We all have forgotten one of our passwords before. Whether it’s a password for our social media, our card PIN, or even our school ID number, we’ve all lost track of a password once. Freshman Ana Perez-Bonilla used to have the same problem of forgetting her password, but she had enough and decided to take action. 

“I [started] keeping [my passwords] in my Notes [app]. It’s probably not a good idea, but I [still] do [it]. Sometimes I write them down, but then I just [end up] losing the paper, so I just keep them in [the] Notes [app],” Perez-Bonilla said. 

Perez-Bonilla doesn’t use any special tricks in her passwords to help her remember. She decides to make them up based on what she thinks. 

“I tend to use different passwords for [all of my social media accounts]. If someone were to guess one of my passwords, they wouldn’t automatically know my passwords [for] everything I use. They don’t have [any special] meanings, I just make them up on [the] spot,” Perez-Bonilla said. 

Perez-Bonilla doesn’t remember when she started writing down her passwords in the Notes app.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I think I just got tired of forgetting my passwords and I was like, ‘I got to write this down,’ so I went to my Notes [app] because I didn’t have paper to put [them] there,” Perez-Bonilla said. 

Perez-Bonilla hasn’t had any of her accounts hacked yet, but she has run into some troubles with her passwords’ safety. 

“There have been times [where] people [have] tried to log into my account, but [they never get into my account],” Perez-Bonilla said.

Perez-Bonilla believes making a strong password would make the forgetting issues worse, but she thinks it could work for some people. 

“It depends on the person [honestly],” Perez-Bonilla said. “I think it would make [people] forget [their passwords] even more, [though]. I think it would be easier if you keep [your] password [to] something that you would easily remember every time.”

Due to Perez-Bonilla forgetting her passwords all the time, she had to change her password a lot. 

“[I used to forget my passwords] all the time, mainly for my personal Google email account. For [my] social media [accounts], I [made sure my] password [saved] so that everytime I log out, the password would still be there so I can easily log back in,” Perez-Bonilla said. 

Perez-Bonilla recommends her method for some people, she doesn’t think it would work for everyone. 

“I would say [to not] put [your passwords] in your Notes [app], unless you know how to keep your Notes [in the app] safe. If you can keep track of paper without losing it, I would [recommend to] put it on paper,” Perez-Bonilla said. 

Perez-Bonilla has her passwords well organized so she’s able to find them when she forgets them. 

“Well, for my passwords I put what app [the password] is for. I then put what the password and username is [right next to it]. I [lastly] skip a line and [write down my] next [password,]” Perez-Bonilla said. “It’s easy to keep them organized and I don’t mix them up.” 

Perez-Bonilla has a few tips for people who might have the same problem she used to have. 

“I’m a person that tends to forget a lot of things, so if you think you should start writing down your passwords then you should definitely [start doing it]. It does help a lot more to [be able] to remember your passwords,” Perez-Bonilla said.