The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present
3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every
Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET
4:30AM GM)

Today- Menu planning and grocery shopping.

One of the biggest time wasters and my pet hate is grocery shopping so the less time I can spend in those godforsaken stores the happier I am. To be honest I wonder just how many other people enjoy it, after all, I don’t see droves of happy smiling faces dancing up and down the aisles cheerily popping items in their trolleys.

One of the ways to reduce the entire process to the minimum of pain is to plan! and that means right back to what meals you intend to have over the next week or two or what ever distance it is between your shopping expeditions.
Most families have favourite meals and most home cooks have their quick and easy meals as well as their know-off-the-top-of-their-heads ones.
Taking the time to have a look at your calendar to see what upcoming events will impact your meal prep time is your first step and then go ahead and plan your meals for each day remembering to consider when it is that you are generally low on energy and prefer the quick and easy, and so forth.

With that done you can make a list of all of the ingredients you require for each meal cross checking with what you already have in stock. Having a dedicated notebook for writing down an item when you are out of stock is a time saver too. Now internet shopping is an option but personally as much as I’d prefer this option  my experience so far has been that it takes as long to do online as it would to drive to the shop and do it yourself.
What you can do is; make a note (one day) of the aisle layout of the store you generally use and then write your list according to the order your go through the store.
Now my final suggestion (and one of my pet peeves to avoid)  is the horrid mess of unrelated items in bags after the check out process, grrrr. Well I totally solved this one by A. - using recycle bags  and B.- placing one bag on the counter followed by all the items I want grouped together in that  bag - generally related to where they’re stored. Then you put the next bag up followed by the next group of items. Do this instead of handing all your bags at once to the check out person for them to randomly fill.
Hey this might sound a bit anal but it sure makes things easier when you get home and it really doesn’t take any longer to go through the checkout than if you just shoved it all up there mindlessly.

That’s it for this time , next episode When Hobbies become a Home hellmaker.

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The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present
3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every
Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET
4:30AM GM)

Today Dealing with mail.

Your incoming mail is often where the whole issue of paper overwhelm begins. Here is where you need to take a hard look at what you’re currently doing that isn’t working and decide that you are going to change those habits to more effectively deal with this nasty clutter maker. Start by always dealing with your mail immediately you collect it.

The first strategy should be to toss out any junk mail you don’t want - if it’s something that is coming in regularly that you no longer want then make a note of it in your diary or calendar. Do this for a month, a timeframe that will cover most of the regular stuff you receive that you no longer desire and then make a time to sit down and write, email or call each one to be removed. There are sites that help you be removed from list altogether which is a great options if you’re concerned about the amount of trees being sacrificed to provide us with something we commonly refer to junk! (see sidebar for links)

Next strategy is to deal with your other mail straight away as well. If you receive a bill then make a note on your calendar of when it’s due to remind you to pay it if you’re not using auto debits and then file it at the front of the existing folder for those accounts. It’s simple, effective, and you know where the bill is when you come to pay it - it’s in file where it belongs after it’s paid. The crucial step here is marking the due date on the calendar - and aim to pay it the day before.

Don’t leave mail in a ‘deal with it later’ pile that grows exponentially and overwhelms you.  Keep all your invitations, appointments and other date related notices together in their own home for easy reference and write them in your diary and/or on the calendar immediately as well.
Avoid wasting time browsing through catelogs if you aren’t ‘in the market’ for the kind of items it’s advertising this will; 1 - save you time & 2 likely save you money by avoiding temptation, you can’t miss what you’ve never had!

That’s it for this time, next episode  Creating a household Reference Binder.

Previous in series Next in series

The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present
3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every
Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET
4:30AM GM)

Today A Logical Filing System

The first issue here is what is logical - that’s kinda personal, what makes sense to me may not to you - but then there are some basics to follow if you’ve never really learned about how to file before, that will make  tolerable this rather naff task !

Let’s take a scenario that is becoming ever more common these days and that’s a home based business.   The first step is to separate out anything to do with your home. All paperwork related to the running of your home should be in it’s own section with it’s own sub categories, like;

• bank statements,
• phone,
• mobile phone,
• home insurance,
• car rego & insurance etc.

Whilst there are certain costs that can be claimed for a home based business that are to do with these files, keeping them separated and in the ‘home’ category will keep things simple and logical. Depending on what type of business you operate at home you can divide your files into the following categories.

• 1. Financials - these are anything to do with money - creditors, debtors, business budget, P&L statements, tax returns, BAS, tax office information and wages.

• 2. Marketing - this would contain files for Logo design and stationery, mailing lists, testimonials, product & service information, market research and sales team information.

• 3. Infrastructure this would hold documents to do with Insurance policies,  vehicle records, office contents, business registration, trademarks and company & trust documents.

• 4. People category with  staff & clients subcateogries, covering client files, contracts job details etc and staff contracts, applications, training  & meetings.

Again these main dividers need to make sense to you and anyone else likely to need to use the system.
Keep your subcategories to a maximum of 3, 4 at most, or you run the risk of it becoming too complicated which will result in frustration and a failure to work the system correctly and soon chaos will ensue. Consider how much paperwork you’re filing and how frequently you do so when setting your system up and of course allow room to grow!
That’s it for this time, next episode Dealing with mail .

Previous in series Next in series

The following is a transcrpit of the 2 minute radio segments I present
3 times per week on 101FM You can listen in live via the website every
Mon-Wed-Fri at 2:30PM AEST (Sun-Tue-Thur at 9:30PM PT  12:30AM ET
4:30AM GM)

Today, your home office

Regardless of whether you have a home based business or not it really is essential to have some kind of dedicated office area to deal with all of the paperwork and financial aspects of running a household. You may remember in an earlier episode I suggested that you view running your household like running a business of which you are the CEO - chief executive organiser.

Part of being totally organised in your home is having to deal with the dreaded household budget - believe me this is an area I absolutely despise - but no matter how passionately you don’t want to do it - it still has to be done! and one of the things that will make the whole experience less stressful is having an organised desk or office area.

Having a simple logical system for dealing with incoming bills and correspondence and being habitual about following a few basics procedures means that come the time you need to sit down and do the dreaded book work and or bill paying it will simply be a case of grabbing the necessary items and filling in the appropriate information, no more scrounging around rifling through mounds of paper shoved behind a statue on the dinner table looking for an overdue bill.
If you need to deal with an existing mound of paperwork here’s what to do.
Grab the pile and clear a good sized space on the floor somewhere and get comfy down there with the pile beside you. Create 4 places in front of you.
This is the ABCD  sort. A is for Attend to it - these are things you must deal with. B = bounce it - these are things that you need someone else to deal with, so they’ll be passed onto them. C stands for Corral it, these are things that need to be filed or stored away. And D is for ditch it - clearly this is the rubbish pile. Everything in your big mess pile will fit one of these categories believe me. ‘A’ things go into a tray on your desk, B things get sent to the appropriate person, You file the C things and bin the D things. Attend Bounce Corral & Ditch.
That’s it for this time, next episode creating a logical filing system.

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