Using Time Wisely

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Archives for 2011

Keeping Event Notes

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Photograph Credit: Ashley Conner

My summer has been a whirlwind of activity. When one activity has concluded, there seems to be two or three right behind. In staying a step ahead (which sometimes is just hours) and using time wisely, I research ideas and refer to my calendar often. As an event draws near, I review my notes and schedule the event.

Researching

In preparing for my oldest daughter’s 4-year-old birthday party, I was relieved to find my notes from planning in advance. Months ago when my daughter chose a Strawberry Shortcake theme, I had popped online and found party ideas. I created a document in WORD, copy and pasted the ideas, and saved it.

Reviewing

In late spring when our party store advertised a sale on birthday themed items, I reviewed my notes for game ideas and scheduled a trip with my daughter. Having her present to decide on color (pink vs. red), favors (hats vs. blowouts), and decorations (cupcake inserts vs. cake pan) helped me consider my guest of honor’s preferences.

By including my daughter in the planning, I not only learned what she likes about Strawberry Shortcake, but she is learning how to organize a birthday party. She was already thinking of games and streamer ideas before we bought any items or brought out the birthday tote with all the supplies. Since we have hosted a number of birthday parties at our house, my daughter, at the age of (almost) 4, was already planning and thinking through her options weeks before her birthday event.

Scheduling

In weighing the cost of her big day, I consulted the document with the gathered Strawberry Shortcake party ideas, the purchased decorations, and party items I had on hand. Since we had already purchased most of the items (on sale) and had paper goods in the colors my daughter chose, I only needed balloons, ice cream, and ingredients for the punch and cupcakes. With this list of small items (some of which I already had in my pantry), I was able to keep the cost under $100.

By keeping notes for party ideas, decorations, and games in one document, I can add, change, or delete items while researching, reviewing, and scheduling. These notes help me stay organized which saves me money, energy, and time.

Next week, I will share the itinerary my daughter and I planned for her birthday party. She is quite creative and definitely knows what she wants. 🙂

Question: How do you keep track of party ideas?

Organizing: Dining Room Bookshelf #2

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Though this summer has been busy with family outings, play dates, and regular household maintenance, I have used my time wisely in getting a few organizational projects completed. Some of the projects have been planned while others were the result of a distraction. 🙂

After organizing my first bookshelf in my dining room, the second bookshelf appeared cluttered. You know what that means . . . another organizational project! I love sorting the items – donating what we do not need, throwing out anything broken, placing similar items together, and cleaning the area. My kids are always bringing home more toys, crafts, and projects. Having a place for them keeps the clutter off our dining room table and the mess to a minimum.

Since my living room and dining room space is the hub of our house, we have 2 bookshelves to hold all the projects, craft items, and our cookbooks. This choice might be unconventional, but it works for us.

After my deep cleaning project, I decided on using time wisely and organized the second bookshelf.

BEFORE:

At the start of this project, the 6 shelves held the following items on the corresponding shelf:

  1. Creative Cook’s Kitchen books and tall cookbooks by height,
  2. Miscellaneous cookbooks by height,
  3. Entertaining books and recipe cards,
  4. Story of America history card collection,
  5. School papers, projects, and “if you don’t know where it goes, then put it on this shelf” items, and
  6. Silverware box surrounded by story collection books.

In following the 10 steps to organizing a bookshelf, I was able to donate a couple unused cookbooks, place similar items together, and open up more space.

AFTER:

Now the 6 shelves are clean and hold items our family uses without clutter:

  1. Creative Cook’s Kitchen books and tall cookbooks by height,
  2. Miscellaneous cookbooks by height,
  3. Entertaining books and recipe cards,
  4. Story of America history card collection,
  5. School papers to keep and small centerpiece for dining room table, and
  6. Silverware box surrounded by story collection books.

Taking the bookshelf one shelf at a time breaks down the big project into small manageable sections. Start small (one shelf) sorted, cleaned, and placed back neatly. Then the next shelf, and continue until your project (entire bookshelf) is complete.

I was thrilled with the results: a clean bookshelf with similar items together and some empty space. Since I keep my home organized year round, this project might seem insignificant. Though many might not notice the difference in the before and after pictures, I know that the shelves are clean (not dirty), clutter-free (donated or trashed items not used), and better organized (pleasing to my eyes).

Question: In using time wisely, what you are doing to keep your house organized? Whether your project is small or large, please share your projects in the comments.

Home Ownership: Appraisal

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The time has come to complete another file slot in our important documents filing system. Are you doing a happy dance? Come on . . . getting organized is exciting stuff.

I love to be organized. When I cannot find something, I get in panic mode, and I really don’t like it. I must find the searched-for item until it is found. Thankfully, I don’t lose too many items, but staying organized helps me to use my time wisely.

In this series on home ownership (the third category of our filing system), we have placed in this eighth file opening our deed(s), insurance (homeowner’s or renter’s), property tax documents, property survey(s), and title insurance. The next and final item is our appraisal.

Now getting a copy of our appraisal was more difficult than I thought it would be. For some reason, our mortgage lender did not want to supply us with a copy. At the closing, we stopped signing the paperwork until the appraisal was given to us.

I still do not understand why the lender did not want us to have a copy of our appraisal. The payment for the appraisal was included in our closing costs, so we were paying for an appraisal that the lender did not want us to see. Since we paid for it, we were not about to leave the room without getting a copy of that report.

Having prepared this filing system with a section for our home ownership documents prior to purchasing our home helped me know exactly what items to request and obtain at our closing.

Since this request was granted with some tension, I am assuming that the appraisal is not usually included with the closing documents. However, I left our closing with a copy of all the documents I requested.

If you don’t have a copy of your appraisal, you can either pay to have an appraisal done or just wait until you need one. Our appraisal (7 years ago) was $250 from our mortgage company’s in-house appraiser. Personally, I would not pay for an appraisal without needing it. Just know that when you get an appraisal, your copy goes in this file opening.

There you have it! These are all the documents housed in my eighth slot of my filing system under home ownership documents. Next week, I will continue with the home ownership documents housed in the ninth file slot. Keep up the great work, and happy organizing!

Question: I’m curious, did you receive a copy of your appraisal at closing?

Switching Utility Services

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Photograph Credit: Ben Dodson

When our contract with our Internet and phone provider ended, we attempted to negotiate a better price. When our efforts were in vain, we decided to move our business to another provider. By doing so, we have been able to save around $50 a month off our monthly utility bill. 🙂

Though I do not use my time researching these services often, I am always looking to stretch our dollars. If we can find service for the same price or less expensively, then I will be researching those options. In making our switch, we opted for the following changes:

Moved all 3 services to 1 provider. Instead of having to pay a bill for the Internet and phone and then another payment for the satellite, we chose to bundle all 3 services with one company. This decision resulted in one payment which saves me time and energy!

Downgraded to basic cable. We had the expanded programming with our satellite and did not watch three-quarters of the available channels. Though we miss some of them, we are less distracted and are better able to use our time wisely.

Added Netflix. For some variety, we currently are subscribed to Netflix’s streaming and movie exchange. With the new pricing taking effect in September, when Netflix separates the two services, we will be evaluating our usage and options. At this time, this arrangement is working out great.

In stretching our dollars for our utility services, our family was able to adjust to these changes while saving around $50 per month. Spending some time researching these options to meet our family’s needs was using time wisely. The $50 a month savings will add up quickly toward our next financial goal!

Question: In stretching your dollars, how often do you negotiate your utility options?

Update: Summer Reading 2011

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As the summer winds down and the summer activities come to an end, it is time to finish up that summer reading. Some of the programs have ended, but not all of them. Though my children have earned some prizes, we are still waiting for others to arrive. Here is an update of our summer reading adventures:

Barnes and Noble

My son participated since the program is geared for children in 1st-6th grade. He read his 8 books and traded his reading journal for Clifford Makes the Team. Besides choosing his book, my son and daughters enjoyed playing with the Thomas & Friends trains and accessories. This reading program offered a great prize that turned into a nice morning activity in air conditioning which helped us beat the heat. 🙂

It’s not too late to earn your free book. Barnes and Noble’s Imagination’s Destination Summer Reading Program continues until September 6, 2011. You still have a little time to finish. Keep plugging away one word at a time.

 Borders

All three of my children completed the 10 books, and we filled out our Double-Dog Dare Challenge forms. However, all the Border, Border Express, and Waldenbooks stores in our area have closed, so we did not earn any prizes through this program. If you are close to one of the remaining stores that are closing, then you can still snag a free book by September 5, 2011.

Half Price Books

Another program we did not complete was the Feed your Brain Summer Reading Program. There are no Half Price Books locations in our neck of the woods. If you are close to one of these locations, then I hope you were able to finish in time. This program ended early on August 7, 2011.

TD Bank

Though we have completed our reading log, we have not yet opened our Young Saver accounts at TD Bank. Since posting of this summer reading program, TD Bank moved into our area. Yippee! I have until September 30, 2011 to open their accounts for their $10 deposits.

If you are near a TD Bank, your children or grandchildren still have until September 30, 2011 to complete their reading logs.

H-E-Buddy Summer Reading Club

Love this reading program! My kids finished their 10 books each. I filled out their forms and mailed them in. We are waiting for our prizes to arrive. In years past, we have received a t-shirt, pencil, bookmark, and certificate. I will post a summer reading finale when all the prizes have been received.

This great program is continuing. To get the prizes, you will need to have the summer reading form postmarked by October 1, 2011.

Local Library

In gathering all the information about the other programs, I forgot to encourage you to check your local library. Sorry about that! Of all the reading programs, our local library definitely had the best program. The Friends of the Library scheduled special programs throughout the summer where your reading log was your ticket to the event. As you reached milestones on your reading log, you could request your rewards.

This year, our library offered two options for summer reading:

    • Option 1: Read by number of hours
    • Option 2: Read by number of books

I was very thankful for the options this year with a young reader. The requirements for the program were to choose one of the options for each reader. So, I chose the hours for my son, the young reader, and the books for my girls. We all completed our goals.

The rewards were based on 3 levels. As you completed a level, you could request your reward. Since there were 3 levels and my children worked to complete all three levels, I waited until our summer reading was complete and then requested our rewards:

Level 1: 10 Hours or 40 Books
Chick-fil-A® Icedream ® coupon

Level 2: 5 More Hours (15 total) or 20 More Books (60 total)
Holographic ruler
Chick-fil-A® Kids Meal coupon

Level 3: 5 More Hours (20 total) or 20 More Books (80 total)
Reading medal
Free pass to a Recreation District park
Ticket voucher to a minor league baseball game

Our summer has been busy completing our summer reading programs. The generous rewards from these programs help this mom focus on setting a goal and reaching it. The joy my children receive when earning their rewards is worth all the time and energy spent investing in their future. Though the summer is winding down, it is not over yet. Keep using time wisely as you complete your summer reading!

Question: What was your family’s favorite summer reading program?