Klowns in my Koffee

Daily Kup (My Life as the cold wind blows)
A few snowflakes, like playful squirrels, swirled and chased each other this morning at the bus stop. We brought in the paint cans from the cold garage and sighed at the incomplete projects piled up left and right.

A few days ago, I picked up an old wooden bar on Freecycle. We towed the trailer into the city to pick it up and found that it was a little more beaten up than we had hoped. Still, we'd come all that distance so the bar was dutifully loaded into the trailer and hauled directly to the floor of my garage. It's currently a sore point at my house. I'm going to make something wonderful out of that thing even if it's knotty pine firewood.

Taking Into Account - A Low-Tech Account Info and Password Template
I use variations of the same couple passwords for most logins. This is bad and I know it. On the other hand, if you want to break into my account at Build-A-Bear Workshop, feel free but please remember to pick up the free virtual teddy bear clothes that they owe me.

While I have unwisely made it easier to hack my accounts, it seems that I haven't made it easy enough because I used to continually forget which version of which passwords I used for the infrequently used accounts. Add to that my three primary email addresses and there was plenty of opportunity to be my own self-effective security function through sheer incompetence.

There are several wonderful software utilities to handle this login ID and password problem but, in a way, they do their job almost too well by camouflaging this information from anyone else in my household who may need to reference it. For example, I pay most of my bills electronically. If my husband ever wants to pay a bill -- say I get hit by the proverbial bus -- he wouldn't know where to start.

Sometimes low-tech is all one needs. I stick 4 x 6 index cards in my printer and print a stack of Account Trackers using the template in the link below. The cards then go in a file box with alphabetic dividers kept close to my home office computer. Whenever a new account is set up, the relevant information is noted on the card and the card is filed alphabetically by the website or company name. The back of the card can be used to record any other pertinent information like account numbers or the contact's name and email.

Account Tracking Cards template

Those in the family who would likely have to mop up from the bus accident scenario merely need to know where the file box is. This technique is also useful for shared accounts like research sites or the kids' lunch money account where each adult having a unique account is simply not needed. For families with children, the same card can be used with the rule that the child may not sign up for any accounts without having the login and password on file. My son forgets his password for his baseball card site frequently; by directing him to his Account Tracker card for this account, he has the opportunity to solve his own problem -- an important skill for him to practice.

It's not super-techy but it works. What's not to love?