Do you keep a list of credit card numbers, family social security numbers, account number, basically any super important number anywhere in your home or on your computer? Well here is one unique tip to help you keep your financial and other important numbers secure as you organize your personal files.
The other day I shared a free printable of my wallet content list. I have a list of everything in my wallet and my husbands, in the event they ever get lost or stolen. It will make it quick and as painless as possible to call and cancel all of our credit cards,
since we won’t have those number or information in front of us if that ever happens.
At the same time though, I don’t really feel comfortable leaving that information lying around in my house or on my computer even though we use passwords and have a safe. I don’t like to risk that information being available and making it quick for someone to wreak havoc on us financially.
I’ve picked up one unique tip to help you keep your financial and other important numbers secure to give extra security to your most valuable information. My first job was at a retail craft store. We had to put the cost of the product on the tag as well as the retail price; I don’t know if this is common practice in all retail but it was at this store. We did this in code. This code was a ten letter word with no repeating characters.
I loathed it at the time, even though I got really fast with it but it is a brilliant idea that I’ve incorporated into my life. I have a code for myself now that both my husband and I know. I have all of my credit cards, security codes, social security numbers, etc. written in this code on my wallet content list along with the account / card names and any reporting phone number or information I need off the back of the card. It makes me feel so much better having this prepared, without having compromising information somewhat easy for someone to find.
If you need some help coming up with a ten letter word that doesn’t have any repeating letters, I found this great site. Just select the initial letter you like for a ten letter word and it will generate a list for you to choose from. Pick something you can remember easily, then assign each of the letters a number 0-9, like this:
For example your card number ends in 4788 and your code word is “SILVERBACK”, your written code would be: “EACC”.
This works if you keep your records electronically or written down. It’s still a good idea to keep these secure with passwords or in a safe but this one tip will help you keep your financial and other important numbers secure. It takes a little getting used to but really you would only need to use this to set up your files and then if you need to retrieve information, probably in the case of something going wrong. It keeps you safe but also prepared.
If you’d like a blank copy of the wallet content list, click here to get to the free printable.
I hope this helps as you try to organize your life and files this year!
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