Amanda the Great by Amanda El-Dweek for September 16, 2022

tsk tsk tsk ( ⚆ _ ⚆ )

Oh, do I relate to needing a better mail system!!

Can that be an excuse for late bill-paying? “Sorry… it was being used as a coaster…” or “It was mistakenly in the Junk Mail box/bag…”

Actually, perhaps sarcasm can operate under its own etiquette rules?

I AM NOW CAUGHT UP from where I shamefully left off in late 2020! A real pleasure to read so many great Amandas the last few weeks!

My hubs uses the arm of the armchair system and then is surprised and annoyed when a cat knocks it onto the floor and he can’t find something. Sigh.

Don’t knock the system, Dan!

I write DECEASED on mine, and put them back in the mail.

One of the best habits I ever acquired was dealing with the mail as soon as it arrived. Most of it just goes into recycling anyway. Bills are opened, the envelopes tossed into the recycle bin, and the bill is either paid immediately or tucked into the checkbook for payment ASAP. It’s nice having clear tables, and it’s even nicer not having part of my brain worrying about unopened mail.

Amanda you’re firing from the hip A lot this week

I would have assumed it would be the top box. Or the first in a new pile. s

Piles work very well. Whenever I use files, it becomes out-of-sight-out-of-mind.

Mail is a constant battle. When we were first married I would bring it in and sort it into his pile and my pile. I do the bills so it wasn’t that dangerous. His pile would get higher and higher. I would get annoyed and put it on his desk. One day as he went through about 3 months worth he found a rebate check that expired. 150.00. He wanted to blame me but forget that. We started a new plan where he brings it in. His method for sorting is beyond me. I have a stack and then he sorts the rest into other stacks, 3 or 4. The next day he does the same thing but makes new stacks. So now there are 6 or 7 stacks. Some have only 1 piece. It might have something to do with him being an engineer. So I stack them all together, tossing the resident and put the rest on his desk. But he can’t blame me anymore.

Nowadays I get 3 or 4 or maybe more requests for donations, campaign contributions and insurance offers, among other things. I don’t get many bills because I have signed up for automatic payments. Charitable organizations and politician must swap contributor addresses with each other.

The ex use to handle all the bills. Not that I couldn’t just that he didn’t mind and it was one of my “hate, but have to,” things to do. One of the first signs of marriage trouble was when the bills weren’t getting paid and a bunch of new accounts started showing up. Went downhill from there.

Are you related to my wife Amanda?

We used to have a cat that preferred to see the bills on the floor. She’d bat them off the table one at a time and watch them flutter down.