Staying Organized
Before I started dating Jesse, I used to be, to put it bluntly-- a slob. I had zero work ethic (it only developed when I lived abroad!), my mom used to do all my laundry and dishes, I never checked my bank accounts (biggest mistake ever), and I basically did 3 years of university without a "study" or homework schedule. I have no idea how I survived being a full-time student and having two jobs -with zero organizational skills-, all the while doing almost 3 hours of commute daily, since I didn't have a car.
I visit Jesse's house quite a lot, and picked up many habits from him and his family. For example, they would always do the dishes after eating. Every weekend, they would sweep every perimeter of the house (LOL-- I hope they don't mind that i'm mentioning this!). They even have a laundry schedule. It was such an eye-opener for me and I slowly started to implement these little changes in my life.
Long Term Goals
I visit Jesse's house quite a lot, and picked up many habits from him and his family. For example, they would always do the dishes after eating. Every weekend, they would sweep every perimeter of the house (LOL-- I hope they don't mind that i'm mentioning this!). They even have a laundry schedule. It was such an eye-opener for me and I slowly started to implement these little changes in my life.
How I Stay Organized
1.) Writing down my monthly & weekly schedule
(unless you're one of those people who plans everything in their head)
I stopped doing this for three weeks and noticed a big difference in my productivity. I'm definitely more effective & less stressed when I know what's coming at me.
This was from the calendar that I got from the bank. Haha! I also use the calendar on my phone daily. I find that jotting things down twice (once on the phone, once on paper) helps me to remember the events better. Plus, it's a good thing that I have two copies because I don't always carry this huge binder with me!
I found these free weekly printables on Pinterest. As you might notice, i'm really into bright and colorful planner pages. It's because I have the attention span of a goldfish and I actually pay more attention when i'm looking at a colorful page rather than a black and white one.
I write down my appointments, work schedule, weekly chores, and to-do list on my weekly planner.
I also printed out a few gym schedules so I could make time to attend the classes that I like for that week. It's a good thing that my gym has a lot of locations- it makes it harder for me to justify skipping. A little trivia: I started going to the gym at 25-- literally two months ago. Yikes! Better late than never, right? Going to the gym serves as my motivation!
2.) Identifying & writing down my goals
It is so easy to caught up in life-- i've had many Decembers when I thought, "So.. the year is about to end, and I can't remember what I did with it." This time, i'll know exactly where my time went and what things I worked hard for this year. Besides, if you don't have a goal, what are you working so hard for? How do you know where you wanna go if you don't know where you wanna end up?
My goals also affect my budget, so i've decided to set up my bank accounts in a way that's easier for me to see where i'm at with my planning. For example, under financial goals i've put down 'get license & car' (It's financial because i've attached an amount to it before I can reach it, I guess). This is a short-term goal which I want to achieve within the next six months, so i'm putting the money in my savings account.
Short Term Goals
{ Regular savings account }
e.g Buying a car, saving for a vacationLong Term Goals
{ High interest tax free savings account }
e.g Buying a house, migrating to a different country
Daily Budget
{ Cash or chequing account }
e.g Bills, eating out, shopping
In-case-I-get-fired Savings
{ Another savings account }
Our economy is crazy-- 'nuff said.
Retirement Fund
{ Will have to set this up soon }
Who said being a grown-up was cool? It's tiring!
3.) Keeping tabs on my money
More money, more problems! haha. I definitely believe this to be true. We get a little greedy when we earn more money. Since i've recently started working again, i've been fighting to keep my spending tendencies down because i'm trying to make the switch from being a spender to being a saver. Sofia Amoruso said in her book, #GIRLBOSS, that "Money looks better in the bank than on your feet." And she's right.. it sucks to have designer shoes and a dry bank account.
The biggest difference that i've made last year & this year was staying on top of my debt. No more credit card debt! Yay! I told you earlier that I used to be scared of opening my bank statements. That's cause I didn't keep track of my spending-- and I knew that I probably couldn't pay it in full anyway. It was such a crappy feeling, but I was stuck in an "emotional spending" cycle where I bought things to make me feel happier. Kinda like emotional eating :P
I still believe in #TREATYOSELF, but I really don't want to go into debt just so I can do that. Trust me, I have gone to the extreme end of #TREATYOSELF (intercontinental vacations, a $700 concert, etc) and it was a pain in the butt when I had to sit down and count how much I had to work to pay it all back. While I wouldn't trade the world for any of those experiences, I do wish I did more planning and saving before I left. Financial stability is crucial to happiness, and i've felt so much happier and more confident since i've started working on this area of my life.
I've made this mini ledger thing to keep tabs on what I spend my paycheck on.
You can say that i'm doing a bit of research on my spending habits, so I know which areas to work on and what changes I can make.
4.) Using financial management apps
This app I found, called "Financius", gives me a breakdown of my expenses and shows me the balance on each of my accounts. It's pretty awesome!
Planning and goal-setting are both very important in keeping me on track. I can't wait to put a big fat check mark next to my goals when I reach them! I hope that I was able to give you an idea on how to slowly tackle your goals. Divide and conquer is KEY here.
One big goal can be achieved by a hundred mini to-do lists. Sometimes you may feel like you're not making any progress, but as long as you're working on it-- I guarantee you that you WILL see results! Be patient and keep chipping away until you get there.
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