Planning a year of money saving and life bettering?

lilrahi

I love this thread! I'm so disorganised, I have papers and things everywhere. The bad thing is I have far too much storage space so therefore I have far too much junk! For example, I have a 5-drawer chest of drawers which has only junk in it! Once a month I declutter but next month its all the same again but I am determined to reclaim this chest of drawers for my clothes.

Tomorrow I have made an appointment (thanks Mint1955) to sort out ALL the paperwork in this house and have a designated box for all this!

I have a Filofax (after many hints to DH) that I have just started to use, just spent time doing birthdays, telephone numbers, to do lists etc...

Will watch this thread for more great ideas

oliviarosejackson

What an excellent thread. I too would love to get organised in 2012. The only problem is I don't think that I would use a diary or notebook I have a calender on the wall and a diary, but I never look at them. I remember everything in my head, which I would love to get out of as my mind is ticking over all of the time trying to remember things. I could have a break then, lol.

Shortie

Righto, Page per Day diary bought (hand bags sized and weight too, for when I'm back in work so that I can plan evening tasks while on the train etc). I've started adding bits already too - I want to get into the routine of using it so no better time to start than now!

tigerfeet2006

oliviarosejackson wrote: »

What an excellent thread. I too would love to get organised in 2012. The only problem is I don't think that I would use a diary or notebook I have a calender on the wall and a diary, but I never look at them. I remember everything in my head, which I would love to get out of as my mind is ticking over all of the time trying to remember things. I could have a break then, lol.

That is why writing it down can help. Stops a lot of the 'stuff' that cloggs up the brain and helps get it sorted.

TylersMummy

This is a totally wonderful idea. Every year I promise myself I'll be more organised but never do and now, with a newborn, I need to seriously think setting goals and working towards them and actually seeing a list through to the end. Time for me and OH to stop scratching our butts so to speak and actually get the show on the road

I was also given a day-to-page diary for Christmas and I think I'll use mine for the same thing.

Thanks for the idea x

jc2703

found a 4 section A4 project book which I have written up a page a day, added birthdays, paydays, bills etc and the meal plan that I've done so far

I've added a big 'to do' or torrow and will find somewhere for it to 'live'

Brilliant thread

charlies-aunt

If you have a second diary - try running it as a diary of income and expenditure if you can keep a record of day-to-day expenditure - stapling/pasting in supermarket receipts for ease.

Its easy to see where your money goes to and to identify those small but regular spends that delete your purse

If you can - try to make a price book using the info from your till receipts to use for reference when checking out special offers

budgetboo

I'm termnally scatty!

So

Wall calender with LOTS of space for holday dates/ doctors appointments/term dates etc. (Like organsied Mum but cheaper!)

A1 whiteboards x 2 (one for me, one for DS) in the living room/hall. Mine has daily "to do" stuff on it + random crap I'll have trouble remembering (e.g washing machne repair number, OT & peads number) usually taken from my address book.

Blackboard in the kitchen so I can make an instant note when we are running low on anything in the cupboards as I'm prepping meals. ( This is incredibly useful for compiling the weekly shopping list & menu planning/budgeting)

Stuff has to be on the walls to catch my attention lol! Friends/family/the ex/my Mum etc all write stuff on my white board so I won't forget lol!

When I was working an A4 lab book was critical and I'm a whizz with MS outlook too.

My sister carries a dictaphone everywhere to remind herself of her "to dos" for the day.

mummybearx

Thanks for all the replies and support on this thread :beer:

Ive made a start on my diary. Got all direct debits wrote in for the next 3 months. Hoping to get a few small debts paid off in the next few months, so will wait before writing in the next few months.

I haven't wrote a meal plan for this week as such, I have a lot of my 'usual' foods in the FF and cupboards, so I know I can make a good 5 or days worth of dinners before I need anything. Going to get a look through the recipe links on the grocery challenge, get some new ideas and plan for the rest of the month.

I'm going to make some of those vegetable pasties from River Cottage Veg, do you think they would freeze okay? They are raw veg and raw pastry, can I freeze then defrost and cook?

And lastly for now, house work! I have ticked a few things off my 'can't believe this hasn't been cleaned' list :rotfl: Was in waiting for the oven to heat up yesterday and decided to clean out the fridge! Got the shelves cleared out and threw away a few rank bits of veg lurking in the salad drawers, yuk! Feel good that it's clean now, smells so much better lol Cleaned all the bathroom today, still need to clean the tiles but everything else is done. Done that while DH was making a spot of lunch, we are so good at time management lol!!

Not back to work til Wednesday so will tick some more stuff off my list tomorrow, then get the rest in the diary to spread out over the month

xxx

piggielady

"... As part of my 'get better' plan, I need to get out of the house and challenge myself each day to do something that makes me feel uncomfortable. Think the diary would be a good way of logging that, too." Messyfreckle

I once suffered with depression (bullied at work and off for 9 months) and felt that I needed to do something each week which I had not done before and it really worked for me. It got me out of the house and mixing with people - I didn't need to speak to them! On one occasion I went to the monthly meeting of birdwatchers!! I wrote it in my diary so it looked as if I had something to do. Messyfreckle - what I really wanted to say to you was don't do something out of your comfort zone every day - it will become too much of a scary thing and you won't do it. Far better (IMO) to do something, say once a week, and enjoy/get some satisfaction from it. Go to the library, clean a room, treat yourself to a hot chocolate in a cafe, get up earlier and go for a short walk. You get the picture