Entry 7: Receipts

the definition of amass

gather, accumulate

Receipts, oh how I love thee, let me count the ways...

The receipt I got from Wendy's...mmm, delicious calories...
The receipt I got from Costco...amass at it's heightened state...
The receipt I got from Ikea...cheap cool furniture...the memories...
The receipt from Subway...healthy justifiable lunch...sort of, depends what you get...right?
The receipt from my bank...paying off the debts. See the above receipts.

I could go on, these fine friends of mine seem to litter my desk in my room, my car, my wallet, my bathroom, need I say more, I have a bit of a problem...

If I had a penny for all the receipts I have gathered, well, I wouldn't have the money that Donald Trump has, but I would be close. (Is collection or hording money a pack rat thing to do, do we need to talk Donald? But probably more socially acceptable than collecting receipt, yes, I know, I have a problem, thank you for thinking it!)

When do you throw receipts away and when do you not throw receipts away?
I think this is a particularly good question...especially for those pack rats out there...

Receipts...what is the purpose of them really?

1. Proof of purchase.
2. Proof of purchase to possibly receive a refund depending on the terms of the transaction, right, are you already confused, I am.
3. A written acknowledgment that a specified article or sum of money has been received as an exchange for goods or services, thus says wikipedia...http://bit.ly/r9SvEo

These bad boys seem to multiple and replenish in my car and bedroom. I thought collecting plastic bags was a bad habit. I have this strange idea that I need to keep the receipt, so I can take back something to the store. Funny...
do I ever take anything back to the store...nope, it's a pride thing.

Have you ever considered how many hours of your life you have stood in a line to get your money back because of spoiled something or whatever and you had to have your receipt to get your money back? Is it worth it? How much is your money worth to you? They should be fair and provide the service, right? How many man hours go into customer service and a little paper receipt to prove you have purchased an item?

This little paper receipt is a symbol of so much. How many people are put to work to put that little receipt in your hand? The men who cut down the tree, the workers who worked the machinery at the factory that produces the paper...

If you're interested in the paper process, click here, it's kind of a cool informative You Tube video.
(So that was a little detour, back to the meat and potatoes, oh yeah!)

Different kinds of receipts & purposes for them...

An analytical person would evaluate each different situation and determine when appropriate to change the process, like my boss. What is really efficient, effective, cost effective, about a receipt? A Piece of Paper? Really? Why is it, so very important?

1. Receipts from gas pump-Keep so you can calculate gas mileage and know how many gallons you put in your car (hmm, first of all, I struggle to keep a log of my gas mileage & two, am I going to be audited? Maybe? How many auditors did President Obama hire, he did increase jobs, right?! Oh, I just didn't go there!)

2. Receipts for groceries-Keep just in case your food goes bad!?! Maybe you get baby carrots that have nasty juicy water inside, you know, that when you open the bag you can automatically tell they have gone bad. Just in case, keep the receipt!!


And then I have this mindset, "Why take things back?", first of all, I'm too proud to take anything back. I say to myself, "I spent my money the way that I wanted to spend my money and heaven forbid, I make a mistake!" Nonetheless, I have fed this false ideology for years.

Second of all, time, time, time! Do I really have time to go, drive to the store and then stand in a line for fifteen minutes waiting for customer service.

Why do I have to be a grown up...they didn't teach proper throwing away techniques for receipt amassers in high school!! Maybe they should have paper management classes 101 in college, forget basket weaving. Paper Management 101, that's what I'll be signing up for next time I decide to go to college!

3. Receipts for clothes-Keep just in case there is a ripe or tear in the item of clothing. Finding discoloration in the fabric is also a reason in which you take back a piece of clothing. (Um, this was never a problem for me because I wasn't that picky, but some people are. Welcome to America, the land of the rich, famous, and picky...well, maybe not, but we do have options! Who knows, I have never had the experience of buying some absurdly fine piece of clothing and bring it home to realize after I step out of the finely decorated store to lure me to buy some fantastic piece to cover my body, that there is some factory defect I did not notice in the store, sigh, another line! REALLY!)

Really, only if every piece of product produced in a factory somewhere foreign might make every piece of manufactured good every time they push the on button! Yeah, that is a very optimistic point of view, how did I get that? Check this out, there is even strategies to explain manufacturing processing defects, wow, what public schools didn't teach me, or maybe they did and I can't remember, I'm getting on in my years.

4. Receipts for internet purchases-Are you supposed to keep them, so you can claim taxes on them for your tax return, I'm a little confused about that one.

***Side note about internet purchases, would it be a little ironic to say that paper would be involved with the electronic, ones and zeros, that will probably inevitably replace the paper industry?! Would data streaming from one computer server to another replace the purpose for cutting down trees, save the environment, but create a new problem, where do we continually find the resources to keep our little gadgets going? Hmm...
Here's another problem, how do we keep our information safe? Many a bright mind are being paid a much higher salary than mine to keep that from being a wee problem to a colossal catastrophe.

A question for a different blog post that doesn't include hording and maybe a MUCH smarter person, in whom you can't understand half the insanely, intelligent, jabbering garble, that spews out of their mouths, should write and not me! (Awe, apparently I have a few sensitive issues here, I didn't even know I was ranting. Oh my, sigh.)

5. Receipts for bank transactions-To help you keep you records straight? Okay, haven't kept a log of my transactions in years, waste of paper, right?!! That will come back and bite me, ouch.
I can hear my mother screaming in my ears right now, "YOU DON'T RECONCILE!" Enough said.

6. Receipts for fast food purchases-Um, I really don't know the purposes for this guy except to remind you that you are eating out way too much that your budget can't afford the cost, I don't care how cheap the dollar menu really is! Unless you want to advertise, right?! Apparently McDonald's takes advantages of the back of their receipts and advertises, who thought of that brilliant idea of brain washing, or just marketing. It is about presentation right, at every opportunity?! Is that a bad idea, meh, McDonald's is a very successful company, why didn't I think of that, right?

Someone from McDonald's art department one day will read this and know that they have effected my life, because they designed an ad that was placed on the back of a receipt that tantalized my brain sensory motor system to desire a fruit smoothie via visual stimulation. Oh, my! But my intellectual, crazy calorie counting side got in the way. Sorry Micky Dee's, too much sugar in the fruit smoothie for my taste, but the advertising sure looks good! (Don't ask me why I put this in my blog, I wanted to, it's my blog, bah ha!)

I have to mention one more thought before I leave the vastness of receipts, we are now given an option to have a receipt printed after a credit card transaction.

"Would you like your receipt," cashier says to me.

My response, "No thanks, I have plenty of receipts collected in my purse, I don't need to add another."

Roommate advice: Take the receipt, I like my identity, and how are you going to guarantee they will dispose of the receipt properly.

Designing Receipts
I won't bore you with details...

Destroying Receipts
This might be a billion dollar business in itself? You think I'm being a drama queen when I say that...

Apparently, I have developed the habit of ripping them into little pieces and throwing them away. Clearly, I don't have a hand held paper shredder! (I trade mark that idea, right now, don't steal!)

You might ask the question, "Who would think of such ideas and why spend precious moments of your life thinking about this?" and I would simply say, "Think me strange, I don't know...but, I do."

Entry 6: The Plastic Grocery Bag

Definition of horde...

a large group, multitude, number, etc.;

 

The process of collecting grocery bags...
1.Go shopping
2.Place items in cart
3.Purchase items
4.Acquire carrying device to carry items home
5.Travel home put items away
6.Decide what to do with carrying device

The carrying device in this case is usually the "plastic grocery bag".

When do you keep the "plastic grocery bag"?
Roommate Mickey said, "Only when there is no holes in the bag, when there are holes in the bag we throw them away."

What do you do with said bag?
Mother-Keep them with no conditions and store them in homemade pig bag. What is a homemade pig bag you might ask, well it's a doll with a dress attached to it that has elastic around the bottom to store plastic bags in. Could give some kids nightmares...maybe?!
Mother Cut plastic bags into strips and knit (and she did!)
Father Use them as trash liners, "you save money that way, you know, eh."
Ikea Don't throw them away, but place them in the Rationell Variera Plastic bag dispenser
Roommate Dana said,"Smith's recycles those, take them to Smiths!"
Gorilla in the Greenhouse Came up with 10 creative ways to use said bags.

Solutions:
1. Throw away
2. Recycle...how?
3. Plastic companies stop making plastic bags to force people to reuse their previous bags.
*Problems with idea #3
       1.OCD people who are germaphobes who don't want to reuse, could this really be a problem?
       2.It could put a lot of people out of work.
       3.People are lazy. "That means I had to bring my bag back, I threw it away." said the customer to the cashier.
       4. Too much money involved and way too much time to try to legislatively convince others that the plastic bag I receive at the grocery store might not necessarily be the best for the environment.

Bonus content...

How Do You Fold Your Plastic Bag

1. Crunch up into a little ball and put under sink in bag
2. Tie into a knot and put into another plastic bag (below is a picture of said knotted bag, in which I developed from my step-mother. Ever since she showed me how she ties her plastic bags into a knot my plastic bags have never been the same.)
3. Throw out the window (I would not suggest you do this because there could be a pretty pricey fine attached to this particular action.)
4. The possibilities are endless...how do you fold your plastic bag?

The Knotted Plastic Bag

Entry 5: Fortunes

To set aside...

This might be one of my greatest downfalls, I get some sort of paper product (mainly) and then set it to the side and collect it instead of throwing it away. Sometimes there is reason for it, I liked the saying written on it or I didn't have time to throw it away. There was valuable information to my identity I didn't want shared with anyone else...this is one of the reasons why I struggle with throwing receipts away. There are countless reasons to which I cannot name them all at this moment in time and plus you might find them extremely boring.

One of the many paper products that are strewn every where in my life are the fortunes from fortune cookies.

 

So, I admit now that I like Chinese food. The one thing I look forward to the most is the fortune cookie. Traditionally the fortune cookie is eaten last, well I like to eat my dessert first. It's weird because I have developed this habit when I eat fortune cookies. As well, I wait until I eat the entire cookie before I read the fortune. Some where placed in my vast past I came across the idea that if you didn't eat your whole fortune cookie before you read the fortune the fortune would not come true.

What am I looking for? The fortune cookie fortune to predict the future events in my life? Oh, you don't understand how much clout I give to that little fortune. You think a little piece of paper found in a cookie would mean that much to me but for some reason it does in my life. I do believe in God, yes, but I do believe in a fortune cookie fortune as well. Do that mean I'm blasphemous, maybe? Do I disbelieve in the fortune cookie god when it doesn't come to pass, meh, no. Life goes on and it was a fun little thought for half a second. But the idea that maybe God inspired a man to write down a saying and then that saying was randomly placed in a cookie that made it in my bag of food. But was it random? That is an interesting question for a different blog. Deep thoughts with fortune cookies?!

Where do these little fortunes come from, any way? I never thought about it, but for some odd reason they are all over my desk. A sad realization that I go to Panda Express way too much for my liking and for my size 4 pant size. All I have to say for those watching your weight, proportions, it does wonders! I have to admit that Chinese food and Wendy's Spicy Chicken nuggets are the down fall of my diet. I find myself off topic...

Where the "Fortune Cookie" came from...click here...thus says Wikipedia
Top three Fortune Cookie Manufactures says Wikipedia

1. Wonton Food Inc.
2. Peking Noodle
3. Tsue Chong Co 

Oh, and I won't go off about the games you can play with fortunes...food for thought...

After this fine little blog these little sweet messages will be trashed! One piece of trash a day! I can do this!

 

Stories behind the fortunes...

1.You will soon make a change at work-I read that right before they decided to hire me on full time again at Metalmart.

2.A surprise treat awaits you-Can't remember to be honest, but I think some kind vender brought cookies to work that day!

3.A much needed vacation will bring a great deal of enjoyment-My dad told me that Sunday that he wanted to take me on a cruise for my birthday.

4.Don't be hasty, prosperity will soon knock on your door-I'm still looking for this one. I'm still on the "Don't be hasty" part of the fortune!

5.Sail into the land or opportunity-treasure awaits-I've started to look into the many options the internet has of becoming prosperous.

6.You will be the guest of a gracious host-This I feel has not yet taken place.

7. You will soon find more adventure in life-I think I got this fortune right before I started speed skating!

Entry 4: Provelo

Goal number 1: I will throw away one piece of garbage a day...my goal as a packratter. Hopefully with having this goal it will challenge me to not horde everything that is given to me. For some particular reason I place some sort of value to the things handed to me. Whether it was the time taken to make the object or because someone took time to think about me it will be a reminder to me of what I have experienced in life. Strange thought. Hmm, so onto my blog...some reason for a good part of my life I have collected fliers, business cards, and product labels that I liked. Some designed well and some designed not so well. One of my university art teachers had done the same thing, but I'm not quite sure my pack rattiness with collecting small print media objects began then. Maybe the idea was implanted then but that could be debated as well.
This particular object was distributed at a farmer's market I went to with my good friend Martha and her children. I liked the simplicity of the design so I filed it away in my camera case. Why my camera case, well I was taking pictures of Martha's kids and that is the only form of purse I had on me at the time.

In my mind this is not garbage, I thought it was a fun, simple, effective little flier and that is why I kept it for over six months. My heart is a little torn over throwing it away because I liked the design so much. It has all the elements you need for a flier. Elements like the title, the description, time, date & location and even a web address to learn more information for the event. The copy is not overwhelming, but simple enough not to overtake the art of the flier. And the art of the flier is what I like the most, the hand draw bicycle with the little old school picnic basket. I could go on, but it is late. The ode to Provelo, may you be remembered electronically for today I will finally throw you away. May you rest in peace in the garbage bag in my room and may you never be forgotten little flier for I have made a blog post about you! 

Entry 3: Movie Ticket Stubs

I collect movie ticket stubs. When I was born I did not have this problem. I developed it in college from one of those awesome people you meet in college. They become your friend in a day and you're friends for the rest of your life. This particular friend liked to go to movies and she liked to scrap book. I thought that was cool, so from then on I started collecting movie tickets with the idea that one day I would make a scrapbook of my life. In that book I would have a page just devote to the movies I've seen with the movie ticket stubs representing those movies.

First of all, I have come to the realization that I don't scrap book! If I did scrap book, I would have to clean my desk first to scrap book. And then when I start a project, such as a scrap book page, I would probably leave it out for a year with the intention of finishing it but then not finish it because I had other priorities "pop-up" in my life. I have this great "desire" to scrapbook, but do you see the dilemma I'm facing, it would become a super crazy mess.
Then what do you scrapbook about? In this case movie ticket stubs collected over the ten years of my life? That could be the start of a very interesting scrapbook, especially if I interjected my opinion about each movie, why I went to see it, and who I went to see it with. I am of course a very opinionated movie goer.
But who would read a scrapbook if it had words? I'm just saying. And when do you look at scrapbooks? I could see my volumes of scrapbooks sitting on my book shelves collecting dust. Is that a bad thing? Maybe. But it would be a wonderful record of the exciting things that happened in my life for other people to remember. Eh, are scrapbookers pack rats, that is the question!
So instead of scrap booking I am pack ratting in digital cyber space by blogging about my crazy idiosyncrasies.

Entry 2: The Infamous Relief Society Handout

So, sometimes I just don't know why I have kept the papers I have in my vast collections of papers lying around my room. Maybe I put the paper down on my desk, leave it there and then place other paper on top of it and then the paper on the bottom of the stack just get forgotten about. In this case I found this lying on my desk this weekend as I was cleaning.
The infamous Relief Society handout. Relief Society is a society for women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a part of the three hour meetings Latter-day Saints go to every Sunday. Every Sunday there is usually a lesson involved. A little handout is usually constructed by the teacher for the sisters in the class to remember what was talked about. I found this lying on my desk tonight and I can't remember when the lesson was, where it took place, or who taught the lesson, but somehow I know who the quote was by. Maybe it is not so important when the event took place, the quote is still interesting. I don't know what to do with it though. I can guarantee that I have hundreds of these little handouts hidden in my scriptures, journal, or just randomly throughout my room. Do you keep a journal of these bad boys or do you just throw them away? I have seen ladies who tape these bad boys all over their fridge or the side of a wall by their phone. I stick them in my scriptures, but it is time for some spring cleaning...What would you do?

Entry 1: Hope

When ever someone pack rats they feel like what they are keeping is important for the future. Well, that's one of the reasons why I keep something whether it is a piece of junk or a valuable piece of jewelery I give it value or worth. In my vast collection of junk, and I do collect junk, I have decided to go through my "stuff" and throw things away. This is one of my new year's resolutions is to stop collecting junk and throw away the junk I already have. Spring cleaning before spring. But for some reason when I clean my junk gets tossed from one pile to the other. Why? one might ask. I'm a little crazy, I'm admitting to this now, but the real reason is because I can't make a decision if I should keep that particular document or paper. At one time it had value to me. I've made an association with it and by keeping it, for me, it is a visual representation of a memory I had some way or the other. These particular cards are pieces I have pack rated for over two years. Maybe I have kept them because I had a hope that I could give them away to someone who could help them. They are two cards my friend Susan sent me. Her and her husband what to grow their family. They have been having troubles, I don't know all the details and she probably wouldn't want me to share the details if I did know them. I keep coming across the cards but I have no idea of what to do with them. So here I am writing about it. If any of you fine people who read this post know of anyone who wants to give up a child for adoption, these fine friends of mine are looking to adopt. The contact info is on the cards above. After this I'm going to throw the cards away. I might tweet about the blog but I guess that is all I can do to help my friends. The cards sitting in a pile of papers definitely won't help, so here I am trying to help someone who might be struggling with the fact that she can't grow her family. This is my way to help, a very small way.