Today at work I was talking to Doc about our NPI and PIN and BCBS numbers. They are all connected to our UPIN, Tax ID, his license number and our address. I had to set something up online with an insurance company and I needed a login and password to input the NPI, PIN, UPIN and Tax Id. We were talking about it because we had to change and get new suddenly for no apparent reason.
Tonight I was trying to make a ringtone for my phone. It’s super easy – well, unless you forget your password for itunes and then your computer will yell at you and tell you to answer your secret question (after entering your birth date) and when you forget the answer to your secret question too many times? It will kick you out for 8 hours. No new ringtone for me! And I still can’t figure out what the heck the secret question answer is!
I’m not very creative when it comes to user name and passwords. Seriously, I should be way better. But if I get too creative, I’ll never remember. And it’s not very safe to write every password down anywhere, right? There’s got to be a better way. How do you remember all the user name and passwords and important numbers you use everyday?
It’s way too many. Off the top of my head, on any given day I need any number of the following:
- email (x3)
- blog
- work email (x2)
- voicemail
- bank (x2)
- car locks
- work websites = 33
- work id numbers to keep track of = 15
- atm (forget it)
- a bazillion phone numbers, birthdays, anniversaries
- family social security numbers x4
- various websites and forums
Lucky for me a lot of my information is saved on my computer. But then sometimes, they disappear. For instance, the whole google/blogger thing? I save it, but then sometimes it’s not there when I go to leave a comment and then since I can’t find it, I have to sign up again. Ridiculous.
Just too many numbers and letters and logins to remember. It’s no wonder there’s no room in my brain to learn new things!!
So tell me, how do you do it? Do you write things down? Have some secret method of remembering? Use the exact same user name and password for everything? Help me make some sense of my numerical/alphabetical craziness!
Wife. Mom. Cancer Fighter. Friend. Business Owner. I believe life is short, some things just are what they are, and that there are very few problems that laughter won't solve or at least make better. 
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
so, i'll let loose with a secret: i use the same password for lots of things. it's bad. i know.
ugh me too, I am a sitting duck for a data dump.
I'm with liv. I use the same password over and over and over again. Because I am bad and irresponsible and I remember it. However, sometimes for no reason I will forget a code I have entered 3,000 times. Like the one at the top of the stairwell at work. I'll climb up there and the code will vanish from my head. I'll enter a bunch of bad ideas onto the keypad and eventually I'll have to go back down and take the elevator. I hate that.
I have a 4 digit number for all my PINs and the same password for most logins. The bad thing is if either of them gets out someone will have alot of fun.
Im with Joe, if someone got word of one password, they would have a blast! All my 4 digit PIN's are all the same, then we have one password for our e mail's, then we have the same password, only modified a little bit for our online bill paying, then one for all our online banking, and then I have my own password for all my school accounts…