Organisational tips and tricks to start in the new year

[WireBrushAndDettolMaam]

Do you have any?

I’m going to set up a standing order for £10 a week to save for Christmas next year.

I’m also going to save £5 a week into and ASDA card to help with the Christmas shopping next year.

I’m going to mark all the birthdays/anniversaries/whatever on the calendar and have a box with cards, stamps etc ready to go.

I’m also going to have a huge declutter and donate/sell as much as I can to get some much needed space and organise what’s left.

Any other ideas gratefully received!

I'm going to spend the first three months of the year focussing on reducing spending and increasing savings. I really want to reduce the frittering I seem to do due to lack of planning and the quick trips to the supermarket between the weekly food deliveries. So two weekly meal planning, taking packed lunch to work and more vegetarian food.

I like your idea Millie of one diy project per week. I'm sure there's at least 52 jobs that need doing around the house.

millie I like the DIY jobs plan too! Great idea.

I really want to reduce the frittering I seem to do due to lack of planning and the quick trips to the supermarket between the weekly food deliveries.

Same.

Oh I’m also going to massively cull my wardrobe. Long overdue. It’s bursting!

@DuchessDumbarton I LOVE this idea. I am constantly losing school letters etc so this would be great for me. Am planning to get a calendar so can mark it on the calendar then put it in the file to refer to if needed. Excellent.

@DuchessDumbarton sorry to tag you again - if you got paperwork in March that related to May would you put it in the March pocket or the May pocket?

The Sunday night hour spent planning the week ahead is a good one.
@festivefrustration I now take photos of all school letters when I get them so I can check what's what when I'm out at work etc.

I plan on a serious declutter especially as we are planning on downsizing. A tip I read was a make a place for every item, and to return it to that place after every use, otherwise you will always be tidying and things will still get lost.

May I join you all please?
My life is in desperate need of an overhaul!!
At the end of 2018, I joined a 'no spend' thread on here. It made a huge difference to the amount I stopped wasting on unnecessaries. Mealplanning was a big money saver and being more conscious of whether you need to buy all those extras or not meant there was a considerable amount more left in my bank account each month.

I transfer anything left in my current account over to my savings account as soon as I send my invoices out so I won't be tempted to treat myself with whatever's leftover

This year, I have tried to finish off craft projects, rather than starting random new ones and have imposed a ban on the purchase of new craft stuff until all projects are completed (unless it's a gift and will be started and finished without moving onto something else!). This will run into next year (and beyond!!) but I did complete several projects this year which made me happy.

Clutter, mess and chaos are massive issues here (hence the name) and I truly believe there is a tidy, organised person deep within me who would love to show herself!!

I use the moneybox app (run by a proper bank) to save into a Lisa (open to people age 18-39), government give £1 bonus for every £4 you save. You can attach all of your normal accounts to it and then round up to the nearest £1 everything you spend, you can also add lump sums, direct debits or payday boosts. I only use it to roundup and have saved £100 in the last 8 weeks but don't notice the money that is taken out to save.

The moneybox app has the highest interest of all Lisa's at 1.4%, there are downsides. You can only deposit money untill you are 50, can't access without a penalty untill you turn 60 Or as a deposit on your first house unless you have a terminal illness. If you access it earlier then you lose the bonus.

I love threads like this.
There’s always plenty around this time of the year and you can really pick up some great tips.

My personal favourites are to always write everything down. Lists, lists and more lists! I don’t actually use paper ones anymore, it’s all stored on my phone and I’ve always got that with me plus it’s eco friendly
The other is to Marie Kondo your house. It’s so much easier to keep it clean and tidy if everything has a place and you’ve minimalised your clutter 👍🏻

Marking my place here - hopefully get some good ideas of how to get some order in place in the New Year. Decluttering is most difficult as rest of family not keen on sorting out & getting rid! 🤣

Placemarking!

This is a great thread already. We definitely need an overhaul in our lives in the new year. We 'Marie Kondo'd' our house about 3.5 years ago but think we definitely need to do a round two.

Also need to organise our lives better, we have two kids and no form of calender, I barely use my diary..

We just need to get into a routine. (And both children need to sleep through the night occasionally!) So after bedtime, we get load dishwasher, load washing machine, tidy and clean kitchen, put away clean clothes etc, and lay everything out ready for the following morning. If we stay in the habit, it takes both of us 45 minutes and our house is actually habitable.
We also have a diary/planner thing which we don't fully utilise, but is definitely helping.

The main thing I'm planning to to is drop some hours at work, and have a day off every other week when both kids are in nursery. I can catch up, batch cook, and deal with the 1001 minor and 42 not so minor DIY things that just never get done. 8 hours on a fortnightly basis with no kids underfoot should make a phenomenal difference!!!

Agree about Plum, really helped to save.
Also I kept my bank account for bills and use Monzo for day to day spending. Put money into savings account as soon as I'm paid.

Meal planning is amazing when I do it.
I just need to get into the habit of it.
I find that I need to organise my time so I can have more leisure time.
I hate frantic sundays so I’m going to Get into a better routine so the weekends, especially Sundays, can be more relaxing.

I've always said I was going to meal plan but never seemed to keep it up. One thing that has helped us this year was using those Gousto meal boxes. I did think they were very extravagant at first but they have helped so much. It's got us back into the routine of cooking proper meals from scratch and we are eating a much wider range of foods. I order 4 meals a week for 2 people but they stretch to feed the 3 of us. As they tell you what runs out on what date, the meal planning/shopping part is all done for you. They've been a great help.

I really need all of these!!

Proper meal planning always leaves us with lots of waste (when I realise too late that I won’t be home to cook, or DH is away or DC are out) so instead I have lists of meals organised by who is eating them.

Then when I’m doing the online shop I just need to think forward a few days and pick out meals appropriate for whoever is home.

We have a wall planner in the kitchen with everything on

Photo of every important letter that comes in needing action (means that if the letter goes missing I still have the details of school stuff, hospital appts, plus if I'm at work and have a couple of minutes to sort things I have the details) original gets filed in a concertina file by month

To-doist app on the families phones, so jobs can be noted as soon as they crop up, and someone can be given the task (they love that one )

Birthday cards bought on a quarterly basis for the next 3 months of birthdays

Batch cooking - we have stews, curries, chillis, soups etc stacked in containers in the freezer

I use Cleo (which is similar to plum) to squirrel away savings and Pingit to have little pots for Christmas etc

Costco visit every few months to stock up on basics such as loo roll/cleaning products (has saved us a fortune)

Magnetic shopping list on the fridge

Supermarket delivery every week - we book next weeks slot as soon as this weeks has been delivered, Chuck the standard items from favourites in, plus anything on the shopping and save the slot, then make sure we meal plan and add anything else to the shopping the day before

I have a spreadsheet on my phone of all of the meals that we eat. So when I'm doing the weekly meal plan and can't think of anything I can just pull something off there. Also have a whiteboard shopping list on the fridge which we both add to and then use when doing the online shop. Means that when we need something like dishwasher tablets I'm not the one having to do all of the thinking cos DH might've noticed first.

Got this in The Range today for £3.99! Will attempt to write everything on it as soon as I am notified then any paperwork will go in the accordion file I also bought today :)

I really like the Wunderlist app, each phone can link to it.

I'm trying to get onto monzo just as soon as I can find my passport amidst all the clutter.

I recommend an Alexa. I use her for lists. Alexa add to my DIY list as soon as I spot a job.

I also made checklists. I have a close the day checklist of things I need to do before I can go to bed.

Instead of weekly cleaning in one go I am doing one job everyday, and one deep cleaning job a week.

Love threads like this.

I have a diary and everything goes in it. I spend an hour on Sunday with My DP planning the week and writing the to do list.

Meal planning is something we need to look into