Organize Your Money!
Organization is the key to a balanced life! Organization saves you time, energy, frustration, and confusion. To be organized means to be efficient in the way separate elements are arranged into a consistent structure. In other words, everything has its place, find the place, and when you’re done put it back. In all my years of counseling people in the area of personal finances, one of the biggest issues that cause money woes is the lack of organization.
When you are not organized life feels chaotic, excruciating, and out of control. You can actually feel your sanity slipping away. But like everything else in life — you need to admit that you have organization issues, and that you want to change. Next, you need to make a commitment to get organized, and get your life in order. Then come up with a plan. If you’re too overwhelmed to get started, have a friend or a professional help you get organized. Your life and financial future depends on it.
Organize your time – Use a calendar, palm pilot, or organizer to manage your time. Think of your time as money. When you waste your time you are throwing away money, so plan and schedule your time.
Organize your files – Start a paper filing system. Get manila folders to organize statements, bills, letters, and other important papers. If it’s important it should have a place to go.
Track your money – Know exactly how much money comes in and out of your household each month and year. Whether it’s regular salaries, bonuses, part-time, or business income keep track. What are you spending your hard-earned money on? Track all your outgoing expenses for 30 days by keeping receipts and writing down expenses. Put the receipts in an envelope and label it by the month. Categorize your receipts and add each category up to get a total. This will give you a good idea how you use your money each month.
Pay your bills on time – Keep all your bills in one place, separate bills by due dates, come up with 2-3 days of the month to write out and mail bills, and pay bills 4-5 days before due date.
Automate your savings/investments – Organize your time and money by having a certain amount taken out each month, and put the amount in certain savings/investment accounts. This accomplishes three things: a) eliminates time on your part, b) you don’t have to see, feel, or touch the money, and c) you are being consistent in saving.
File your taxes – If your files are organized it will make it easier when tax time comes around to get your numbers together. You won’t have to be scatter-brained trying to find old tax forms, pay-stubs, or documents. Every document will have a place.
Organizing your life will help grow your money. Organizing cuts down on duplicating inventory, supplies, clothes, products, food, information, and time! Do you want more money? Start getting organized!
sharman_lawson@bellsouth.net
Author’s URL: http://www.sharmanlawson.com
Sharman Lawson is a debt, money, personal finance coach, writer, and trainer. She is also the author of 12 Steps to Eliminate Debt Forever. Sharman Lawson and her husband paid off all their debt including their mortgage, in less than five years, on a combined income of less than $50,000 a year. Visit Sharman’s website at www.sharmanlawson.com.
Unique Budget Ways to Decorate a Utility Room
Your utility room doesn’t have to be the ugliest room in the house. Turn it into a fun place to be by turning your utility room into the most unique room in the house.
Do you have a hobby?
Some hobbies just don’t seem to fit anywhere in your house. For example, if you love the outdoors you may have collection of gear that could make an interesting theme in your utility room. For example, those fishing poles could be arranged on each side of the door. Paint a string of fish dangling from the tip of each rod. If you need a pattern, search the internet for clip art and print your pattern in the size you need.
Using your hobby to inspire a decorating theme can keep your decorating costs in check. For example, a sewing theme can create almost instant decoration. Sew buttons to curtain tiebacks to create a unique look. Trim the edge of a curtain with buttons and/or ribbons. Line the windowsill with sewing knick-knacks. Trim cupboard doors with flat lace.
If you haven’t had time to develop a hobby, you capture some inspiration from other interests that you have. Are you an avid reader? Have you clung to all your childhood books? Create a book montage by using plate hangers for support. Don’t want to put your books in the laundry room? Scan the covers or your favorite pages into your computer as high-resolution JPG files. If you don’t have a color laser printer, take your disk to a photo shop or office printer. Be sure to request a matte or semi-glossy finish.
Mount the prints on foam board. Frames are nice but can be costly. If you can afford it, use a narrow frame—think the white edge on an old photograph. Otherwise, use double-stick tape directly on the foam core. If you have enough prints, create a column from about two feet up from the floor to about two feet down from the ceiling. The effect will be quite dramatic.
Do neighboring rooms have a theme?
You can also keep costs down by carrying the theme from a neighboring room into your utility room. Is the room just off the kitchen? Add a high shelf about 18” down from the ceiling and place interesting kitchen items around the room. Arrange all the oversized pots that you rarely use around the room. Add interest by tucking wire whisks, wooden spoons, napkins and other accents into the handles. Turn a large cast iron skillet up on its side and make a decorative cutout to place inside. Glue a magnet on the cutout to keep it in position. The skillet is ready to use at anytime. Just pop the decoration out. Worried about the skillet falling? Attach a tie to the wall (or shelf) and loop it through the handle.
You can also add interest to the walls by hanging a tool collection creatively. Mount picture frames on the wall and hang different tools inside the framed area. One “picture” could hold different screwdrivers. Another could hold different hammers. Yet another could hold pliers. Add a colored silhouette of each piece within the frame so you know where each tool belongs in the picture. That way you can use parts of your “picture” whenever a little repair job comes up.
These are just a few unique budget friendly ways to decorate your utility room. If you choose a theme based on things you already own, you can keep costs down and have a lot of fun in the process.
Author, Alyssa Davis, is number one design specialist at Metal-Wall-Art.com on decorating a country home with tree wall decor and metal wall sculptures.
The Pitfalls of Working from Home
For many people, running a business out of the home can be a great opportunity. You can spend more time with your family, control your own workload and income, and have a lot more flexibility to fit your life. But before you quit your job and get started, you need to consider some of the downsides of working from home and how they could affect you and your family.
One thing many people don’t consider when making the decision to work at home is loneliness. Even if you work hard, if you’re at an office, you have a lot of human interaction. We all need to interact with other people on a regular basis to stay happy and healthy. If you’re starting a home business, be sure to schedule in plenty of social activities with friends, even if it’s just a phone call during the day.
While the normal office includes a variety of distractions, it also includes a supervisor and deadlines to help you keep on track. A home office has more distractions and less threat to keep you focused. If you’re someone who’s easily distracted by things like computer games, television, or other things in the home, this could be a problem. While you’ll need self-discipline, it also helps to have a dedicated office and specific work hours to help you focus.
people bring their work home from the office, but it’s a whole lot easier to do this when the office is in your home. Many moms decide to work from home so they can spend more time with their families. But after a while, they see their families less because they’re working on weekends and until all hours of the night.
Most moms have become pretty good at multitasking – to run a family you pretty much have to be – but working from home takes multitasking to a whole new level. Not only is the baby screaming while the dinner is cooking and the laundry is being put in, but now you have a work deadline to meet as well. If you want to work from home, you’ll need to learn to be an expert multitasker.
Normally, people who work outside the home are paid hourly or are salaried. While you may have variable hours, usually it provides a fairly steady income. Depending on what work you’re doing at home, your income is likely to be much more variable, especially at the beginning when you’re establishing your business. Make sure to have savings or a backup plan to help you out when your income dips.
While there are a lot of problems people may encounter when working from home, they are all manageable if you’re prepared for them, so try not to let them discourage you. Working from home offers many benefits as well, including flexible hours, more control over the kind of work you do, more time for your family, among countless other things. Ultimately the choice is up to you and your family.
