Too Much Secret Stuff!

Ridiculous, that I have to keep a secret list of my secret passwords which unlock the portals for all the internet places I use. At first, I used the same password for everything--easier to remember just one, right? But then I read that using only one password was dangerous, which I sort of figured, but surely no one was going to try to access my stuff, so I kept on with the one-word-fits-all code. My "aha" moment came when I was notified that my credit card number had been stolen in a breech of TJ Maxx's security system during a recent Christmas season. In fact, millions of credit card number had been stolen because whoever got into the system also got the numbers of cards used in all stores operating under the TJX umbrella. I spent the rest of that day resetting passwords. Now my secret list of passwords is nearly 2 pages long. It's not enough to have a code to use a debit card or credit card. Oh, no, every place I go on the web requires the secret handshake to buy, borrow (books, at the local library--reserved online), and look. Last night, while searching online for special-duty curtain rods, several sites I visited to wouldn't open unless I "created an account." Translation: Come up with another secret code AND allow a company I might not even be interested in to get its hands on my name, email address, etc. I refused to hand over that information and left those sites promptly. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Businesses, non-profit organizations, and all you other people on the web who want me to give my life to you before I'm allowed to look at your $7.99 product, hear me loudly and clearly: NO MORE CODES. I'll do business elsewhere. Time to go look--again--for that list of my secret codes. I hid it because we were leaving town, and if someone broke in while we were gone, I didn't want access to my accounts available to that person. Let me think . . . Stuffed in one of the bluebird houses on the fence? . . . Taped to the ceiling of the doghouse? . . . In a plastic baggie that's secured to the underside of a toilet tank lid? I could be in trouble this time. So many places to look, so little time.