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#1
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Does this NG get more traffic in January?
Beverly wrote:
I've never been a big New Year's resolution maker. I guess the nearest thing to this would be my promise to spend less money each year when I setup the spreadsheets to track bill payingg Forget spreadsheets, use Quicken! It's so easy to use, it's essentially the exact same thing as your checkbook register with one extra item: the category for the expense. It makes reporting on where your money went an absolute dream. (Reconciling your bank account was never so fast, either.) You can use Quicken as easy or complex as you like: it's something you can grow into, too. I track my credit card purchases in their own registers just like I track my checking account. I also track my investments with Quicken (I keep my brokerage account balance on there just like another checkbook register.) Last, but not least, I keep my entire business on Quicken - there's a Home & Business version that allows me to do invoicing and print statements as well as a few other business functions. Obviously, keeping track of my finances is my strength - I'm a CPA. Dealing with huge piles of papers is my weakness: I'm currently rearranging my office (getting ready for tax season) and I've already thrown out two entire recycle bins full of paper. Unfortunately, I've got something like four more boxes to wade through. I am terrible at dealing with mail! If you've got any ideas for how to handle a constant stream of offers and catalogs and magazines I *might* get around to reading, please tell me! Dally |
#2
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OT: Organization was: Does this NG get more traffic in January?
"Dally" wrote in message ... Beverly wrote: I've never been a big New Year's resolution maker. I guess the nearest thing to this would be my promise to spend less money each year when I setup the spreadsheets to track bill payingg Forget spreadsheets, use Quicken! It's so easy to use, it's essentially the exact same thing as your checkbook register with one extra item: the category for the expense. It makes reporting on where your money went an absolute dream. (Reconciling your bank account was never so fast, either.) You can use Quicken as easy or complex as you like: it's something you can grow into, too. I track my credit card purchases in their own registers just like I track my checking account. I also track my investments with Quicken (I keep my brokerage account balance on there just like another checkbook register.) Last, but not least, I keep my entire business on Quicken - there's a Home & Business version that allows me to do invoicing and print statements as well as a few other business functions. I tried Quicken and Money but always go back to my spreadsheets. I use to track the bill paying on 12 column paper kept in a notebook. I have these things from the 1980's g. I have two checking accounts. The main account is for paying bills and I use their free online bill payment system. It has features to track payments by category, etc. This bank also has my mortgage, equity line and daughter's SS account. This makes it easy to track everything. I make it a habit to reconcile the balance weekly. The other checking account is for spending money - vacations, grandkids birthdays, etc. It has an online bill paying feature also but I don't use it. Obviously, keeping track of my finances is my strength - I'm a CPA. Dealing with huge piles of papers is my weakness: I'm currently rearranging my office (getting ready for tax season) and I've already thrown out two entire recycle bins full of paper. Unfortunately, I've got something like four more boxes to wade through. I am terrible at dealing with mail! If you've got any ideas for how to handle a constant stream of offers and catalogs and magazines I *might* get around to reading, please tell me! Dally I sort through the mail daily. Bills are marked with their due date and filed in a small organizer on my kitchen bar. I also have a couple of slots for things that need to be filed, offers I want to checkout, etc. Tickets for upcoming events ( hockey games, concerts,etc ) are kept on the fridge next to the calendar. I also print a map or any other information needed for the event and keep it with the tickets. I hate to see penciled information on the calendar so I keep it in Power Point. I can update and reprint any month when new appointments are needed. Magazines and catalogs are stacked on an ottoman next to my reading chair in the family room. I normally go through this stack weekly and keep it down to a foot high pile. Most of those catalogs have websites and I bookmark them if I'm interested and pitch the paper. If you find a magazine article you want to keep cut it out, file it and throw the rest away. I have a hanging file holder tucked beneath the computer desk where I keep items I might use in the future - bicycle trail maps and info, vacation ideas, decorating info, etc. I find the paper piles have really decreased since I started using the computer to organize this type of information. Beverly |
#3
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OT: Organization was: Does this NG get more traffic in January?
Beverly wrote:
"Dally" wrote in message ... Dealing with huge piles of papers is my weakness: I'm currently rearranging my office (getting ready for tax season) and I've already thrown out two entire recycle bins full of paper. Unfortunately, I've got something like four more boxes to wade through. I am terrible at dealing with mail! If you've got any ideas for how to handle a constant stream of offers and catalogs and magazines I *might* get around to reading, please tell me! I sort through the mail daily. One of my pet peeves is that my mail doesn't arrive until after 4 pm, at which point I'm out driving children. I rarely get my mail in time to take checks to the bank that day, for example. It also means that the mail comes AFTER I've finished working at my desk for the day and gone to the kitchen to do family things. I only process it enough to put bills in the bill drawer and open letters with first class stamps. Everything else gets put in a pile to be gone through "later". I end up spending a full day once every 6 months hoeing it out. Another pet peeve is that the other four members of my household all consider the mail to be MY domain. No one even looks at it unless I drop it on their dinner plate. I'm arguably the WORST person in the world to be in charge of mail. I beg and plead (and ignore it for months) and still can't get anyone else to help. I've spent all week-end processing piles. I've filled FOUR recycling bins with paper, and shredded a huge amount, too. I'm thoroughly sick of paper and know that it will just start to mount up again! Magazines and catalogs are stacked on an ottoman next to my reading chair in the family room. I normally go through this stack weekly and keep it down to a foot high pile. Most of those catalogs have websites and I bookmark them if I'm interested and pitch the paper. I like this idea. I even bought a magazine rack for the livingroom. It gets filled past bursting and no one ever takes a magazine out. (In case you're wondering, nearly every magazine we get is a gift subscription.) If you find a magazine article you want to keep cut it out, file it and throw the rest away. I used to do that, except the cut-out article never got filed. The internet has relieved me a lot of that: now whenever I want to research a subject I google it. I don't have to keep the old Kiplingers Personal Finance magazines from the 80's in case I want to read an article anymore! I have a hanging file holder tucked beneath the computer desk where I keep items I might use in the future - bicycle trail maps and info, vacation ideas, decorating info, etc. I have one of those. I also have two huge lateral file cabinets, four filing cabinet drawers in my desk and credenza, and a stand-alone three-drawer filing cabinet all in my office. That's 17 file drawers. And I never put anything in them! Seriously, that's where the FLAW comes in. I hire my daughter to file my client files (and they're kept specially careful, not mixed in with mail or personal papers) and the rest of the stuff goes in piles, then into boxes, then into storage... last year I hired an office organizer to sort through my papers but she DIDN'T FILE THEM! She just made big piles of like-kind things. Eventually I needed my diningroom table back so I put the piles back into boxes. This week-end I've been finally, finally, putting them in files. Most of it still haven't made it into the file cabinet drawers, but they're getting closer (in manilla folders.). I did get some stuff filed - including some things from the early 80's. (But I tossed my voter registration sheet from when I turned 18 over 20 years ago.) I find the paper piles have really decreased since I started using the computer to organize this type of information. I did find that using a PIM (personal information manager) reduced the number of sticky notes all over my desk. Now I keep things like my eye glass prescription and contact info and appts all in one computer program. God help me if it ever fails. (Yes, I back up the data, but the software I use hasn't been supported since 1995 and eventually it'll die - it has Y2K bugs, for example.) My victimization in the face of avalanches of paper has parallels to my previous hopelessness in the face of unrestrained weight gain. The weight just kept coming on and I didn't know how to handle it because I thought I was doing stuff to address it and it wasn't working. I feel like I need to gain new competencies where paper processing goes the same way I've gained new competencies where weight management is concerned. I couldn't make it a New Year's Resolution, though, because my resolutions are all specific, measurable and achievable. I don't even know how to phrase, "become less victimized by paper piles" into a specific, measurable, achievable goal. Dally |
#4
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Does this NG get more traffic in January?
"Jayjay" wrote in message
... I've been wanting to go back to my early morning workouts, but hesitate to start now because of the rush on the gym. I hate to be tagged as "one of them"... especially since I will have a forced 4 week break from the gym coming up here soon. Nah, we know you're not one of those January exercisers! You're one of those "4 weeks until my wedding" exercisers. :-) :-) Dally |
#5
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OT: Organization was: Does this NG get more traffic in January?
Dally wrote
snip Dally's paper problem My victimization in the face of avalanches of paper has parallels to my previous hopelessness in the face of unrestrained weight gain. The weight just kept coming on and I didn't know how to handle it because I thought I was doing stuff to address it and it wasn't working. I feel like I need to gain new competencies where paper processing goes the same way I've gained new competencies where weight management is concerned. I couldn't make it a New Year's Resolution, though, because my resolutions are all specific, measurable and achievable. I don't even know how to phrase, "become less victimized by paper piles" into a specific, measurable, achievable goal. Dally You have now totally depressed me about the piles of eBay stuff I need to get to . . . But the boxes for Christmas decorations are in the way! Scarlett-mode I'll worry about that tomorrow!/Scarlett-mode (think I'll take a walk lol) -- Walking on . . . Laurie in Maine 207/110 60 inches of attitude! Start: 2/02 Maintained since 2/03 |
#6
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OT: Organization was: Does this NG get more traffic in January?
"SnugBear" wrote in message .4... You have now totally depressed me about the piles of eBay stuff I need to get to . . . But the boxes for Christmas decorations are in the way! I've thought about selling a few items on eBay but just haven't taken the time to check it out. Is it time consuming? Is it worth it? I have several Charles Wysocki and Thomas Kincade collectiables currently packed away and would like to get rid of them. Beverly 2/03 |
#7
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OT: Organization was: Does this NG get more traffic in January?
"Jayjay" wrote in message ... On Mon, 5 Jan 2004 12:58:34 -0500, "Beverly" wrote: "SnugBear" wrote in message . 1.4... You have now totally depressed me about the piles of eBay stuff I need to get to . . . But the boxes for Christmas decorations are in the way! I've thought about selling a few items on eBay but just haven't taken the time to check it out. Is it time consuming? Is it worth it? I have several Charles Wysocki and Thomas Kincade collectiables currently packed away and would like to get rid of them. Beverly 2/03 Oh, my mom LOVES thomas kincade stuff. What do you have? Plates. I gave the hanging pictures to my kids. I had them hanging at the other house but since I've downsized I just don't have the wall space I had before. I still have them packed in their original packing containers. I save the boxes for everything - watches, pedometer, kitchen appliances, etc. Soon I'm going to need a storage unit just for boxes g Beverly |
#8
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Does this NG get more traffic in January?
"Jayjay" wrote in message
... On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 23:49:07 -0500, Dally wrote: "Jayjay" wrote in message ... I've been wanting to go back to my early morning workouts, but hesitate to start now because of the rush on the gym. I hate to be tagged as "one of them"... especially since I will have a forced 4 week break from the gym coming up here soon. Nah, we know you're not one of those January exercisers! You're one of those "4 weeks until my wedding" exercisers. :-) :-) Dally Right now I'm a "how can I lose 10lbs in 2 weeks" people. The closer it gets, the more I freak. The more I freak, the more I turn to junk food (sweets) and of course the more I SHOULDN"T do that. AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH Oh, not to mention the workload at work/home to prepare for the last minute stuff. Which means exercise time is limited. Also, stress means sleep problems for me (wake middle of the night with the mind racing, can't get back to sleep) which also leads to energy problems. Oh, its a downward spiral of troubles that are just too much! People tell me not to worry - BUT - my jeans are uncomfortably tight instead of lose/baggy, and I certainly can't afford to go buy a new wardrobe right now. Is the sleep problem related to the reduction in exercise time? I have the same problem when I'm really stressed, I can't sleep and when I can I have bizarre dreams. Sometimes taking a tylenol PM will help knock me out enough to sleep. Lately, I've been getting up about 4 hours after going to sleep because of night sweats so after I change clothes I do some yoga and meditation out of bed and then go to bed and do some focused breathing. I'm still exhausted in the morning, but not as high strung. I wish I could help you with the stress eating, but I am no expert in that field. Sometimes I just have more resolve than other times. I think about how my clothes feel and it helps and then at times I could care less. I try to distract myself and find other things to do, but with a job and stuff it's sometimes not convenient to go take a walk or a shower. This is why I keep my fridge (home and work) stocked with my favorite fruits and vegetables so I can stress eat with less damage, but then I also know who has the junk food on their desks . I've been sucking on chocolate mint flavored velamints lately. All of these tactics reduce the damage for me while I work on the issues at hand. Not the best behavior, but 30 years of habits don't change in just 1 year. I feel for you! Just try to enjoy some of the preparations because unless you're Liz Taylor (or my dad) you only do this once or twice in your life Jenn |
#9
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OT: Wedding advice for Jayjay
Jayjay wrote:
Right now I'm a "how can I lose 10lbs in 2 weeks" people. The closer it gets, the more I freak. The more I freak, the more I turn to junk food (sweets) and of course the more I SHOULDN"T do that. You need a dose of perspective. What's important? BF has to be there. You've got to be there. The minister/JP has to be there. Anything else? I recall my parents bitching endlessly about stuff about my wedding. My Dad didn't like the week-end - something about travel congestion. My mother was a Jehovah's Witness and didn't want me to have it in a heretical church (she wasn't a JW when I was growing up - I was married in the religion she raised me with.) I finally just threw a conniption fit and said, "Look, [fill in the blank], BEN has got to be there. You can come if you want." They shut up, and showed up. One of the best things I did was let my bridesmaids pick their own dresses. I asked for floral prints in whatever style and color looked good on them. Everyone looked lovely - not over-choreographed. The cameras on the table were a nice touch, too, but an absurd proportion of the pictures were of a statuesque blonde that someone had brought as a date - I didn't even know her name and never saw her again but something like 30% of my wedding candid pictures feature her! But still, I enjoyed seeing what OTHERS saw at my wedding. Dally |
#10
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OT: eBay was: Organization was: Does this NG get more traffic in January?
"Beverly" wrote
I've thought about selling a few items on eBay but just haven't taken the time to check it out. Is it time consuming? Is it worth it? I have several Charles Wysocki and Thomas Kincade collectiables currently packed away and would like to get rid of them. Beverly It's always more lucrative to sell your own stuff than for others - I do both. It's also better than you can expect from a yard sale. I buy things all summer at yard sales. You wouldn't believe the things I took off Free piles that sold for over $60. I also sold all but 2 of my 20 year old Coach Bags for more than I paid for them. Collectibles can do very well. I sold a set of little Wade houses before the holidays for over $300. It's a bit slow right after the holidays, but this is a link for completed auctions of Kincade Plate* in the past 2 weeks: http://search-completed.ebay.com/sea...=kincade+plate It doesn't have to be time consuming. I have a template I just plug information and images into to make them look nice but if you have what at least 2 people want that week, it doesn't really matter. s -- Walking on . . . Laurie in Maine 207/110 60 inches of attitude! Start: 2/02 Maintained since 2/03 |
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