{How to Balance Your Checkbook}

This morning I went to balance my checkbook and as I scrolled down my e-statement, I realized that it no longer has the reconciliation table at the end. You can't print it to reconcile (aka balance) your checkbook. So as I struggled to remember what it says and what order things go in I thought I'd write a post on how you balance your checkbook.

The first thing you need to do is pick a quite time with as few distractions/interruptions as possible. This can be rather challenging but if you don't it will take you much longer.

Next, gather the things you'll need:

• Your checkbook register
• The statement
• Pencil and Eraser
• Calculator
• Something to drink

Take your statement, find the ending balance and transfer it to your reconciliation form or write it at the top of your page. Then go down your statement and one by one put a check mark by them in your checkbook register. Here, you are checking to make sure that the amount and the vendor match, that they didn't charge you more than you thought (this will sometimes happen if you add a tip at the end or if you or they transpose numbers). After you have checked off all matching items, use the form (below), or make two columns one for the withdrawals/payments and one for deposits/credits. Put items in there corresponding columns and then find the sum of each column. After you've done this, subtract your withdrawals/deposits from your deposits/credits. Then add your ending balance to the total from deposits minus withdrawals. This total is your current balance, it should match what your checkbook register says. It will not always match what your bank says your balance is, especially if you use your account a lot. 

Here's an example:

Click the Image below for a {free} form you can save or print (no download required):

{Font}: Everytime I Miss You downloaded from: kevin {&} amanda

Habits and Routines

Everything is a habit or routine, whether you like it or not is the only difference.

I'm Joining this Challenge! Plan it - Don't Panic!

Today I came across a link for this challenge on Facebook. I know that menu planning saves time, money, energy, but it always seems like so much work. So I'm hoping that by joining this challenge I will be able to stick with it and be encourage, inspired and have new food ideas available to me! Interested in joining too! Join the Plan it - Don't Panic Challenge!

Updated October 17th, 2011: Apparently I was feeling a little over zealous when I signed up for this. I thought it would be a great idea despite the fact that I new we'd be moving. Anyway, I'm not going to try and catch up. I still have about half my unpacking to do. At the very least I hope it inspired some of you to join.

Buying in Bulk: Great for Limited Space & Budget!

Most of the time when I think about buying in bulk, I think massive amounts of products costing me a big chunk of money (even though per unit cost is low) and an even bigger chunk of space. These things are very true of warehouse stores such as Costco, BJ's, & Sam's Club.

What I'm talking about is buying from bulk bins at places like WinCo. Think about it this way. Let's say for example that you send 1 person (yourself/husband/child) to work/school with a sack lunch everyday. And in this example you want to send them with a bag of chips, you go to the bulk bins, pick up 5 bags of chips instead of the box containing 20+ bags. This you can see will limit the cost and storage space. If your budget was super tight you could even go so far as to buy only exactly what each recipe needs from the bulk bins.

I had never thought about it this way, I always thought about it from a stock up perspective, which is always nice to be able to do but when things are tight what an easy way to save on space and stay within your budget. I hope this is a solution to your money and space constraints!

This post was inspired by something my sister-in-law Catherine said to me.

Find more Homemaking Hints at Heavenly Homemakers. 

Time, Money, & Sanity Saver!

When my baby was about a year old, I put a big stash of baby wash cloths in one of the drawer's in my kitchen so that after she was done eating I could grab a rag, wet it and get her face, hands, and highchair wiped up quickly with out using something like paper towels or baby wipes which we had done previously. I've also got a little basket under the sink to put the used one's in and then wash them every time I do a load of baby laundry!

I really hadn't thought much of it until I had a friend over recently who saw me get one out of there and said, "Hey, that's a great idea!", so I thought I'd share.

Clearance Ebook for $2: Tell Your Time

On my left side bar is a button like the one below for an ebook on time management. Well today I found out that she is updating it and selling the first version for a clearance price of $2, down from the original $12 or promotional price of $9. So if you'd been wanting this book and just could see spending $9 or $12 here's your chance for a deep discount. Click the button below and be sure to enter the code 2BUCKS at checkout. Enjoy!

~ How to Organize Frequently Used Paper Work ~ Part 1: Family Calendar & Filing

Today I'm going to help you take a step towards home management, and organization. This step alone will save you a lot of time, mainly in the area of time spent searching for things you knew you'd need sometime and put it somewhere that you were sure you wouldn't forget. I think typically some people put a lot of these things on there fridge, but if you don't need to look at them daily then they just blend in to the background and you forget its there.

The first thing I would suggest is a big family calendar, one with enough space to write everyone's appointments, meetings, visits with friends, etc. I like Amy Knapp's Big Grid Family Organizer. Each month has a monthly projects list, a place to write Don't Forget items, a quote, holidays in most countries, mini previous and next months calendars and a place to write Projects for the month. Each day has 7 lines to write on and a box below to write what's for dinner. Train your kids to go look at the calendar when they want to know what's for dinner and that should eliminate the same question being asked by multiple members of the the family. That right there will eliminate time wasted and stress. A word of caution though, don't rely on this if you can't stick to it, your family will quickly learn that what the calendar says isn't reliable and begin asking you again. When you purchase your calendar I also recommend buying a pack of pens that comes in a variety of colors that you will leave with your calendar all the time. I like Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine. Then have each member of the family pick a color. They then can write their appointments on the calendar in their color, after first clearing it with mom or dad, whoever is in charge of scheduling and planning. Don't forget to choose a color for the family as a whole, this color will then represent an event that everyone is expected to attend. Then as you go through your piles of paper, write down appointments you have scrawled on post it notes and scrap paper. Write down any events you have been invited to and then on the date you need to rsvp by put a note to do so. Hopefully this will eliminate the small, most likely to make a bigger mess pieces of your pile. Make sure you throw away, shred, or recycle the papers you've just added to your calendar. This is important, if you casually add them back to your pile or just leave them sitting there, your not getting anywhere.

After you've finished with the calendar check out my post on My New Filing System. Even if you prefer to have a more elaborate filing system, using this simplified version for now will help you to clear the paperwork clutter and ease your mind, because you will be able to find your bills and know where your tax information is and that anything else you might need is in the third folder. Now before I go on let me just say this: I can not get a system to work for me in which you "handle a piece of paper only once" as I've read over and over from organizing books and websites. It just doesn't work for me. If it works for you that's great and by all means stick with what works but if it doesn't, hopefully this will help. After you've set up your 3 folder filing system I want you to go through your piles of paper one at a time and pull out anything that should be in those folders and put them in there.

My hope is that by doing that your paper piles are significantly reduced. I'm hoping that all that is then left in your piles is: things to do, important reference paper that you just don't know what to do with and warranties and instruction booklets. In the next post of this series, I will continue to talk about what to do with the important reference papers.

Bathtub Crayons: Not Just for Kids!

I do my best thinking in the shower. Maybe its because I'm alone (usually) and without interruptions (usually). Those of you moms out there know how sacred a shower can become. :D But the problem with having brilliant thoughts in the shower is that by the time you get out and dried off you've forgotten. So while relaxing in the bath last night, I realized I needed somewhere to write things down and then I realized that I could use my kid's bathtub crayons, write myself a note and transfer it to my notepad later. Brilliant! Hope this comes in handy for you too!

My New Filing System!

Photo: © Courtesy of Katespaperie.com

For years I've used these elaborate filing systems, with a file for every category and sub files for each company or whatever. And every year I say why don't I just set aside a file and put items for taxes in it and every year tax time comes and here I am digging through files for possible deductions. And other than taking stuff out of files for taxes those files are virtually untouched. So here is my new and improved file system for 2011: 3 Files! Taxes, Monthly Bills, General File.

Anything I can use for a write off will go in the Taxes folder. Monthly Bills will go in the Monthly Bills file until the next bill comes and confirms last months bill was paid. Then the old bill gets shredded. Everything else for the most part will go to the General File. Anything that seems really important or frequently referenced will be scanned to my computer using Neat Receipts. All my filing can be done as it comes into my house and hopefully that will eliminate paper piles, my nemesis!

And in case it isn't clear, at the end of each year there needs to be a new taxes file and a new General File. You can then keep them labeled by year and dispose of them when you no longer need them. More on what to keep and how long to keep it in another post.

Note: My filing system isn't where I keep my warranties or instruction booklets for our home appliances and gadgets. You should set these aside and come back for my post on how I keep warranties and instruction booklets, easily accessible and neat.

National Procrastination Week: March 7th -13th!

As a child I read the book "Goose Goofs Off" by Jaquelyn Reinach and Richard Hefter in the Sweet Pickles Series. Goose's favorite line is, "I'm taking it easy today, I'll do it tomorrow!" Much to the dismay of her neighbors and the postman. And as nice as it would be to think we could put everything off for one day that really only compounds our problems. You can see by the illustrations that it's not paying off for Goose either. She's got more stuff on her floors than she has put away, her tv's broken and the food is spoiling all over the kitchen. She can't even enjoy a relaxing day because she can't do the things she wants to do. Does this sound like you? Are you overwhelmed with the amount of stuff you have to do? Do you think if you just had a little while to enjoy some fun that you would be able to get it done? That rarely works out. One of the best things to do is to accomplish something small and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment. I've read lots of books on organization and time management as well as numerous blogs and online articles. I particularly like some of the tips the "FLY Lady" gives on her website: http://www.flylady.net. Her "shine the sink" activity is meant to apply the quick feeling of accomplishment and to help you wake up to a feeling of accomplishment. She also suggest working on assignments in 15 minute increments, for 3 sessions (45 minutes) then taking a 15 minute break and rewarding yourself with a cup of tea or some time reading a book. Then if you have more time repeat. One note of caution: There is a large volume of email to read if you sign up for her daily emails, if you are already inundated with email skip this and check her website every morning for tips and missions, even if you get the daily digest it's a lot to read. My favorite quote from Flylady is: "You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where you are." I think this is a great reminder for all of us. I think we're all likely to let the big picture cloud our ability to just do one small task and be relieved by it. The best thing about doing 1 thing is that it has the ability to inspire you to do 1 more thing and soon 1 thing has become 10 things or 1 whole room and soon 1 whole room, becomes your whole house.

Two last quotes to think about:

"Nothing is more fatiguing than the hanging on of an uncompleted task." ~ William James

"It's not what we do that makes us tired, it's what we don't do. The tasks we don't complete cause the most fatigue." ~Steve Chandler