 records and not scan any of the 2007 records. 

As of tonight I have finished shredding all of 2016 and the 3 white kitchen size bags of same have been put into a large black garbage bag - so that one cannot see what is in the bags through the white plastic - and the large black garbage bag is out at the curb for pickup tomorrow morning by the Town sanitation department (the garbagemen). 

I have also finished scanning of our personal bills from 2016.  I have maybe 30 bills for our business which I will scan tomorrow.  The box from 2007 has been refilled with bank statements from 2016 and the personal bills from same - the business bills will be added.  The information used to do our and the business’s income taxes are also in the box (but not the copies of the returns - they are in my accounting file drawer for my accounting practice - although they are also scanned into the computer as I also do with clients’s returns.

Right now my office is a mess.  I end up emptying the shredded papers into our garbage pail in the office as the shredder fills.  While I have a fairly heavy duty shredder, it can fill our 13 gallon garbage pail at least 3 times.  Pouring this into the larger pail invariably ends up with shreds of paper all over - they have a good deal of static electricity and stick to things.  I have promised husband now that I am finished I will vacuum the office tomorrow to clean it up - okay, they followed me out of the office door (it is a spare upstairs bedroom) into the hall and partially down the stairs and that will also need to be vacuumed. 

After I scan the 2016 business records into the computer I will add them to the box.  I have already gone through our personal and our business file drawers and pulled any records which are not needed at hand for last year and put them in the box.  Before putting the box back into the closet I will take a folder in our file drawer marked “last year to file” and add some papers to the 2015 box.  These are papers which for whatever reason were not stored or were not able to be stored away when I did this last year for 2015 (which replaced 2006 in a box).  I know that something will always turn up which is why I have this file.

 I also have a file called “this year”.  It is the place I throw anything I want/need to keep and don’t know where to file - it is gone through when I do this switch over and the papers will either go into the 2016 box, be tossed or in some cases left in the folder.  To give an example - we receive in the mail a card each from our election board each year with voting information for the year - where to vote, what votes there are and when they will be.  I keep this card so when we go to vote we can figure out which of the, constantly changing in location, tables is the one for us to vote at.  I keep it until the next year’s cards arrive.  Last year we did not receive the cards when they were mailed for the primary (I telephoned and was told we should have received them and confirmed where we should go to vote) and we brought the one from the year before to help us figure out where to go in the room.  (Mysteriously they did arrive, several months late, before the actual election.)  Normally when we get the new cards I shred the old ones and throw them out - but they “reside” in this folder.

In past years in going through the records to be shed from the older year, I have found interesting items such as paper items from our 25th anniversary stay at a Colonial Williamsburg restored tavern - I did not keep any longer, but it was nice to remember the stay.  (Yes, one can stay in restored houses and taverns on streets within the restoration as part of their hotels.  It is rather pricey by our standards and this was the only time we did so - and even then, we stayed there for 3 nights during a reenacting weekend and stayed at a regular - much cheaper - hotel the rest of the stay.)  This time I could tell by various papers and checks I found that this was the year husband quit his job (which is when I thought he did).   Hard to believe that 10 years has passed.

Oh - you may wonder why 9 years in boxes - why not an even 10?  Two reasons.   The boxes were sold in packages of 3 boxes.  Also I can fit 9 boxes on top of the closet in our office, but not 10.  I figure that with the current year I have 10 years of records for taxes - and with scanning - even more.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

How do your store your old records?  Presuming that you are in the U.S. you need to keep at a bare minimum 3 years of records for income taxes.  Ten are generally recommended.  IRS and states can generally audit you or say that there is an error for 3 years after you file a tax return, 7 years if after the due date if you do not file a return.  (General rule - states can always have their own laws.)

I know that in the past our state has had “amnesty” periods when one can file a tax return which one has not filed and/or pay any taxes owed and apply to have any penalties on that amount waived so that one only pays the tax and interest (and sometimes one does not even have to pay the interest).  I know that clients, as well as us, have received notices during these amnesty periods for return which were filed and paid.  When I contacted the state about it being too long after the returns were filed and paid as no notices were receive before and it was past the 3 or even the 7 years I always got the same response - “We mailed you notices and we do not know why you did not get them so the action was started within the required 3 years.” 

As a result of this I tell clients to keep all payments for taxes forever.  This is the checks which pay estimated taxes or the final payment, W2 forms with withholding.  1099 forms of any type which have taxes withheld (these are the forms you receive in January for interest, dividends, stocks etc sold, amounts you received from pensions IRAs or 401k plans etc), Forms K1 from partnerships, small business corporations or LLCs, etc.  You can scan in them into your computer to keep them or keep them as paper copies or both.  I keep copies of same of ours.

CATCHING UP

Well tax season is behind me now and I am trying to catch up on everything which fell by the wayside. 

It amazes me that when I was working full time in the first 4 months of the year I would do payroll taxes for 10 business clients twice each - January & April - and the January ones involved typing W2s for all the employees of the clients, corporation or partnership returns for the businesses, year end sales tax for most of them (NY has a sales tax year which ends the end of February and is due in March), and personal returns for about 40 clients while also keeping house, dealing with Easter and Passover, a trip out of state for my husband’s birthday, and towards the end of April - a trip to Maryland for a reenactment event, plus dealing with my embroidery chapter and reenactment unit’s treasuries and renewal of membership for the reenactment unit.  It exhausts me to just list all of this.

These days I have about 6 tax returns, two corporations and a partnership (and only one of the businesses is not ours), three sales tax returns, payroll taxes for one company which has one employee, little to do for the holidays or husband’s birthday, and no trip to Maryland (too cold for RV to be dewinterized).  Still dealing with the two treasuries and the renewals for the reenactment unit.  Yet, I still have trouble finishing it all up timely.  It is true that work expands to the time allotted to do it.  Maybe this thought comes to mind just because I am watching the series on TV about Einstein and that brings to mind his relativity theory.

Think about it - you look around.  The house needs decluttering and cleaning.  If you have guests coming over on Friday - you are going to do what you do before Friday, if they are not coming until the first of next month - the same work will take you until then - right?  We used to have a room where no one could go when we had people in also.  When I was a girl it was my bedroom closet.  Mom would tell me periodically (I am guessing when people were going to be coming or she just could not look at it any more) to clean my room.  I would do as much as I could - then what was left would be tossed into the bottom of my closet.  (Sound familiar?)  Once or twice a year I would even be told to clear out the bottom of my closet - generally I would find items such as the bag with most of my Trick or Treat candy in it around May or June - that was a toss out as mom told us we would get sick if eat anything that old.  One problem was that no one ever actually explained to me the concept of throwing things out or passing them along, to me cleaning was put everything out of site.  I have since learned better. 

So now I am dealing with the catchup.  The stack on my desk - on top of my “todo folder”, which means that these items must be done before I can start on what I have to do - is shrinking. 

I spent an afternoon dealing with items waiting for me from our reenactment unit.  In addition to being treasurer I am also the membership chair as it is easier for one person to do so.  Dues are long ago collected, the dues collected for our national went out on time back in March. Membership cards had been typed up (yes, typed on a typewriter) and given to the unit commander to mail to members.  I had managed to get to the bank and deposit the dues check - and one for an event the unit did in January.  But, some members have been waiting to be paid for money laid out and I had to pay them.  One of our unit insurance policies had come in and I paid it.  I had the forms that members had filled in which had to be scanned into the computer so I could shred and toss the originals.  I had to make up the membership list for the year.  I worked on all this - all done except it took until today to get a clarification from one member as to whether the new phone number she gave me was her home or cell number that had changed.  I heard from her today - the new list will be out to the commander to email out by this weekend - I hope.

I managed to keep up on paying the bills for my embroidery chapter - most were to third parties, and were paid right away.  A couple of checks to members for, again, money laid out just were written.  Our national embroidery group has a membership year that runs from June through the following May (yeah, it confuses the heck out of me why that is the year for membership dues - the financial year is a calendar year, and somehow in the change from quarterly renewals based on when members had joined to an annual one - we paid for the month of June twice one year) and while I am not the membership chair, I help her as the treasurer.   I do serve as the newsletter editor and today wrote the May newsletter for the chapter, which is also the meeting notice for our upcoming meeting.  This one was a bit harder than most.  Last week chapter president had emailed her message for the month which included talking about the program for the meeting - which was not exactly what I remembered and had on our website as the meeting program.  I had a hands on project - she had a “fashion show” of what I had us doing - she had in mind the idea that we had sort of worked on this all year and members should show what they have done on the project.  I doubled checked with her and yes, that was the meeting program.  Yesterday I got an email from the VP of the chapter and she had the info to do the project I thought we were doing - and she was the leader of the project.  I also had an email from the chapter president saying a sort of “whoops - I guess I thought about it differently” and that I should go ahead with the project as the meeting and maybe include bring in items started.  I had to combine both ideas.  The president had told me to dump her message, but I managed to work it into a version of what she wanted for the meeting as a side to the hands on project.  Plus I had a lot of related exhibitions to list, so what should have taken half an hour to put together - 2 hours!  Then after it was emailed out (and I email out one version to our members and some region people and the same with a “you asked for this, let me know if you don’t want it” message to people who have asked for info about our chapter) I realized that I had forgotten something urgent.  Yes, I forgot to tell the members that it is renewal time.  So I sent out a separate addendum to the only the members. 

That leaves bank statements to reconcile, a month’s worth of filing for our reenactment unit papers (I managed to do the month’s worth of personal, business, and embroidery chapter filing over last weekend), and an assortment of other items to do - including scanning in our personal tax return and papers and printing a copy of same for my records.  (Right now there is a stack - you know about stacks right? - of the tax papers in front of the office closet waiting for me.)  If I had one day to sit and work....  Tomorrow I have to go to Manhattan to my remaining business client (other than our businesses) and do the books and payroll taxes. 

I also need to pull out the 2007 box of old records.  I will shred almost all of what is in the box.  I scan the credit card and other bills to see if there is anything I need to hold onto.  With the credit cards I will scan each for amounts over $100 to see what they are.  Sometimes there may be a reason to keep a larger receipt - generally not and they will be shredded also. I will also pull out any checks, W2, or 1099 forms which paid income taxes (for the business if it paid corporation taxes, sales taxes, or annual filing fee) and keep them.  I always do that.  It is good to always keep proof that taxes were paid. 

I will then refill the box with the matching paperwork from 2016, change the label on the box to 2016 and put it back in the top of the office closet.  To make this easier I have different color labels on file folders in my files for permanent (leave everything in this folder in it) and annual (check this folder every year to see if anything should stay in it - or be put in the annual box).  I use red or yellow for annual and blue or green for permanent - red and blue are used for our personal files and for my embroidery chapter files, yellow and green for our corporation files and our reenactment unit files.  I also have a folder with items which need to be added to the 2015 box.  Then I will be able to open the office closet door again without having to move stacks of paper. :-)
                                   
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

Take a deep breath and start doing a bit of  “spring cleaning”.  If nothing else switch whatever you need to from winter to spring.  If you put away winter clothes - see what you will not want next year and either donate it now or put it in a labeled box for the fall to donate then, if where you donate will only take seasonal items.  This way you can donate it without having to look at it again then.

Remember that time is relative, but one can only do so much.

And - if you live near where Carvel is located and you read this post early enough - Thursday, April 27 is free cone day this year.

SCANNING TO MAKE IT EASIER TO FIND PAID BILLS

Last October - October 26, 2016 post  I posted on the usefulness of having a printer and a scanner to help one get organized and keep papers organized.  Here’s an additional thought on that subject.

I am good - really good - at keeping track of bills to pay and paid bills, after all, I am an accountant.  I have a paid bills file next to my desk - one of those large wallet things with sections in it.  When I pay a bill I post it in my Quickbooks program, mark it paid, attach any charge slips, etc and then file it in the appropriate section of the paid bills file.  I generally have a section for each credit card and type of bill.  The credit card we use most often actually has two sections - bills paid January through June and bills paid July through December as there are a lot of charge card slips. The sections for taxes have folder in them to further divide the bills.  I will not go into all of the sections right now as I am already digressing too much. 

Early in January I pull out all of the paid bills from the year before.  Other than tax related bills, the bills are put into an old manila folder box which is redated with a black marker for the year of the bills in it. These bills will sit in this box until around May when I go through my other files for last year, add the paid bills, tax returns, etc and box them up in a box in the top of my office closet.  I pul out the oldest box up there - when I do this for last year I will be pulling out the 2007 box - basically shred what is in the box, relabel the box with the new year and store it all in the box, which is returned to the top of the closet.

The tax related bills when pulled in January for the prior year I combine them all in one folder which will generally not be used until towards the end of the following year and put them where I will be putting clients’s tax information.  The remainder of the tax info folders, now empty, go back in the paid bills file. 

Okay, that is the background of my paid bills. 

We have a VERY small RV.  We have a contract from a company for road service for the RV in case it breaks down, has a flat tire, etc.  Sort of like the Automobile Association of America (of Canada, etc.), but for RVs.  (Yes, these companies often also cover one’s cars and AAA will cover some RV problems but one will not have a specialist in RVs come if one calls AAA.)

When paying bills late last Friday (after business hours anywhere in the lower 48) I noticed that I have the renewal for this RV road service policy is due April 25.   I double checked that I did not have the bill and then did what any wife would do - I asked my husband if “we” (meaning he) has an online account for the company.  He did.

He attempted to sign in and was told that since the account was expired more than 90 days ago, he no longer had an account.  He tried to sign in with their alternate method, in case he made a mistake in his sign in info.  This required the RV manufacturer’s name from a list and the RV’s VIN number.  The list of RV manufacturers was rather short and our RV was not on the list.  Husband starts to get upset. 

As usual his first reaction is that I did not do something I should have done - or did it wrong.  “Are you sure you paid the bill last year?”  I told him I did and would get the paid bill for him.  I climbed up and took down the box of last year’s paid bills.  I went through all of the bills - I could not find it.  So - what do we all do?  I went through them again.  No paid bill.

Perhaps it was with the tax related papers?  The RV is not tax related, but our car and van are partially so and I tend to keep the car related bills together.  No, not there - again I checked twice.

I looked the payment up in Quickbooks Yes!  I did pay it  - on March 31 and it cleared the bank on April 7 last year.  I found the copy of the canceled check in with the bank statement.  (This was in the drawer in the file cabinet for personal items - having the info from Quickbooks made it easy and, well, quick to find.)  Proof I paid it and it was not my fault.

But a copy of the bill?  Then I remembered.  Last year I scanned in one of each type of bill to the computer with the idea that if something happened to me, husband could bring up the scanned copy of a bill of that type and see what I did when I paid it.  (The bill is scanned in, and then the items I send - check, stub, envelope - are scanned on the last page of the file.)  So there was a scanned copy of the bill in that file.  I printed out the first page of the bill - showing all the info needed and set it aside to telephone the company on Monday.

Thinking about this over the weekend I decided two things.  First, I would create a separate folder in the paid bills, tax related sections for all car related items.  Second, it was so convenient to pull up the copy of the missing bill that I will scan in all paid bills in the future.  Understand, I will still keep the hard copy as they have the assorted credit card slips and other supporting papers attached to them and I will not scan in all these attachments, but I will scan in the bills themselves for quick and easy reference if needed.  I plan to set up a folder for “paid bills” with 12 folders in it - one for each month - and label the scan of each bill with the check number which paid it.  I hope this will make it easier in the future to quickly find bills for reference.

Oh, in case you are wondering - I telephoned this past Monday and had a terribly odd conversation with an employee of the company.  He first was confused as our plan ended April 25, 2016 - huh?  I told him that I had our canceled check for the year ending April 25, 2017,which cleared our bank on April 7, 2016.  (See how useful the payment info is.)  “Oh, yes.  There is an error, I see the payment.  I’ll update the computer.  I then asked him if this means that we have had no coverage for the past year - despite paying for it.  He, of course said no.  When I pushed him as it what would have happened if we needed service - “Service would have called us and we would have found the error and fixed it.”  What if I needed the help, say last Friday - they keep business hours in the office?  “Oh, you would have just paid for the service call and we would have reimbursed you.”  The fact that I would not have known who to call and would have needed to have money to pay them for the tow, well that did not make sense to him.  He wanted me to renew by credit card over the phone.  “Do you even still deal with my brand of RV, since it is not on your list of RV companies?”  Of course they do, just that if one gets a new policy it has to come through the RV company - which makes no sense as to why the company is not on their alternate ID for sign in list.  I asked him to mail us a bill to pay.

He seemed a little too quick and pat with the answers and husband went looking on the Internet, Yes, this has happened to a number of people.  Our RV company has it’s own road service company now - so they would not be signing us up with them.  In addition they have dropped the inexpensive basic policy we had for one which is more than three times as much cost.  So after all this we are looking for a different company - but at least I will be able to find the paid bills as we go forward as they will be scanned into the computer.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

I feel odd about this thought it is different than my usual posts for same and it is not intended to be religious or political, although it is a bit of both, but I intend it to be more of a any person to any person idea.


As the Jewish people celebrate Passover and the Christians celebrate Good Friday and Easter this week, please take to heart the idea of all of us being siblings.  Be a little nicer to people in your daily life - strangers as well as those you know. 

Say please and thank you a bit more - even in situations where you might not normally think to do so.  Hold the door open for someone - even if they capable of doing so on their own.  Help a mother who is juggling child, purse and lunch tray as she tries to move a high chair.  Smile at someone who looks a bit upset - it is an amazing feeling when one does this and the other person smiles back and then, at least, seems a little less upset - a bond between two people of only seconds.  (These are all things I have done during the past week - and try to do when I can.)

Let us - even those not of a religion celebrating these holidays - be a bit more neighborly to those we see during the day.  Not only will the other person feel better, it is amazing how long the memory of the smile from a stranger lasts - no matter which of us initiated it. 

Our world is in a state today that I, for one, find scary.  Perhaps the more of us who show small kindnesses to others, the better the world can be.



           








                           

CATCHING UP A BIT AT LAST

Well at last I feel as if I am catching up a bit.  While we went last Saturday to a woodworking show in New Jersey, I managed to have enough time at my computer to help me catch up several things - I even managed to prepare a partnership tax return for a client and it is going out in the mail tomorrow. We finally picked up my replacement eyeglasses and I am getting used to darker frames than I had before - I see them when I look through the glasses - I swear the frames were lighter in color when I picked them out in the store.



I finally had a chance to scan into the computer the papers I copied while we were replacing the scanner and getting it going.  I hate doing things twice, but had to copy and then scan the copies as there was no other choice.  At least the scanning is finally done.

I change the bedding weekly, but I change the bedding’s “underwear” once a month.  The under covers for the pillows get tossed in
 the laundry with the regular bedding for the week, but the mattress pad is too large to do so and is a load of laundry on its own.  I finally managed to get it washed and dried this past week - it has been sitting in the sorter in the basement.  I also did a load of jeans last week I save them up as I don’t have enough in a week to justify another load of laundry.   I also had a number of sweatshirts to be washed, so I did two loads of clothes last week.  This week’s laundry is humming along right now - the clothing load is washing, timer on my cell phone set to remind me to do down with the downstairs towels so I can do a load of towels next.

I packed up the “soft” Christmas decorations.  This is an assortment of stuffed teddy bears, reindeer, a doll, stockings, hangings, and other similar items in Christmas theme which have been out - two of the bears are actually Chanukah ones.  They all go in a plastic box together in the basement.  I have also started taking the packed boxes of Christmas tree ornaments down to the basement - when I go down to switch laundry loads, another of the four boxes will go down.  When I am done with those the box of living room decorations and the box of kitchen, dining room, front hall decorations will follow.  I take them down in order as this way the tree ornaments are on the bottom of the stack of boxes as they will come out last next year.  I still have my teddy bear Christmas village to pack - when these boxes are all down - it will be time to take it down (okay it is past time, but it is our favorite decoration so it comes out first and goes back last). 

The woodworking show was a nice change for something to do for the day.  Mostly the same vendors are there year to year, although a lot of the regular vendors have dropped out over the years or combined, and the new vendors tend to not be actually wood work related (leaf screens - not really related, investment company - definitely not related).  It is an extremely LOUD room as vendors have not only their power tools going, but vacuums and they all are on microphones.  In the early days of husband’s woodworking he would have had a list of things to look for and buy, but he has most of the equipment he needs, he does less woodworking (although he still owes me the replacement bread drawer for the kitchen) and we have no money to spend on it.  There is no reason to add to the clutter in the workshop with unneeded additional tools.  Okay, there was something which caught his eye.  Two vendors (new ones) had similar items - it lets one hookup a tool to one’s computer and it will carve designs into wood automatically on its own.  But they are thousands of dollars and there is no place to put them.

After the show we went to a chain craft store as it is on the way to where we go for dinner while in New Jersey as we don’t have a store from this chain near where we live.  Did not buy anything, but nice to look - they are suppose to be opening near us sometime this year or next, I am sure that anything nice will not make it here, but it is nice to plan.  Husband particularly likes the yarn at the store - much bigger and nicer variety than we have here.  This is another place where we could buy a lot of items - but we don’t as we don’t have room for it all.       

We warped (set up) the loom again for husband to work - this time he is making a spring colored table runner.  We had problems getting it set up - not sure why, we should know what we are doing by now, and he had to take part of it out after he started weaving as is went on an angle.  He was annoyed as he considered this a simple project to do and relax while he did it.  During the week we finished washing the last few items he wove.  The items have to be washed to change the weaving from yarns to fabric.  They are hand washed and then laid out flat to dry on a rack in our studio so there are days between the washings to allow them time to dry.   

We did have a computer problem yesterday.  We suddenly lost access to everything on our home network - we could still print and scan, but if we tried to access the server drive - or each other’s computers - the entire setup to do so was gone!  Husband figured out it was somehow related to the installation of the new printer unit and finally managed to get it up and working again.

This is school vacation week around here.  It was started in the late 1970's for the school districts to save money on heating costs.  When husband worked at an non-profit with a school year schedule and we still stayed in hotels, we would often go away for part of this week as it was easy and cheap to get hotel reservations in nearby states (okay, Pennsylvania) as elsewhere there is school after Monday’s holiday.  We are thinking of trying our one day trip to same again this week - third attempt’s the charm?

We have had mostly wonderful weather the past week - when we went to the woodworking show we actually left our jackets in the car and just wore sweatshirts as it was in the low 60Fs.  The weather is suppose to continue.  I hope that none of you or yours have been caught in the tornados in Texas or the raining and flooding in California this past week.

Well, that was a bit of a ramble this week.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Don’t forget to look at all the possible reasons for a problem.

I have posted about replacing the hard drive on my computer late last year.  I am still finding software which was not reinstalled - I start to do something and whoops!  I also had a problem with a program we reinstalled.

I do not commonly use Word for my word processing.  I use another less popular program.  I also use an older version of it and do not want to switch to a newer version both due to cost and I am concerned that if I use the updated version it will not have same controls and functions as the verison I am using now.  There was an update (actually a few updates) to the program which also have to be reinstalled.  The program is, of course, no longer supported by the manufacturer. 

One of the problems I have been having - even with an update installed - is that I cannot import the address books - and here I was so careful to back them up at least quarterly up until the hard drive was replaced.  Husband came up with the idea of installing the program on the XP virtual drive of my computer (it is on the Windows 7) as XP existed when the program was written and & did not.  The program did work fine on & before the change of hard drive.

It worked - the installation program now is no longer partially greyed out.  So I went to import the address book data files to the XP installed version.  Now being how I am, I have several address books in the program - one for family and friends, one for clients, one for one of the clubs I am in, two for the other one (members and non-member contacts I need), Internal Revenue Service returns for assorted returns - some for several different states, my home state tax department, a general “other states, and lastly an “other” - this last for anything which does not by who it is fit into the other books - such as bills we pay on a regular basis, etc. 

I started importing the address book data into the program - the first book comes in and we are  excited that it worked - problem solved - and then I go to import a second one - it goes through the entire process, but there is nothing in the address book after it is done.  I try again - same thing.  I then turned on my work laptop and try to import to it - after all, I have been able to import two books to it in the past. It also would not import the next book.

Husband, always looking to make me happy with my antique software, was going crazy searching the Internet and we were trying all sorts of things.  Finally he asked a question which resolved the problem (at least as far as importing to the XP installed version).  “Let me see the backup data.” 

Ah, we had been assuming this was a program software problem.  No.  When I went to show him the data, there was none in several of the last set of backups - hence the program had imported the data, it is just that there was one.  Why did we not think to look for an alternate reason the information was not importing?  Why did we just assume (and you know what happens when one assumes) that it was a software problem?  I went to the backups before the one I was importing from and all the data except from two address books imported!  The other two books had not had their data properly backed up since 2015!  So I imported the data from the last backup from 2015.  (I am so glad that I keep the old versions of the backups!)  I will have to do a bit of updating - for example the two clubs I have books for have each gotten some new members since the backups were made - but I would have had to do so anyway as the most recent backups were before this also. I at least do not have to sit and enter over 100 addresses again.       

We will also try this update on the Windows 7 installed version in case it corrects the import program for same also.

So, if something does not work and what you try to do to fix it does not work, think what else could be wrong - it could be something even more simple than you thought it was.   

SCANNERS AND PRINTERS - AND HOW TO USE THEM TO ORGANIZE

There are several people I have been speaking with who do not have a scanner or a printer for their computer.  This amazes me - as well as makes problems for them.  My scanner and printers are vital to me. They are very useful for getting things done quickly and great for helping deal with keeping paper information without needing as much file space or time to file and look for files.

The first person I heard this from is my mom.  Mom has used a computer for decades including back when she worked.  Mom is also an accountant.  (Ok, fair notice - dad was also and one of my sisters also has a degree in it and works as a bookkeeper.)  Mom is 87.  Mom had a printer and a scanner - I know this because we bought it for her.  She has had another printer since, but has been told that she can no longer get the ink for it and/or the heads would be bad by now.  (The latter makes no sense as in an ink jet printer the heads are replaced each time the cartridge is replaced.)  Mom goes out and prints or copies things at the library when she needs to.   

Another person I just heard this from is a friend in a club I belong to.  I just made up revised membership lists as we had a group of new members.  I told her I would email everyone the new membership list.  She told me to print some and bring to the meeting in case others, beside her, cannot print the list out.

I have heard this idea also from others and, as I said, I am amazed.

Printers -  I have never been sure of the value of a computer without a printer.  Yes, I know we all email everything to everyone, but we don’t (well, I don’t) really. 

I find that I still need to write actual letters.  Not all businesses respond to email - no, don’t laugh, it is true.  In addition actual mail stands out when received differently than email.  I am not sure if I have mentioned this, but I do not do anything financial online.  Okay, you may think me old fashioned or laugh - but when my bank was hacked it was their online accounts which were hacked and mine was not.  I started working with main frame computers in the early 1970's and there are two things I know about computing which are absolute - “It is not a question of if, but when, a hard drive will crash.” (hence my need to backup and keep data off the hard drive) and “There is no such thing as a secure website.”

I had to write a letter to the bank we have our RV loan from about a problem we were having.  I had been trying to telephone the bank for some time with no luck. I actually went to their Facebook page and posted, anonymously, about needing a way to reach them - no luck.  Letter to the CEO of the bank - received the information I wanted and needed.  There is no way that the CEO would ever had have read my email, but a letter to him - even if he did not actually see it, his staff took care of the matter.   Letters work.

Have you ever had to mail something or other to a company?  A cover letter explaining what is enclosed and why - and what you want done about it - makes sure the recipient understand what is being sent and why.

I can also fill in forms which have to be done on paper (yes, they still exist) or are more convenient to do on paper and print them out.  My handwriting is terrible, but even if yours is lovely, printed information tends to be easier to read and read correctly than hand written information.

A printed letter, like the typed letter that existed before it, is much more presentable than a hand written letter (other than personal letters to friends and family) and is more likely to be taken seriously.  I have a client who hand writes her business letters as she does not use a computer - it looks terribly unbusinesslike.  When I can I write them for her while there.

Oh, I almost forgot - envelopes!  You can print envelopes when sending something by mail - and even add the computer coding for the address.  Less chance of the envelope and its contents going to the wrong place if the address can be easily read and even more if the sorting computers can read the address coding on the envelope!

Scanners - One of the best things ever invented.  In terms of organizing - one can scan in all manner of papers which take up room in the house, get lost, or get confused and get some space back.

I need to mention here as I have received several of these, taking a photo of a document is not the same as scanning it into a computer and is a major problem for the recipient to use, in addition to making a HUGE picture of the document which is hard to deal with it. 

When I do tax returns - for myself or clients - I scan in the form after I do it.  Yes, I use a computer to prepare the returns, but an error can result in accidently changing something on a page after the fact, if I only have the returns in the program they are prepared in, as well as there are always added schedules (pages) not prepared by the tax program.  I scan in the return after it prepared and save that as a separate pdf file and I have an exact duplicate of the return as filed.  I also scan in any of the notes, etc. I used to prepare the return.  I also scan in copies (front and back) of the checks I sent to pay the taxes - estimates as well as the final payment - and of any documents which show amounts withheld for taxes (W2s, 1099s, etc.)  I actually keep a hard copy of the return until after the following year’s return is filed, as it is easier not to have to go back and forth on the computer, but have the hard copy for reference while preparing the next year’s return.       

If I fill in a form I scan it into the computer to have a copy - less room than keeping a paper copy and it will not get lost.  If you prefer to keep a paper copy you can scan it in and print it out - or often just use the scanner as a copier.  More on this idea later.  For example, I take the membership forms received from members of our reenactment unit and scan them in, then (after backing up the data) shred them and throw them out - no need to keep another 30 pieces of paper a year in a file drawer. 

I think I mentioned in a past post about a project to scan in the most instruction booklets from the assorted things in our house.  If there is a large instruction book I am keeping it, but small instructions of say 15 or less pages I am scanning.  Remember one does not need to scan in the instructions in other languages, only those in one’s own.  I then (after backing up the data) put the booklets with the recycling.  So far I have gotten rid of 3 file folders of instructions.  Similarly I plan to scan in the paperwork from some car accidents we had in the past and the receipts from items returned to our cable company. (I can just imagine one day leaving them and being told that I never returned a cable box I was given in 2001 and the charge will be $500 for it not being returned, so I have kept the receipts for returned equipment.)
           
Now there are papers I do not do this with. I don’t scan in all our credit card receipts - too much work and they are stored away in a year.  Anything you need an original for - you can scan a copy, but the original must be kept (marriage& birth records, titles to car and house and so on).

What papers could you scan into your computer instead of keeping them and having to store them?

Now combine the two - scanning plus printing.  Even better.  Scan in a form and use software to fill it in and then print it out.  (See software below.)  Again, my handwriting being terrible it is a great way to make sure that what you fill in on a form can easily be read. 

One can buy an ink jet “all in one” unit for around $50.  This will let you scan in items and print out pages.  One can usually use the machine directly as a copying machine, but if not one can use it as same as one can scan in an item and then print it out.  Today after starting to write this post yesterday we were in a major discount chain store.  They had 4 all in ones which print and scan from $50 to $60.  Sometimes the all in ones are also a fax machine - yes, one sometimes still needs to fax something. At least one of them said that it was ready to be used with tablets and cell phones, solving the problem of printing with them. 

Yes, one can go to the library, Kinkos (Fed Ex these days), Staples, OfficeMax/Depot (if you still have one near you  - all the ones in our county were closed, nearest one now an hour away), work, etc. and make a copy if you need one.  Did you know that when you do so the copier/printer keeps your document in its memory and that when the machine is disposed of, often that information is still in the machine?  Who knows what happens to the machines after they are disposed of - and who has access to them.  Copy something with your Social Security number or bank account information and it will stay in the copy machine - much safer to make copies at home.

The scanner will generally come with software to do scanning.  You will need software though.  If you already have word processing software you can, of course use it with the printer.  There are freeware programs to make the printer/scanner do even more.  While I have nothing to do with the following programs and have no responsibility for them or how they work, I have found them to be very useful.  (I must give credit, husband told me about them and to use them.)  In addition I am running Windows computers and the software may not be made for other computers or for tablets.

Foxit PDF - this allows one to scan in documents and forms as pdf files and work with them.  One can use the “Type” function to fill in blanks on forms.  One can attach notes to the documents. There are assortment of other features which I have not even gotten to yet.  There is a freeware version of the program and that is the one I use.  One can print the pdf files made.

Cute PDF and Primo PDF are two of several programs which allow one to print what one has written directly to a pdf file.     They are will show up (at least in Windows computers) as alternate printers when you go to print and you select them and print the pdf - without needing to print the document out and then scan it in.  This lets you write a document and then email it to others who might not have the same word processing software to open a written document. For example, I like to use Wordperfect instead of the standard Word program.  I either must save the file as an rtf file (rich texture format - can open with many, if not all or most word processing programs) or I print it with one of these programs and send it as a pdf.  The only problem I have had doing this some of the tax forms generated when one files online in my state for some reason will not print this way (sales tax, employment taxes).  For these forms I need to physically print them out and then scan them in to keep a pdf copy of them.

LibreOffice can be used instead of Microsoft Office.  It is free.  By the way, if you have an older version of Word and can’t afford to upgrade and people keep sending you docx files - this will open them.  According to my husband this program will work on all “platforms” meaning it will also work with Mac computers, Ipads, tablets, Linux, etc.

Open Office is similar to LibreOffice, but husband says that LibreOffice is better.  Open Office will work only on Windows computers.


Now there is one problem I don’t know about.  (Yes, despite the fact that my friends think I am a “know it all” I don’t.)  Generally printing with a computer is not a problem.  However tablets and related use a different way to print as they do not attach or use wifi to work with printers.  This involves “cloud printing”.  I asked husband how this is done in anticipation of writing this article. After looking up how to cloud print I got dizzy reading as it seems to vary for each device being used and each company that one has their cloud account with.  He looked it up and could not figure it out either.  I know there is a way to do it.  If you must print this way, check with your cloud server to find out how.  Unfortunately it seems to sometimes require you to have a computer also.