Tag Archives: organisation

Organisation and Finances

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WARNING – Long post ahead.  So perhaps you would like to grab a cuppa and snack before you start. 🙂

This is for Anna** and I.  Anna feels that she is falling behind financially and I can see that the things I need to do are fast outweighing the available time.

The first part of this post is about me.

I do not have a lot of preparation to do for Christmas with only a couple of gifts to buy and the only meal I am hosting is for 5 adults on Christmas morning.  However, there just seem to be lots of relatively minor things I need to attend to that are getting squashed into the time before Christmas (17 days).  Without the aid of a list, I am completely lost so here it is.

Ring telecommunications company re phone charges
Pick up belt from repairer
Move furniture for carpet cleaner (coming tomorrow)
Add photos to Christmas letter
Write and post Christmas cards with letter
Make phone calls re extended family BBQ in January
Set up email list for recipients of Christmas letter via email
Defrost the freezer (and do a stocktake of the contents)
Buy Christmas presents for Missy & Belle (I know what to buy, just need to do it)
Finish home-made gifts and package them up
Check on changing health insurance cover

Even my menu planning has fallen a bit by the wayside recently, although I usually have a rough idea of meals for the next couple of days in my head.  This is not ideal and I need to get back on track.  Having a written list for the week saves space in my head and leaves room for thinking about other things.

Anna feels as though she is chasing her tail, both time-wise and financially.  Does that sound familiar?  With a young family there are many competing priorities and every time you feel like you are getting ahead something else rears its ugly head.  Many of us see paid work as the only way to get ahead (or back on track) financially.  Earning money is certainly the most obvious way to make ends meet but the other thing to remember is that the time spent earning that money is time that you cannot devote to money-saving activities.  I am not about to suggest that Anna stop working but it is worth keeping in mind the things you can do to prevent leaks in the budget.

One of the most significant costs in the family budget is food which is absolutely essential.  As my post yesterday discussed, there are savings to be made in this area by making meals from scratch.  This is easy to say but can be difficult to achieve when you are working so a menu plan is definitely your best friend.  Having a plan helps to stave off the “grab a takeaway on the way home” syndrome.  Stick to simple meals and cook a couple of meals in bulk.  It does not have to be presented as the same meal but you can use the same base.  An example is bolognaise sauce which is extremely versatile.  Serve with pasta, as topping for baked potatoes or top with mashed potato for a Shepherd’s Pie.

Do not try to do everything but focus on one or two changes that are manageable and reap the rewards.  If you put a modest amount of money aside each pay (perhaps, $20 if you can manage) you will soon have a fund to start to cover the unexpected expenses and the budget will not look so bleak.

As I have shown many times before almost everything can be traced back to being organised.  We all slip-up from time to time but it is important not to a) lose heart and give up or b) beat yourself up about it.  Regroup and try again.

The most important thing is to be kind to yourself and make sure you take time out to rest and relax.  I hope you all have an opportunity over the Christmas break.

**not her real name

5,000……….and counting

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Today the inverter for our solar panels recorded that we have now generated over 5,000kWh since the system was installed 12 months ago.  Ours is a 3.7kW system made up of 20 panels.  The upfront cost was substantial and the calculations were that, based on our usage, we would wipe out our electricity bills and receive a credit of around $2,000 per year.

Our savings are difficult to calculate due to the continuing tardiness of Origin – we have yet to receive our statement from the meter reading at the end of August!!  I have given up stressing about that because I am secure in the knowledge that we are in credit.  I do not think our credit will be much more than $1,500 this year due to the very wet and cloudy summer at the beginning of the year.

While I was doing some paperwork today, I had occasion to write the byline for this blog – “An organised, sustainable life”.  I started thinking about what this means and how the two facets are inextricably linked.  Once you start looking critically at your organisation and how you are living sustainably there are many, many examples.  I will discuss more of these in future posts but for tonight let us consider the electricity.

During the day the generated power goes firstly to our usage and then the excess is exported to the grid.  The tariff we are paid for this is 50c/kWh but what we draw from the grid at night is charged at 19.4c/kWh.  Therefore, there is a 30c/kWh benefit if we use the power at night.  This has necessitated some changes but being organised means that I have been able to change and do the washing, vacuuming and most of the ironing in evenings rather than on the weekend.  This saves us money and exports the maximum amount of power to the grid.

What examples do you have of being organised contributing to a sustainable lifestyle?

Christmas is Coming

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I did not get a chance to post my challenge list yesterday (Monday) but I will do it tonight.

In the meantime here is a thought for you to ponder.  Yesterday was the 25th of the month therefore it is now 5 months till Christmas.  Whilst this is a terrifying thought for some, others have already finished their Christmas shopping!

I fall somewhere in the middle of the 2 extremes.  I have made some notes for my Christmas letter, and I am pleased to report that I bought 2 Christmas gifts.  I received an email about pre-sale of tickets for ‘The Wiggles’ so after speaking with Belle I have bought tickets for Miss O and Izz to see the show.  This is in keeping with my attempts to minimise the amount of ‘stuff’ given and received as gifts.  It is also perfect for Miss O who has a birthday in December.

Over to you.  What preparations do you do for Christmas?  When do you start?

 

Organisation – Making it Work

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Over the past few days several things have come up that require some planning to ensure that we are in the correct place at the correct time.  This is quite complex given that we live over an hour away from the city which is where we both work and we have to consider being home for Psycho Dog or arranging for him to have a sleepover if we were to stay in the city overnight.

So, I have been busy trying to co-ordinate our travel to and from work with getting to various appointments and activities.

Tomorrow I am meeting Belle in the afternoon so that I can entertain Miss O and Izz for an hour or so while she attends to some business.  Then in the evening The Duke and I are planning to go to a public forum about the Energy Revolution in Cuba and how we can apply this information here in Australia.

On Friday evening The Duke is going to a concert and I will visit my mother.

The co-ordination continues next week as we are going to have our tax done after work one evening.

A couple of weeks later The Duke has a work function to attend but he has arranged to stay in Brisbane with a colleague that night so I will come home as normal and be here for Psycho Dog.

Sometimes we go for weeks without having any evening commitments during the week but at the moment it seems to be constant.

Like anything the key is to plan ahead and be organised.  I have made some Sausage and Pasta bake to take to work tomorrow and we will eat before we go to the forum which begins at 6pm.

This all reminds me of the days when I worked shift work and the girls were young.  It was a constant battle to make arrangements for school, kindy, daycare and extra-curricular activities with The Duke and I both working.  It was so important to develop a network of friends and other parents and you could all support each other.

What tips do you have for coping with co-ordinating the competing demands in a busy household?

Organisation? Why?

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If I ever decide to ponder the worth of being organised, I only have to think back to tonight to remind myself of the benefits.

We are far from completely organised and it has really showed when The Duke and I discovered that we cannot find a sheet of paper which we need.  Despite our best efforts we have been unable to locate it so I am forced to make a phone call tomorrow and hopefully talk my way through it without the paperwork.

I have a feeling the paper will turn up one day, carefully filed somewhere but that it is not much help at the moment.

It is not only a matter of organising what we have but I think there is some more stuff that has to go.

Wish me luck with the phone call tomorrow and the renewed sorting and decluttering.

What do you organise?

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My organisational goal is based on the old adage, “A place for everything and everything in its place”.  I have not got there yet but am working on it.  My ‘thing’ is hooks to hang things on.  Suction hooks in the bathroom for my shower cap and exfoliating gloves, a hook on the side of a cupboard in the workshop for the key to the roller door, a hook in the kitchen to hang my plastic cutting mats on…….and so the list goes on.

There are lots of other things I try to do in order to make my life more streamlined.  Over the coming weeks I hope to post some photos of some of the ‘little things’ that I find really make a difference.

In the meantime here is a short video that has come to my attention.

Till next time…………..