Do you have a “thing” in your family that always takes far more trouble than it should

[Ginevra]

For me, it’s lease agreements for our rental properties. I don’t know why this always fills me with abject dread whenever I need to produce one so dh can sign a new tenant. Oh, wait; actually, I *do* know. It’s because I first drafted it in, like, 2001 and I keep trying to let it convert instead of just redesigning the whole thing on a current program so it won’t be so stupid. There’s codes in there I don’t see until it’s printed; the company logo mysteriously does not appear, but then decides to randomly; the page breaks are messed up and I don’t have any more legal sized paper. 🙄🙃🤪

I swear that every time I need to produce one, I promise myself I am going to redesign it so it doesn’t take two reams of paper to produce one clean original and one clean copy. But it’s always at some extremely inconvenient time and I forget about it. (And it is now, too!) Until the next time; and then I self-flagellate for not fixing this form yet again. 
 

Rant over. 
 

Do you have something like this? You keep meaning to make it right so it won’t be effed up the next time you need it but then it’s wrong again and it’s still effed up when you use it the next time. 

[Indigo Blue]

Does it count when you have really old saved files in your cloud that can no longer be opened because you got a new pc?

Or you make really nice file labels, address labels, etc, and the same thing happens to those? 
 

Or fine tune a custom design template so you can print envelopes with your company address as needed, getting the lines and spacing just so, then your junk (they all are) printer decides to break for no reason and the new one doesn’t play nice with your formatting and you can’t figure out why…so you have to start from scratch again….or resort to printing sticker labels instead which don’t look as nice…

 

But I just learned you can customize the colors in Google calendar. So I’m going to make my calendar look nice with a more pleasing color palette, when I have time. 🙂

[Ginevra]

9 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

Or you make really nice file labels, address labels, etc, and the same thing happens to those? 

100%. I have done exactly this. The last time I needed custom company address labels, I paid for Staples to make them for me, even though I *used to* make them myself with the logo and everything. But that program doesn’t work anymore; it is not compatible. So I paid for Staples to do what I very well know I could do myself if I would just prioritize a few hours or so to figure it out.

[wintermom]

tax returns - just collecting up all the relevant documents and info takes forever

[Miss Tick]

Rolling our Certificate of Deposit to a new one each year or so. When the notice of maturity comes in the mail I clench my jaw and crumple the envelope into a battering ram. It always gets worked out in the end or I would switch banking institutions, but some years require multiple visits to the bank branch, lots of cashiers who confidently assure me that it is taken care of (mmm, we'll see about that), different procedures from year to year and even person to person. Gah! If there is a problem, however, they always make it right and are sure to credit me with whatever funds I would have had were there no issues.

[Faith-manor]

It used to be FAFSA. We had three kids in college at one time there for about 2.5-3 years. It was a hair pulling, teeth grinding, epic waste of time since the kids really got NO financial assistance. But they couldn't be awarded their scholarships unless we did it. Mark was the primary one to do battle with that awful software!

[Ginevra]

2 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

It used to be FAFSA. We had three kids in college at one time there for about 2.5-3 years. It was a hair pulling, teeth grinding, epic waste of time since the kids really got NO financial assistance. But they couldn't be awarded their scholarships unless we did it. Mark was the primary one to do battle with that awful software!

That *may* have influenced my desire for my youngest to go to the college he goes to, because I do not have to fill out the FAFSA after the first year. 
 

I agree that it’s maddening. My older son used a username like PleaseLetMeCollege. 😜

[athena1277]

1 hour ago, Faith-manor said:

It used to be FAFSA. We had three kids in college at one time there for about 2.5-3 years. It was a hair pulling, teeth grinding, epic waste of time since the kids really got NO financial assistance. But they couldn't be awarded their scholarships unless we did it. Mark was the primary one to do battle with that awful software!

It’s been infinitely worse this year with the new changes.  Lots of families have had so many problems, sometimes making it hard to know whether or not to commit to a school because FAFSA is holding up their financial aide packets.  

[lauraw4321]

Not really in the same vein, but we have a tradition to watch a movie on Friday nights as a family. We have complex rules regarding choosing the movie. The night has now just been re-named "Friday Night Fight Night" because it doesn't matter how many rules, sub-rules, fairness approaches we take, it nearly always results in a fight. Mostly it ends up being a "fight" but it has gotten ugly a time or two. (To be clear, it's the kids fighting). 

The kids have been on a LOTR kick. We've watched all of them, all of the Hobbits and now we're on our way back through the extended editions of the LOTR.  Those will be done soon, and we will once again engage in a weekly fight.  

[dsmith]

I'm going to have to say cleaning/defrosting the freezers. We have 3 of them and I dread it when it's time to clean/defrost. Plus we do an inventory before we refill it. It just seems like a huge undertaking to me. I also hate when I have to clean the refrigerators. How do they get so messy?!?! It's never simple - I have to completely empty it, take all the shelves out, clean all the jars, etc. that were in it. It's like everyone just spills stuff everywhere and leaves it to form a sticky mess that takes over an hour to scrub. I may as well throw the oven onto that list, but at least there's only 1 of those! 

The other thing would be various paperwork/tax stuff/doctor's stuff for the elderly folks in the house. I feel like I spend a significant amount of time filling out this form or that form, applying for some kind of rebate/tax break, dealing with insurance issues, etc. I always have to be on the lookout for them. They would never know about the property tax rebate if I didn't read about it, or FEMA covering fil's funeral due to COVID, etc.  And the elderly gentleman that lives with us would have just paid $1200 for lab work instead of checking why Medicare didn't pay it. And don't get me started on all the crap I get from their doctors. Each one has a different platform, and they want medication lists filled in before every appointment even though it's in their system already. They each have about 15 - 18 medications and supplements every day. My email gets flooded with reminders, check-ins, surveys, visit recaps, lab results, etc. It's too much to keep track of! And many seniors aren't equipped to handle all the digital garbage.

[kbutton]

HSA reimbursement—I don’t pay with the card because we have a rewards credit card, so I have to tally it up and keep track of what has been reimbursed (or do it all at once at the end of the year).

Documentation for BCMH (medical program for kids with certain health conditions)—it runs December to December, so it’s the same documentation as for HSA but not the same months of data. 

 

[Spryte]

2 hours ago, lauraw4321 said:

Not really in the same vein, but we have a tradition to watch a movie on Friday nights as a family. We have complex rules regarding choosing the movie. The night has now just been re-named "Friday Night Fight Night" because it doesn't matter how many rules, sub-rules, fairness approaches we take, it nearly always results in a fight. Mostly it ends up being a "fight" but it has gotten ugly a time or two. (To be clear, it's the kids fighting). 

The kids have been on a LOTR kick. We've watched all of them, all of the Hobbits and now we're on our way back through the extended editions of the LOTR.  Those will be done soon, and we will once again engage in a weekly fight.  

Not to hijack the thread, but we did a recent round of all the Hobbits and LOTR movies, and felt lost afterwards. If you can do a series — the Rings of Power was very good. I think it’s on Amazon. Maybe that will save you a few nights of fighting!

[Spryte]

Food. Getting together with large groups, extended family who want to go out to eat or host us. All things food are a giant production here.

We are zoo animals. Don’t feed us.