Category: Hints&Tips

Dangerous Scam!

Beware of a  scam that I consider to be extremely dangerous. Recently I missed a call from an 02 number. The caller left a message, and when I dialled my message bank, I was greeted by an automated, computerised voice, announcing with some urgency that an affidavit had been filed in my name for a tax fraud, and my house was under surveillance. I was given a number to phone, or have my lawyer phone, with an added warning of urgency. The number even showed up as from Canberra. All very official. I immediately checked the number on Reverse Lookup and found that other people had experienced the same call, and identified it as a scam about tax evasion. I then filed the number neatly in my Spam file in the contacts list on my phone.

I know the steps to take to check a number and to file it in a Spam Folder, but for some residents, the call could spark fear, panic, and even life-threatening health issues. The very least that could happen is the unsuspecting person could make the call to the number and fall victim to the scam that this is.

I tend not to answer calls from numbers I don’t recognise and wait for the caller to leave a message. If the caller has a valid reason for calling me, they will leave a message. Spammers and Scammers tend not to. Another way of identifying possible ‘spam’ or ‘scam’ calls is by the number of rings. Spammers and Scammers will usually only wait for 3-4 rings before hanging up and moving on to the next call.

If you are concerned about any call you receive, check with a family member or friend, and NEVER ever give any personal or banking details over the phone unless you know the person and trust that it is a legitimate reason.

There are a few things you can do to guard against scammers:

  • Refuse to give details over the phone
  • Check the number on the Reverse Lookup website, or ask someone to do it for you
  • If the caller says they are from your bank, don’t give any details but ask for a contact name and tell them you’ll call them back.
    •  Look up the phone number for your bank and call them.
    • Tell them about the call and ask if they had called.
  • Learn to be very suspicious about calls you get
  • Don’t worry about offending the caller – if they are legitimate, they’ll understand

It pays to be suspicious in this technological age 

Spam!

Spammers – the callers we love to hate!

We all hate getting those annoying phone calls, at the most inopportune times,  from people trying to sell everything from Life Insurance to raffle tickets, but there’s not much we can do about it…. or is there?

I’ve found a really useful way of dealing with these calls. And don’t get me wrong here – the calls from Charities trying to squeeze an extra dollar out of us for a good cause are the exceptions; the rest are just annoying.

I know you can go on the ‘Do Not Call’ list, but we all know what a joke that is. It’s like a Green Light to every spammer on the planet as it identifies your number as a legitimate phone number, and spammers know every trick in the book for getting lists of phone numbers. I kid you not, there are businesses that make a lot of money out of selling lists of phone numbers.

I’m going to share with you what has worked for me. It takes a little bit of time, but it is so worth it.

  1. Create a contact in your Contacts list called ‘Spam’
  2. When you answer a call and it is someone trying to sell you something that you just couldn’t possibly live without (according to them), but you obviously don’t need or want, immediately add the number to your ‘Spam’ contact
  3. Keep on doing this until you can’t fit another number in – then create Spam 2 etc. My original list is pretty long, but still going, so you shouldn’t really need to create a second one… hopefully.
  4. You might want to put Charities in a separate Contact called ‘Charities’ so that you can choose whether to answer or not

You don’t answer a call because you suspect it might be spam based on the fact that you don’t recognise the number, and decide to wait and see if the caller leaves a message, and trust me, they usually don’t.

The next steps explain what I do with those calls…

  1. Write the number down
  2. Find out who the number belongs to by going to Reverse Lookup Australia
  3. Type in the number – chances are you won’t get a result, but if you look down the page you will see the comments made by people who have also taken calls from that number – and 99% of the time – it’s spam
  4. Add the number to your Spam folder

When you get a call from one of those numbers, it will show up on your phone as ‘Spam’, and you simply ignore it

Simple – but effective!

 

Changing the Doona Cover

Without The Frustration

Do you dread having to wash your Doona cover because it is so hard to put back on the Doona? Well there are a few tricks that will make the job a lot easier.

The ‘Turn It Inside Out‘ Method:

  1. Place the Doona on the bed.
  2. Turn the cover inside out, then put your arms right inside the cover until you locate each of the top corners – left hand on left corner – right hand on right corner.
  3. Hold onto each corner, then, while still holding the corners, line the corners up with the bottom corners of the Doona.
  4. The next step involves a bit of practice, but once you master it, the job becomes much easier. While still holding each of the top corners, take hold of the two bottom corners of the Doona. You’ll now be holding both the top corners of the cover, and the bottom corners of the Doona.
  5. Now you need to start pulling the Doona back into the cover; you can use a shaking motion if it helps, but don’t let go of those corners – you’ll need to keep holding them until you get right to the top of the Doona.
  6. Once you get to the top, just button the cover on, and it’s all done. You start with the cover inside out, but it ends up the right way once you reach the top.

The ‘Roll It Up Method’:

This method is the really easy way.

  1. Start by laying the Doona cover, inside out,  on top of the bed, with the fastening at the foot of the bed.
  2. Lay the doona on top of the cover.
  3. Starting rolling the doona and cover from the top of the bed towards the bottom of the bed, trying to keep it as even as possible as you roll.
  4. When you get to the bottom, fold the ends of the cover over the ends of the doona. This isn’t as hard as it sounds; this video will help – click here for video.
  5. Then you only have to roll it back up towards the top of the bed, fasten, and you’re done.

 

Organising The Linen Cupboard

No matter how big the linen cupboard is, we all wish we had more room or could be more organised. One way of packing a little more in, and making it seem like it’s more organised, is to pack our sheet sets inside one of the pillowcases that match the set. By folding the fitted and top sheet, and one of the pillowcases inside the other pillowcase, the whole set is contained inside the one, easy to access place. When it’s time to change the sheets on your bed, the task is made a lot easier. You simply take out the pillowcase, and everything you need is neatly folded inside it. This not only keeps things together, it also means one flat item, taking up less room. Now everything is stored together, and when it’s time to put the sheets on the bed, you’re not searching all over the cupboard for the pillowcases that match the sheets.

What tips do you have for organising the linen cupboard?