Do you have trouble with the mail?

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One of my biggest problems with being an Aspie is the mail. I know it sounds like a simple concept, to open a letter, fill a form out, provide copies of stuff they request, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it, put in the mail box, and do it in a timely manner.

But for me, that is a lot of steps. And it rare that I can actually handle doing that as many times as it is needed. When I get a letter with three pages of tiny 8 point font lettering, and it gives me a laundry list of 3 things to find and copy, or to fill out, I just get burned out an frusted, especially if I don't totally understand the instructions they way they are written, which at times can be very unclear.

How about all you? Do you have trouble with sorting and getting all your mail, bills, and needed papers, taxes etc?

I wish I could just do it all on line, it would be some much easier, which what I try to do when I can.

Best,

Idaho Aspie

Most of my stuff is paid on line now a days. If it doesn't get paid on line, it doesn't get paid on time. I have a problem writing out a check and sending it. Maybe I don't want to part with the money, but it is more likely I forget or procrastinate. I'm surprised I still have electricity!

Yes...I have trouble with the mail..except when I have gone through phases where I was obsessively writing letters...then i was too focused on sending them out to be stopped...in fact I had a problem with sending too many letters.....

but if it something i am not fixated on, then it is a big impossible chore.

No, I'm pretty much organized. Being a single parent for at least twenty years taught me that! There were important things to keep track of, like birth certificates, medical and school records, etc. The thing is to make a system and stick to it. I used to keep a ledger for checking off when I'd paid a bill, for instance. I bought a filing cabinet and made up file folders for every thing. It is sort of fun to have a place for everything, and everything in its place. But I like organizing stuff.

I can get myself organized like that. But I cannot keep doing that. I have a hard enough time keeping track of the price of stamp. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the mail man would not take my mail. Then I though, well, those stamps are a year or two old (cause I obviously am not any good at mailing stuff to use a sheet) maybe the price of a stamp changed or something, so I stuck another stamp on it and it was gone finally after sitting in my box for about five days.

See, I just don't know stuff like that. And I don't know how people know that people think to check the price of stamp went up. And boy, what an annoyance to have to make a trip to get stamps that are difference in a few cents. I mean, someone doesn't take a letter because of a few cents? Talk about a tight wad. He didn't leave any cents when I over paid on the postage.

Best,

Idaho Aspie

I pay my bills, mostly by AutoPay, so that's ok.

BUT - I just cannnot fill out forms well AT ALL. I hate forms. The kind where I must fill in the rectangles with.....stuff. What if there are provisions and it doesn't fit in the rectangle? Invariably, I have many N/A too. Or answers like, 'kind of, sometimes." Or, a combination of "I don't know/don't care/profoundly don't care." I hate paperwork. I do not do my own taxes, obviously (thank you H&R Block).

Imaginary note to IRS from the Lab Pet: "I completed the forms but not in base 10. Then I integrated the log functions for you. Here's a box of receipts too. Happy?"

Seriously, when I just bought a car I virtually could not do the paperwork! I needed assistance (they thought I was stupid). Frustrating.

Last edited by LabPet on 15 Dec 2007, 11:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I cannot do tax papers at all. I need to have someone pretty much do it for me.

I married an NT

and before that I lived with my parents.

The only mail I get is the stamp collecting magazine.

The only problem I have with mail is that it exists! Hate opening mail. It is so stressful. How do you know what it is going to say? Then when I open it what do I do with it? I usually just put it somewhere and then forget where or what or why, so what is the point of opening it anyway.

Recently moved house and found about 40 unopened letters from about a year ago. Ooops.

I'm more organised than I used to be,but I treat handling mail as if it's an
extention of my work rather than a 'social' activity and that helps me deal
with it.Nevertehless I still seem to have a subconscious aversion to putting envelopes in mailboxes.I think it goes back to letters I sent to someone before which in hindsight I would have worded differently.It's not like posting on a forum where you can edit the message.

I remember feeling overwhelmed and frustrated when I was in 11th grade economics, and we were required to learn how to fill out a tax form. I think the problem is simply the lack of familiarization, and the amount of text all over the paper, that drains me. I'm sure if I had the patience to read over it more carefully, little by little, and had a little experience with it I would do just fine.

Hey, I don't open all my mail either. especially if I know I am not going to do anything with it. Why worry about it. Just toss it. If it is important, they will send another one.

Best,

Idaho Aspie

I am not a parent but have perfected my system of financial organization using microsoft money. I am timly and pay everything prior to it being due simply because I budget well so I know when the bill comes in the future I will be ready and not need to put it off or be broke for the week. I anticipate things coming, how much they will be and when they will be due, so I usually have a window of time, often a window of time that does not need to be so long really cause its taken care of before hand so as to not incure interest.

Sometimes I do have trouble with filling out forms, especially ones which are several pages long in small print. Argh, so much to read and often things are unclear.
When I received a letter in the mail about three months ago when I was applying hesitantly for the disability allowance, it came with a 9 page long form that needed to be filled out and returned within a week!

I am lucky though that I am young and still live at home so my mother often helps me with those sorts of things. In that time with the 9 page long form, my mother read me out the questions so they were clear, I answered them and she wrote it on the form for me....reason being, I would have made too many mistakes and would have been made to do it again.

Sometimes I let letters sit for a week in front of my front door where they've landed as I can't bear to open them. The last 5 letters from my mother-in-law going back several years I have not opened. This is a bit of a problem with bills as sometimes I get several reminders before I pay. I don't understand what it is I fear.