Foil the grandparent scam

Posted on June 9, 2024 by msw blog

“Our son was living in Buenos Aires, teaching English, when my active, smart 80-plus-year-old mother received a call from someone claiming to be him. In her excitement, she fed all of the pertinent information to the scammer as they spoke on the phone. ‘Hi Grandma!’… ‘Oh, is this Daniel?’…’Yes, it’s me….Dan.’ ‘Oh my, are you calling all the way from Argentina?’ The scammer told her that he was at a wedding of a college friend and was in a car accident after drinking at the reception and thrown in jail with a broken nose. He needed $5,000 to pay bail and didn’t want his parents to know. My mom wanted to help her beloved grandson, so she went to her bank to withdraw $5,000! Fortunately, the teller knew my mom well and pleaded with her to call me, and told her that this was a very common scam. She called me, and I assured her that our son had not been to a wedding and was not in a car accident or thrown in an Argentine jail! Yikes!” — Ann, 60ish

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Clutter: A Self-Diagnosis

Posted on June 9, 2024 by msw blog

To determine if you or a loved one are struggling with clutter and could use help from a professional organizer, consider using Prominski’s self-evaluation:

  • You experience an overwhelming feeling of dread when entering the space with all the items (garage, basement, or even an entire house).
  • Most (or all) horizontal surfaces are covered.
  • It’s nearly impossible to find items in the home, so you end up having to buy multiples.
  • You or a family member can’t cook or do activities they love because the house is saturated in stuff.
  • You or a family member are embarrassed to have anyone visit because of the level of material.
  • Things (such as online shopping deliveries) are entering the home faster than they leave.
  • The house is a traffic jam. One or more doors are blocked, or there are narrow pathways through the mess.
  • There is a backlog of trash/recycling.
  • There’s not enough space inside for storage, so things get stored outside the house.
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Don’t Overthink It

Posted on June 8, 2024 by msw blog
Advice for what to do when you… Need to prep for an important meeting… Do what you need to, and then relax. Don’t overthink it. You’re better off going into the meeting with a sense of calm than overprepared and anxious. Have to give difficult feedback… If you value the relationship, deliver it early and unemotionally. Don’t let it fester. Need to focus… Put your phone and laptop on Do Not Disturb. I have notifications off pretty much all the time. Are nearing burnout… Change your scenery. Get out of town, read a book that isn’t your “usual,” and cut out the screen time because it only numbs you. Get your paycheck… Auto-deposit a chunk into a savings account, and then try to forget it’s there.
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Dating

Posted on June 8, 2024 by msw blog

 Everyone is in such a rush to do everything. And all of these apps are so “convenient.” I miss the days when you had no choice but to wait for someone to call you back on the telephone or return an email. Everything is so instant. There was this young lady that I was speaking to today, and I felt just the pressure of making sure I got back to her on time so she wouldn’t think that I was, you know, ignoring her. It was like an hour, but, like, I found myself stressing and just caught up in the anxiety of what she might think If I appeared to be this or that. I miss the days when that didn’t exist and you had to wait for a literal phone call.  – Taye Diggs

Positively Purging-I welcome your feedbacks in the comments and your likes and passing the real life wisdom on to others as I embark on this new venture of “positively purging“, as I know each of these pieces represents something

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Stuck

Posted on June 7, 2024 by msw blog

Are you stuck in a situation—like a job or relationship or living situation—that’s making you unhappy? Do you find yourself repeating a behavior that’s harming you in some way, like smoking or procrastinating or watching too much TV? Can you try to motivate a change using kindness and understanding rather than harsh self-criticism?

Can you inspire yourself the way a good coach might, pointing out ways you can improve things while demonstrating support and belief in your own capacity to accomplish your goals?

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