Yes, saving money involves being organized. One thing that husband and I agreed on - very early in our dating - was that neither of us liked being in debt. The day before we were married I paid for every one of my bills sitting waiting to be paid - including adding up the credit card slips and sending a check for same to the credit card company. I never wanted husband to be able to say that I married him in debt. (Well, technically I was in debt - my student loans were still being paid off by my parents and were not fully paid off until some time after we married - but he has been polite enough to never mention same.)
When I was a child - before age 5 - my parents started teaching me about money. I got an allowance of something like a penny (US) a week. Now, remember, both my parents were accountants. My mom set up a “bank account” for me. She drew up a little bank book (do they still exist now?). When I received my allowance I could keep it and spend it (amazingly, one could actually buy things then with a penny) or I could deposit it in my bank account and save up for something. If I “deposited” it in the “bank account” she would note in my bank book. If I decided to buy something and needed money, I could withdraw it from my bank account and she would note it in my bank book. Sounds crazy right? Well it taught me to save and what saving could do. (I don’t remember if she ever added interest to my account - I don’t think so.) If I got a gift of money from a relative I could, again, keep it and spend it or “deposit” it.
Over the decades the amount of my weekly allowance increased. By the time I was in junior high school (around age 12) I was getting $3 per week. My allowance was calculated so that I could buy lunch in school every day (50c per day), if I wanted to, from my allowance and I would still have money left over to spend. Over time I saved up money and took my parents and my younger sister (second sister was still a baby) to see a Broadway play (tickets were a lot cheaper than - under $10 even for orchestra seats and I bought for the mezzanine).
We have lived within our means since we married. We found an apartment that we could afford. At first we were spending most of our income. As we went along I came up with an idea. Husband received promotions at work - first director of his department and then director of the agency at which he worked. With the first promotion I took half of the increase in his net salary and saved it - only using half of the net salary increase for spending. Why? Well, we had been living on the amount he (and I ) received before - the raise was extra money that we would not miss if we put it in savings. I used the net amount (after taxes were deducted) as that amount was the extra money available to us. I did for some time.
Watch where you bank. Different banks, savings & loan associations or credit unions can charge hugely different amounts for the same services. A credit union functions just like a bank, only the depositors own it so fees are less. The same financial institution that works for a friend or family member - might not be best for you and what is good for you now (or last year) might not be the best for you right now or in the future. The credit unions I have been involved with locally require one to deposit $5 in a savings account and leave it there. One then gets a free checking account plus can make other deposits and withdrawals to the savings account. Generally the interest rate on credit union accounts is higher than those on accounts at banks.
We eventually bought a house. We bought one below what we could afford. We put down a good sized down payment on the house - much of it from my savings as a child. We did not like the idea of having a mortgage and wanted it paid off as quickly as we could. Instead of dividing the net salary increases in half after that, I would divide into thirds - one third to spend, one third to save and one third for extra mortgage payments. We paid the mortgage off in half the time it was for - again since the money was new money, it was not missed by us as we had not had it to spend before.
When we have bought cars - and we buy them, we do not lease them - we have mostly paid for them in full from savings. When we have had to take a loan - 3 times - for a car it was always for less than 25% of the price of the car. We drive them, with two exceptions, until it no longer makes sense to repair them. We have 23 year old van and a 10 year old car at the present time.
We did buy our little RV. It does have a loan on it. I send an extra $100 at least 4 times a year to speed up the payments on it and cut the amount of interest we will have paid on it when it is paid off.
We have paid our credit card bills in full - with one exception - since either of us had a credit card. No interest paid means money not needed for same and available to use. I recently read an article and the person who wrote it said that one should always pay in cash for everything. I wrote to them and pointed out that if items are put on credit cards one has a record of where their money went (and records for tax deductible items). If they are paid in full, it costs nothing in interest or fees. If one gets a credit card one can get one that pays a very small percentage back in cash - additional money to spend or save. In our case we use several credit cards - each for a different purpose and depending on the card and what we buy we can get up to 5% back in the purchases. Does not sound like much? We bought a fence for our house - we got 5% back on the price of the fence. We put a car down payment on a credit card - paid the credit card in full and got 5% back on the down payment towards the car. The one exception was decades ago. Husband used to get his unused sick days paid off at the end of the year, which was August, so we used the money received in September for the sick days to pay for vacation (and the balance of what was received into savings). One year there was a problem and the sick day pay was coming in October. We discussed should we take money from savings to pay the vacation bills and then deposit the sick pay to replace what we took or should we pay the half of the credit card bill we could and then pay the balance in full the following month. It was an odd time and the two interest rates were just about the same, so we went with paying half and then paying the bill in full the following month.
If one can get their bills in order, one can actually pay less and have money available for savings or needed items. I was reminded this past weekend when the movie “I Remember Mama” was on TV that I actually started my thinking of dealing with money with when I read the book (actually named “Mama’s Bank Account) as a girl. If you have never seen the movie or read the book - it is about a lower class Norwegian immigrant family in San Francisco in the early 1900s. Every week the father brings home his wages (in cash which was how people were paid back then at all but professional/executive level) and gives it to his wife. She sits there with paper and sorts the money “ for the grocer” she makes a pile and wraps it in paper, “for the landlord” ditto and so on. When there is a problem and money is needed for something special/different (such as the son going to high school - they will his potential wages and there will be costs) the mother says that they must figure out what to do so that they do not have to take money from her bank account. I have gone with this idea of “piles. I have moved money - in my computer accounts - to save for various things. By subtracting the money before we have it on our regular savings account, it is not there to spend. I had subaccounts in my Quickbooks - savings for next car, for vacation, etc. subtracted from the total amount of each paycheck and each time I did I heard in my head “for the grocer, for the landlord..”. (Spoiler alert - at the end of the book/movie the daughter/author has received her first payment for writing and tells the mother to deposit it in the bank account and the mother admits that she has never been in a bank in her life - but that “it is not a good for children to worry”.) Set aside money in advance for things that you want or need and you will not have to worry. Start next time there is a raise if you want and set aside part of the net raise in a savings account (or even a jar) and it will become a habit.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
It is back to school time again. If you need or know that you will need office supplies - now is the time to buy them. Pens disappear all the time? Buy them for around US$ for a dozen. Will you need a memo book, notebook, ruler, file folders etc. NOW is the time to buy them!
Showing posts with label school supplies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school supplies. Show all posts
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Friday, August 3, 2018
BACK TO SCHOOL SUPPLIES - AGAIN
First, my apologies - somehow I forgot last night to write and post to you. I had finished the yearbook (next year meeting program guide) for my embroidery guild chapter and on Tuesday I had taken it to be printed - yesterday (Wednesday) we picked it up and in the evening when I normally would be writing and posting to you, I stapled, labeled, and stuck stamps on the yearbooks to be mailed out today. Somehow my mind then wandered off and I never did get back to writing and posting. So I am doing it today.
Last year I wrote about back to school supplies - http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2017/08/this-week-back-to-bit-more-normal.html
Today is more about back to school supplies. As I wrote last year, even as a child I loved office supplies and back to school was actually fun for me - the promise of a blank notebook, not scribbled on or in was the promise to me of a year that I would stay organized and all assignments would be done ahead of when they were due. This, of course, was never true for me or I would not be writing this blog.
As I mentioned last year this is the time of year to buy supplies that might be needed as they are discounted. Do you have pens and pencils in your house that you can find? If not this is the time to get them - and a box to keep them in. The same with basics such as scissors and tape. Good time to find plastic boxes, crates, and file storage boxes.
Growing up I thought everyone went to back to school the Wednesday after Labor Day unless they lived in New York City - since NYC rarely needed a snow day (subways always ran until more recent years when even they had to close sometimes for weather) so the schools in NYC started on the Monday, a week after Labor Day as the did not need to have the 3 snow days the rest of had built into their schedule. I have in recent years learned that schools around the country start and end on all different schedules. (Around here schools close at the June.) Some school districts close for a 2 month vacation -some for a 3 month vacation. Even around here there is now a movement to start schools earlier - in some districts even before Labor Day (although many districts have union agreements against same). The local change is the result of adding holy days of additional religions as days off during the year and the need to make up those days in the calendar.
But right now is the time for school supplies. I wanted to add this second posting about school supplies as there are some that people (as least old timers such as me) do not think of as back to school items.
Electronics. Laptops, tablets, and so on. Stores are running sales now on these for back to school. I was reminded of this as my husband has for some time (years) been pushing me to replace this laptop - to say it is not new is an understatement, you know those stickers on the laptops that show what version of what is included in it - well, the newest copyright on any of them on this laptop is 2004 - that make it around 14 years old, and yes, it still runs Windows XP. It was my work laptop when it was new. I bought a newer work laptop since then and rather than toss this one, it became my kitchen computer - where I go online at night and write and post my blog. It still works - mostly. Some websites are too fast for it and therefore run very slowly on the computer. But for most things it is fine. Husband has been pushing me to get a new laptop. My desktop - main - computer is Windows 7 and not all of my software runs on it - it is even harder to get me to get new software. I tried using his laptop which is Windows 10 and I was not happy with it - and probably even more software will not run. He has been showing me back to school ads for laptops and pushing “Look what great prices they are.” I start to think what a great idea - that website that takes sooooo long to open will work quicker, but I know it is hard for me to switch and it will involve screaming and yelling - on both our sides. (Husband is a dear and puts up with my wanting everything to remain the same and be able to use my old software and goes to great lengths to “make it so” but even he cannot do magic.) So, it reminded me to mention it to all of you. Now, don’t run out and buy a new computer just because they are on sale - but if you have been thinking of getting one - it is a good time save a few bucks.
Another school supply that I don’t think of as being one is casual furniture. Back to school includes going to college and stores that carry casual furniture - small pieces for storage and the like - are having sales and also have a larger choice of them in stock. Shelving units, small file cabinets, the doored cabinets with shelves in them are readily available now.
Of course clothing including shoes for adults (remember back to college) as well as children, of course, are in stock now.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
While one should not go out buying items willy nilly and only buy what one actually needs, if one is need of office supplies, clothing, electronics, casual furniture, etc. now is the time to look for bargains.
Obviously one should not buy stuff just because it is on sale - that just adds to the clutter and having too much stuff, but if items are needed it is always best to buy them during the time they are on sale.
Last year I wrote about back to school supplies - http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2017/08/this-week-back-to-bit-more-normal.html
Today is more about back to school supplies. As I wrote last year, even as a child I loved office supplies and back to school was actually fun for me - the promise of a blank notebook, not scribbled on or in was the promise to me of a year that I would stay organized and all assignments would be done ahead of when they were due. This, of course, was never true for me or I would not be writing this blog.
As I mentioned last year this is the time of year to buy supplies that might be needed as they are discounted. Do you have pens and pencils in your house that you can find? If not this is the time to get them - and a box to keep them in. The same with basics such as scissors and tape. Good time to find plastic boxes, crates, and file storage boxes.
Growing up I thought everyone went to back to school the Wednesday after Labor Day unless they lived in New York City - since NYC rarely needed a snow day (subways always ran until more recent years when even they had to close sometimes for weather) so the schools in NYC started on the Monday, a week after Labor Day as the did not need to have the 3 snow days the rest of had built into their schedule. I have in recent years learned that schools around the country start and end on all different schedules. (Around here schools close at the June.) Some school districts close for a 2 month vacation -some for a 3 month vacation. Even around here there is now a movement to start schools earlier - in some districts even before Labor Day (although many districts have union agreements against same). The local change is the result of adding holy days of additional religions as days off during the year and the need to make up those days in the calendar.
But right now is the time for school supplies. I wanted to add this second posting about school supplies as there are some that people (as least old timers such as me) do not think of as back to school items.
Electronics. Laptops, tablets, and so on. Stores are running sales now on these for back to school. I was reminded of this as my husband has for some time (years) been pushing me to replace this laptop - to say it is not new is an understatement, you know those stickers on the laptops that show what version of what is included in it - well, the newest copyright on any of them on this laptop is 2004 - that make it around 14 years old, and yes, it still runs Windows XP. It was my work laptop when it was new. I bought a newer work laptop since then and rather than toss this one, it became my kitchen computer - where I go online at night and write and post my blog. It still works - mostly. Some websites are too fast for it and therefore run very slowly on the computer. But for most things it is fine. Husband has been pushing me to get a new laptop. My desktop - main - computer is Windows 7 and not all of my software runs on it - it is even harder to get me to get new software. I tried using his laptop which is Windows 10 and I was not happy with it - and probably even more software will not run. He has been showing me back to school ads for laptops and pushing “Look what great prices they are.” I start to think what a great idea - that website that takes sooooo long to open will work quicker, but I know it is hard for me to switch and it will involve screaming and yelling - on both our sides. (Husband is a dear and puts up with my wanting everything to remain the same and be able to use my old software and goes to great lengths to “make it so” but even he cannot do magic.) So, it reminded me to mention it to all of you. Now, don’t run out and buy a new computer just because they are on sale - but if you have been thinking of getting one - it is a good time save a few bucks.
Another school supply that I don’t think of as being one is casual furniture. Back to school includes going to college and stores that carry casual furniture - small pieces for storage and the like - are having sales and also have a larger choice of them in stock. Shelving units, small file cabinets, the doored cabinets with shelves in them are readily available now.
Of course clothing including shoes for adults (remember back to college) as well as children, of course, are in stock now.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
While one should not go out buying items willy nilly and only buy what one actually needs, if one is need of office supplies, clothing, electronics, casual furniture, etc. now is the time to look for bargains.
Obviously one should not buy stuff just because it is on sale - that just adds to the clutter and having too much stuff, but if items are needed it is always best to buy them during the time they are on sale.
Thursday, August 17, 2017
FINALLY FINISHED THINGS - AND ADDITION TO LAST WEEK'S POST
I have to add something to last week’s post. In addition to all of the traditional school supplies, there is another organizing item which is featured and on sale these days as school supplies. Stores are carrying plastic drawer units for those going away to college. Many of these are nice sized 3 drawer chests - inexpensive and even stackable (or at least they stack them for sale in the stores). From personal experience I know that one has to be careful not to fill them with heavy items, but if you need an inexpensive chest of drawers for your organizing, now is a good time to buy one.
I am in an embroidery group - I have probably mentioned this before. I do most of its computer work - the monthly newsletter and the annual yearbook (list of upcoming year’s programs and info about the group) included. The yearbook used to be very fancy - with ads from local craft stores and such - but as the group got smaller, the yearbook got simpler. Husband redesigned it for a for us a few years ago, and then I would update the information each year. I also took over the newsletter. When most of the members had email addresses, it became an email, with printed copies of it mailed to those without email addresses. Now all have email addresses.
It was suggested towards the end of our last year (year is September to June) that need a fancier newsletter, one attached to the email, instead of just an email. I had been thinking so also and did up a prototype for the board meeting. The other 3 board members liked what I did and few suggestions for change were made. After the others left, the president suggested we redo the yearbook also - I had not been prepared for that. She had a number of changes.
Since the board meeting at the end of June, in and around everything else I have had to do, I have been working on the revised yearbook - it should have been in the mail late July, early August. She and I have emailed each other and talked on the phone. I have sent her pages of it in assorted fonts. Finally it was all worked out and I finished it - yesterday. This is to be printed up and mailed out - by me. Today we went to Staples. (Yes, I am giving the name of where all that follows happened. In the past we used OfficeMax, but just before last year’s was printed, the local OfficeMax stores closed - OfficeDepot closed here - twice - years ago.) I had a cover page to be printed on a color paper and 5 additional pages, which are double sided, to be printed, black print, no color. When we used to OfficeMax, the employees were nice and helpful - what color would you like, how is this one, etc. Today the employee did not even bother to show me the color pages when I asked for green for the color. The most done was did I want dark green, no, I want pastel green. Then she asked when we wanted it. I asked if we could wait - as we did at OfficeMax and did last year at Staples. Sure - but then the price was extra $20 or so. I asked when there would no extra fee - pickup tomorrow. So, okay, we will shlep back tomorrow and take more time doing all this. We went home.
When we arrived at home and went to our computers to work (perhaps 15, 20 minutes at most) husband found two emails from Staples - we had not given them an email address, not been told or asked for emails and did not want any - one was a copy of the charges for the order, the other was telling us - that the order was done and we could pick it up at any time! So basically, I got immediate service at no extra cost, but now I was home and would have to go back to get it! We did not waste time going back and will go back tomorrow while we are out to pick it up and it will be mailed on Friday. I was more annoyed with them. We were finishing dinner and the telephone rang. The answering machine answered (always on here to save time dealing with the spam calls - which almost all of calls are). It was someone from, yes, Staples. I picked it up. I was told that the order was ready and I had not picked it up. I told him that I was told it would be ready tomorrow. He was upset that I was not coming and I was told that I could still come for 20 minutes and pick it up. I told him that he must be kidding and we would come tomorrow. And the price on the charges for the order is 9 cents more a page than I paid at OfficeMax - even more for the color pages.
So we are wasting time on a trip back, when the order was done immediately, I wasted time with the phone call, and we wasted paper printing out the emails - as they say that they are required to pick up the order - something I can’t believe!
In addition to all the work put into the yearbook, I have been working on redoing the newsletter. Today it is just about finished. Husband helped me get the old header from years ago when it was a mailed newsletter, into the newly designed email one. I emailed it to myself to see what happens and all I need is the president’s column and any info from board members - I send them an email 2 weeks before the meeting and the newsletter goes out a week before the meeting.
So I have managed to actually get work done! Yippee. I also managed to finish the embroidery course I was working on from the group. Now husband has to finish it for me.
I managed yesterday, to finish the yearbook with enough time left before dinner to go through a folder of old papers - the sort of papers one tears out or otherwise keeps to do something about - this craft store sounds interesting, the card from this restaurant sounds like it would save us money, I need to write a letter about this, etc. Most was tossed. A few were kept. My todo folder actually fits into the stacking letter tray that it belongs in. (I have a stack of these on my desk - one each for us, our business, my accounting practice, our reenactment unit, my embroidery group, my todo folder, my “waiting to hear folder” and “club membership lists”, and one for items to be filed. There is also a top one which has standing holders for papers, envelopes, empty folders and such.
So all in all I feel, finally, as if I have completed things. Yet, so much more to do. As I sit here writing, I am waiting for my cell phone timer to ring, so I will know to change the laundry loads - wet to dryer, new one in the washer. Without the cell phone timer, I would forget and the first load would not make it to the dryer until bedtime at least.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
When something seems like it is too big a project - take a section of it and start. Just as page by page I finished rewriting the yearbook and the newsletter, you will eventually see the project done - perhaps with time left to do something else small.
I am in an embroidery group - I have probably mentioned this before. I do most of its computer work - the monthly newsletter and the annual yearbook (list of upcoming year’s programs and info about the group) included. The yearbook used to be very fancy - with ads from local craft stores and such - but as the group got smaller, the yearbook got simpler. Husband redesigned it for a for us a few years ago, and then I would update the information each year. I also took over the newsletter. When most of the members had email addresses, it became an email, with printed copies of it mailed to those without email addresses. Now all have email addresses.
It was suggested towards the end of our last year (year is September to June) that need a fancier newsletter, one attached to the email, instead of just an email. I had been thinking so also and did up a prototype for the board meeting. The other 3 board members liked what I did and few suggestions for change were made. After the others left, the president suggested we redo the yearbook also - I had not been prepared for that. She had a number of changes.
Since the board meeting at the end of June, in and around everything else I have had to do, I have been working on the revised yearbook - it should have been in the mail late July, early August. She and I have emailed each other and talked on the phone. I have sent her pages of it in assorted fonts. Finally it was all worked out and I finished it - yesterday. This is to be printed up and mailed out - by me. Today we went to Staples. (Yes, I am giving the name of where all that follows happened. In the past we used OfficeMax, but just before last year’s was printed, the local OfficeMax stores closed - OfficeDepot closed here - twice - years ago.) I had a cover page to be printed on a color paper and 5 additional pages, which are double sided, to be printed, black print, no color. When we used to OfficeMax, the employees were nice and helpful - what color would you like, how is this one, etc. Today the employee did not even bother to show me the color pages when I asked for green for the color. The most done was did I want dark green, no, I want pastel green. Then she asked when we wanted it. I asked if we could wait - as we did at OfficeMax and did last year at Staples. Sure - but then the price was extra $20 or so. I asked when there would no extra fee - pickup tomorrow. So, okay, we will shlep back tomorrow and take more time doing all this. We went home.
When we arrived at home and went to our computers to work (perhaps 15, 20 minutes at most) husband found two emails from Staples - we had not given them an email address, not been told or asked for emails and did not want any - one was a copy of the charges for the order, the other was telling us - that the order was done and we could pick it up at any time! So basically, I got immediate service at no extra cost, but now I was home and would have to go back to get it! We did not waste time going back and will go back tomorrow while we are out to pick it up and it will be mailed on Friday. I was more annoyed with them. We were finishing dinner and the telephone rang. The answering machine answered (always on here to save time dealing with the spam calls - which almost all of calls are). It was someone from, yes, Staples. I picked it up. I was told that the order was ready and I had not picked it up. I told him that I was told it would be ready tomorrow. He was upset that I was not coming and I was told that I could still come for 20 minutes and pick it up. I told him that he must be kidding and we would come tomorrow. And the price on the charges for the order is 9 cents more a page than I paid at OfficeMax - even more for the color pages.
So we are wasting time on a trip back, when the order was done immediately, I wasted time with the phone call, and we wasted paper printing out the emails - as they say that they are required to pick up the order - something I can’t believe!
In addition to all the work put into the yearbook, I have been working on redoing the newsletter. Today it is just about finished. Husband helped me get the old header from years ago when it was a mailed newsletter, into the newly designed email one. I emailed it to myself to see what happens and all I need is the president’s column and any info from board members - I send them an email 2 weeks before the meeting and the newsletter goes out a week before the meeting.
So I have managed to actually get work done! Yippee. I also managed to finish the embroidery course I was working on from the group. Now husband has to finish it for me.
I managed yesterday, to finish the yearbook with enough time left before dinner to go through a folder of old papers - the sort of papers one tears out or otherwise keeps to do something about - this craft store sounds interesting, the card from this restaurant sounds like it would save us money, I need to write a letter about this, etc. Most was tossed. A few were kept. My todo folder actually fits into the stacking letter tray that it belongs in. (I have a stack of these on my desk - one each for us, our business, my accounting practice, our reenactment unit, my embroidery group, my todo folder, my “waiting to hear folder” and “club membership lists”, and one for items to be filed. There is also a top one which has standing holders for papers, envelopes, empty folders and such.
So all in all I feel, finally, as if I have completed things. Yet, so much more to do. As I sit here writing, I am waiting for my cell phone timer to ring, so I will know to change the laundry loads - wet to dryer, new one in the washer. Without the cell phone timer, I would forget and the first load would not make it to the dryer until bedtime at least.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
When something seems like it is too big a project - take a section of it and start. Just as page by page I finished rewriting the yearbook and the newsletter, you will eventually see the project done - perhaps with time left to do something else small.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
SCHOOL AND OFFICE SUPPLIES
This week back to a bit more normal organizing - instead of our weird adventures.
First of all, we bought and I have been using a new dish rack instead of using the dead dishwasher as a rack. It is actually smaller than my old rack and I have trouble fitting in the dishes and pots from dinner and must store them away before I wash the items from night snack - well, at least it makes me put everything away.
Now -school supplies. I think I have mentioned before my love of office supplies - as a child I played with my dad’s supplies in his office and I am always looking at them for ideas of what to do with them. I was also a strange child who actually loved going to school and the new supplies for the year were exciting.
You are thinking - I don’t need school supplies, so I will skip this post - don’t! You may need school supplies and not realize it. I know our purpose is to get rid of stuff - not buy stuff, but sometimes school/office supplies can help us organize.
We are in school supply season (at least in the U.S.) and the stores are all competing for business so there are very good prices on the supplies. A wonderful time to stock up on needed supplies.
Our reenacting unit had to move out of our headquarters for a good part of a year. When we move back our modern space in the back was disorganized and simple supplies lacking. When school supply season rolled around I bought a package of pens, one of pencils, a clip board that opened for storage, a large pad of lined paper (now we were set to pass around a paper each meeting for attendance, as well as additional ones for lists of who is coming to which event), scissors, tape, glue, ruler, marker pen, small box to keep it all in and a second box in another color to put sewing supplies in (they had been in a small open basket before in a file cabinet). Now we are set for whatever we need - a sign for the door saying “use the front door” or “keep this door closed” no problem, someone needs to take minutes as the secretary is not there - plenty of paper and pens, and so on.
So think about it. Do you journal your organizing efforts in a notebook? If you think you will need a notebook before next year, now is a great time to get it cheaper. If you can never find a pen or pencil - a package is cheap to buy now - put pens and/or pencils around the house where you always need them and can’t find them. Scissors also inexpensive. If you sew and fly and have a problem with pointed scissors when flying - I bought Fiskars blunt tip scissors (even have a cover for the tip) which are nice and sharp for cutting, but blunt ended to take on planes (or in my case to jury duty) - best price of the year right now on them. Folders for filing what you sort - even in colors. Pocket folders for papers you need to bring places. (I have one for my papers to take to our reenactment unit meetings and one in a different color for same for my embroidery chapter meetings.) Small plastic boxes for storage. Backpacks. Great time to stock up.
But now, remember, don’t buy more than you will need - this time will come again next year. Also it is important to set a place for the spares to be kept so that you can find them when you need them.
We had a small month calendar on our fridge for TV shows. Husband made it on the printer and sealed it in plastic sheets. He has been using it as a “white board”. It is hard to fit the info in the small squares and the ink is hard to get off of it. I saw in with the school supplies a larger wall calendar which is a white board. It said that it was magnetic - which I took to mean it would stick to the fridge. No, it meant that one could put magnets on it. Husband was intrigued by the idea and we bought one to see if we could put it on the fridge. We did so. There are 5 weeks on it - we set the first week as 8:00 pm, the next as 8:30, next 9:00, next 9:30 and the last 10 pm (rarely half hour shows at 10 or 10:30 pm). Since the shows no longer run a full season, we list what is on and we would like to see. Petty idea I know. But what could you use a large calendar which can be erased for? It is actually made to hang on a wall with included hangers so don’t think it has to go on the fridge. (We glued washers to the back and then put heavy duty magnets on same - but even then we needed to put a string around the sawteeth it was suppose to hang from and then around two magnet hooks on the fridge.)
That reminds me of another great office supply - but it probably is not on sale. We have a labeling machine. It prints small plastic labels. Labeling is good and helps one to find things easier. In our case it from Brother, but there are several companies which make them. Husband printed the times for each set of boxes small and put it on a tiny thin magnet and put it on the board to make it easier to see what time something is on. But since labeling things is a great way to keep track of what there is and which box, can, etc. is which - these labels are wonderful. They even come off of many surfaces cleanly. I label the various stick flash drives I use for data with them. I put them on DVDs/CDs to know what is on the disk. If it is a reuseable disk, when I delete it to reuse, I take the old label off. My husband (since the time of floppy disks, through zip disks to stick flash drives) does not label his. He “knows” which is which - the green one over there is “X”, the red one over there is “Y” and so on. Generally he has no idea which is which and has to sit and stick each one in his computer until he finds the one he is looking for - if he does. Boxes of craft supplies when labeled are easy to find the supply one is looking for - ribbons, buttons, pompoms? Easy to find when the box says what it is in it.
Of course, for cardboard boxes - marking pens work great for labeling also.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Supplies to make organizing easier are good to have - but don’t go crazy buying “more stuff”, buy what will be of help to YOU. Make sure you have a place to keep what you buy so that you will be able to find it as it is needed.
First of all, we bought and I have been using a new dish rack instead of using the dead dishwasher as a rack. It is actually smaller than my old rack and I have trouble fitting in the dishes and pots from dinner and must store them away before I wash the items from night snack - well, at least it makes me put everything away.
Now -school supplies. I think I have mentioned before my love of office supplies - as a child I played with my dad’s supplies in his office and I am always looking at them for ideas of what to do with them. I was also a strange child who actually loved going to school and the new supplies for the year were exciting.
You are thinking - I don’t need school supplies, so I will skip this post - don’t! You may need school supplies and not realize it. I know our purpose is to get rid of stuff - not buy stuff, but sometimes school/office supplies can help us organize.
We are in school supply season (at least in the U.S.) and the stores are all competing for business so there are very good prices on the supplies. A wonderful time to stock up on needed supplies.
Our reenacting unit had to move out of our headquarters for a good part of a year. When we move back our modern space in the back was disorganized and simple supplies lacking. When school supply season rolled around I bought a package of pens, one of pencils, a clip board that opened for storage, a large pad of lined paper (now we were set to pass around a paper each meeting for attendance, as well as additional ones for lists of who is coming to which event), scissors, tape, glue, ruler, marker pen, small box to keep it all in and a second box in another color to put sewing supplies in (they had been in a small open basket before in a file cabinet). Now we are set for whatever we need - a sign for the door saying “use the front door” or “keep this door closed” no problem, someone needs to take minutes as the secretary is not there - plenty of paper and pens, and so on.
So think about it. Do you journal your organizing efforts in a notebook? If you think you will need a notebook before next year, now is a great time to get it cheaper. If you can never find a pen or pencil - a package is cheap to buy now - put pens and/or pencils around the house where you always need them and can’t find them. Scissors also inexpensive. If you sew and fly and have a problem with pointed scissors when flying - I bought Fiskars blunt tip scissors (even have a cover for the tip) which are nice and sharp for cutting, but blunt ended to take on planes (or in my case to jury duty) - best price of the year right now on them. Folders for filing what you sort - even in colors. Pocket folders for papers you need to bring places. (I have one for my papers to take to our reenactment unit meetings and one in a different color for same for my embroidery chapter meetings.) Small plastic boxes for storage. Backpacks. Great time to stock up.
But now, remember, don’t buy more than you will need - this time will come again next year. Also it is important to set a place for the spares to be kept so that you can find them when you need them.
We had a small month calendar on our fridge for TV shows. Husband made it on the printer and sealed it in plastic sheets. He has been using it as a “white board”. It is hard to fit the info in the small squares and the ink is hard to get off of it. I saw in with the school supplies a larger wall calendar which is a white board. It said that it was magnetic - which I took to mean it would stick to the fridge. No, it meant that one could put magnets on it. Husband was intrigued by the idea and we bought one to see if we could put it on the fridge. We did so. There are 5 weeks on it - we set the first week as 8:00 pm, the next as 8:30, next 9:00, next 9:30 and the last 10 pm (rarely half hour shows at 10 or 10:30 pm). Since the shows no longer run a full season, we list what is on and we would like to see. Petty idea I know. But what could you use a large calendar which can be erased for? It is actually made to hang on a wall with included hangers so don’t think it has to go on the fridge. (We glued washers to the back and then put heavy duty magnets on same - but even then we needed to put a string around the sawteeth it was suppose to hang from and then around two magnet hooks on the fridge.)
That reminds me of another great office supply - but it probably is not on sale. We have a labeling machine. It prints small plastic labels. Labeling is good and helps one to find things easier. In our case it from Brother, but there are several companies which make them. Husband printed the times for each set of boxes small and put it on a tiny thin magnet and put it on the board to make it easier to see what time something is on. But since labeling things is a great way to keep track of what there is and which box, can, etc. is which - these labels are wonderful. They even come off of many surfaces cleanly. I label the various stick flash drives I use for data with them. I put them on DVDs/CDs to know what is on the disk. If it is a reuseable disk, when I delete it to reuse, I take the old label off. My husband (since the time of floppy disks, through zip disks to stick flash drives) does not label his. He “knows” which is which - the green one over there is “X”, the red one over there is “Y” and so on. Generally he has no idea which is which and has to sit and stick each one in his computer until he finds the one he is looking for - if he does. Boxes of craft supplies when labeled are easy to find the supply one is looking for - ribbons, buttons, pompoms? Easy to find when the box says what it is in it.
Of course, for cardboard boxes - marking pens work great for labeling also.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
Supplies to make organizing easier are good to have - but don’t go crazy buying “more stuff”, buy what will be of help to YOU. Make sure you have a place to keep what you buy so that you will be able to find it as it is needed.
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