An Organised Home (Part 2)

This post is Part 2 of ‘An Organised Home’.

4. Stocking Up

As the saying goes, ‘Out With the Old, In With the New’

According to an article in Frugal Housekeeping,

“After you’ve gotten rid of the stuff you don’t use, make sure you have stuff that makes sense for the space.”

For me “makes sense” is also translated into “makes cents” 🙂

After habitual purging, and having done the TKSD (Throw, Keep, Sell, Donate), I have occupied the ‘vacant’ spaces with items my family regularly use…

The items I stock up are toiletries, groceries and cleaning supplies and paper products.

This VERY MUCH lessens the trips I need to make to the stores.

In fact, we have honed this so well until we only buy toiletries once a year

This once-a-year purchase is made possible because we keep an expenses diary (I compute mine in the app Evernote)

We had been able to count the number of dishwashing detergents, rolls of toilet paper, shampoos, dental floss, etc. needed in a year based on the recording of our expenses every year

With that clarity of what we needed, we were able to stock up during sales and buy in bulk beforehand

Once-a-year shopping saves time and you save so much!

A suggestion for all your savings is to start a Fun Account for the family..use the money from this account to pay for movie tickets or admission fees to places of attraction in Singapore

5. Establish A System For Filing Financial Documents

When you have all your financial documents in order, in the event of a personal mishap of any family member or if claims to insurance companies need to be made, the immediate family members will know where to look for those needed documents.

(note: customise your organising system according to what you wish to get out of it. There really is no one final system. Systems are eventually very need-centred and depending on which financial document or information, do store them with care)

So, gather all the documents and place them at ONE site (yes, you will need to look for ONE place in your home to store these documents or the keys or the passcode (to a fire-proof safe) which should be made known to at least one family member)

Some significant financial information or documents one should be collating include the following: personal information such as NRIC and marriage certificate, educational certs, bills, warranties, bank records, investment statements, title deeds, insurance policies, medical records, emergency numbers, and a will

Organising such financial information also comes in extremely handy when you need the collated information at your fingertips to work out for eg. your net worth before deciding how much you have to invest.

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