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Check, Please!
Feb. 10th, 2011 09:03 pmWhen we were together, Kala handled bill-paying. Now I do it. It's a problem. Not so much because of the usual not-enough-to-go-around reason, but because it frustrates me.
Kala did electronic payments on all the bills that took them, and I started off that way, too. I'm a computer person, so it seemed natural. But then I ran into problems. This web site wants an email address for the login. That one wants a name. Another one GENERATES one FOR you, and it's a random string of numbers. Most of them don't allow my web browser to remember them, and it's a mess.
Then there's the password problem. This web site wants a password of mixed numbers and letters. That one requires you to change the password every three months. This one forces you to change the password via email if you make three mistakes trying to log in. Another one requires a mixture of numbers, uppercase letters, and lowercase letters. And none of them let the browser remember the password. (Because it's such a major problem, people breaking into houses, booting up their victim's web browser, and paying their bills on-line for them.)
And then there's the e-bill difficulty. DTE sends two reminders. AT&T sends one for the cell phone and one for the Internet, and they're both separate logins--at the SAME SITE. Did I pay both? (Why can't AT&T send me one bill for everything?)
I can't remember all of it. So I've stopped trying.
Ungreen as it may sound, I've flipped back to paper bills. Then I can SEE what the bills are, and I have a carbon of the check after I've sent each off. And I don't have to worry about printing paper copies of deductible bills for my files because I already have them.
I still get a bit frustrated, though, because I still have these piles of paper to sort through and make records of. I have to tally the bills and check them against what's in the draft account to make sure we can afford what's there, then go back and write the actual checks. For some reason, it always tightens my neck and chest. It's the exact same feeling I got in elementary school when I was learning long division. I'm not good with figures.
But this month's totals are done and the checks are written. All done for another four weeks.
Kala did electronic payments on all the bills that took them, and I started off that way, too. I'm a computer person, so it seemed natural. But then I ran into problems. This web site wants an email address for the login. That one wants a name. Another one GENERATES one FOR you, and it's a random string of numbers. Most of them don't allow my web browser to remember them, and it's a mess.
Then there's the password problem. This web site wants a password of mixed numbers and letters. That one requires you to change the password every three months. This one forces you to change the password via email if you make three mistakes trying to log in. Another one requires a mixture of numbers, uppercase letters, and lowercase letters. And none of them let the browser remember the password. (Because it's such a major problem, people breaking into houses, booting up their victim's web browser, and paying their bills on-line for them.)
And then there's the e-bill difficulty. DTE sends two reminders. AT&T sends one for the cell phone and one for the Internet, and they're both separate logins--at the SAME SITE. Did I pay both? (Why can't AT&T send me one bill for everything?)
I can't remember all of it. So I've stopped trying.
Ungreen as it may sound, I've flipped back to paper bills. Then I can SEE what the bills are, and I have a carbon of the check after I've sent each off. And I don't have to worry about printing paper copies of deductible bills for my files because I already have them.
I still get a bit frustrated, though, because I still have these piles of paper to sort through and make records of. I have to tally the bills and check them against what's in the draft account to make sure we can afford what's there, then go back and write the actual checks. For some reason, it always tightens my neck and chest. It's the exact same feeling I got in elementary school when I was learning long division. I'm not good with figures.
But this month's totals are done and the checks are written. All done for another four weeks.
