Getting Organized in 2013 with Manilla

Photo Credit: Hello Turkey Joe

I've mentioned previously that I want to get organized in 2013. This is a huge priority for me! Not only the calendar type of organization, but I want to organize our finances as well.

100 Days of A New Year Review and Giveaway

I used to be organized. Truly. When I had six kids in the house, it was a necessity. There's no way to keep track of games, doctor's appointments, birthdays and school programs without a Day Planner. Not just a Day Planner, but a DAY PLANNER. Those big ones in binders with sticky notes and color codes and bookmarks sticking out all over the place? Yeah, that's what I used to carry.

Not to mention clothes, toys, and various other belongings that six kids accumulate over time. You know how it goes. Going from one child to two seem to multiply the amount of kids stuff in your home by five. If you're a larger family, there's a whole other dynamic there that I can't seem to fathom.

But I did it. Dinner was served on time. Fresh-from-the-dryer clothes got folded, routed to their proper owners, and put away as part of afternoon chores. I was on time for every school event, from award ceremonies to ice cream socials to parent teacher conferences.

And then we moved.

I'm still not sure exactly what happened. Because we had our own land, and I was usually in jeans and on my knees picking weeds or moving fence posts, I started carrying most of my stuff around in my pockets. Because I usually had everything in my pockets, and I no longer needed to carry around extra changes of clothes because, for the first time in years, all of my kids that were out of diapers (except Pull-Ups at night), I stopped carrying a purse. Out with the purse went the giant day planner. And, conversely, by some weird cosmic coincidence, everything else became unorganized as well. I'm sure part of it can be blamed on the multitude of chores that owning land piles on, and my hesitancy to unpack when it was 100 degrees outside and not much cooler in our not yet air conditioned house. Not only was there unpacking, but renovation. We've had to redo wiring, rebuild the laundry room, replace most of the fixtures in the bathroom, and are now in the process of replacing flooring. In fact, there's still sub-floor exposed in my kitchen-almost two years after we moved in.

I began arriving late to school events. This one tore my heart out. Upset kids as I "just missed" them getting their awards or their part in the play. While we did make it to the Christmas play and concert on time, it was by the skin of our teeth, and I decided then, that it was time to get organized again. Not DAY PLANNER organized, but organized.  I just needed a game plan.

Then Jennifer Tankersley from ListPlanIt asked me to review her newest eBook, 100 Days of A New Year. I was thrilled with the opportunity to get the chance to take a sneak peek at her book, and get a head start on my new goal of being organized.

Photo Credit: balanced.crafts

Not only does 100 Days of a New Year give you a game plan to get organized, there's awesome tools available on ListPlanIt, and there's a Facebook group for support! You can interact with hundreds of other people who are trying to get their own organization goals set, and met!

The game plan is simple. Each day you do something. Some days, the tasks are small, and there's even catch up days, so that if you miss a day, you don't need to worry. Just save it for the catch up day! The best part of Jennifer's book is that it's not too late to start. The days are noted as "Day 1" not "January 1." So while Day 5 may not be a Saturday for you, you can still do whatever task is noted for that day.

But wait. This is a blog about deals, and saving money. Why am I talking about getting organized? I'll tell you. I was going to show you a not so neat picture of the disconnect notice for my water bill, but there's zero natural light in my house, so it was either unreadable, or just a big flash. The point is, I got one of those not so neat little notices that said "Pay up, or find another way to do your laundry!" Now, the bill got paid, but I also paid a $10 late charge. Just on my water bill, if I pay late every month, I'm out $120 per year. That's almost a week's worth of groceries for my family. Now throw in the house payment, electric bill, satellite bill, internet bill, and on and on. By not paying bills on time, I could be throwing away hundreds of dollars.

There's another issue here. Have you ever been sure that you bought something, and then not been able to find it later? So what did you do? Bought another one, usually. If your home is more organized, you'll minimize this kind of loss.

I'm very excited to be able to give two lucky winners a copy of this eBook! Entries to this giveaway will close 1/18/12 at 12:00 am EST. The winners will be announced on 1/18/12. Please make sure that you check out my Giveaway Rules prior to entry! This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere! The ARV of this eBook is $5.00.

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Disclosure: I received a free copy of 100 Days to a New Year for review purposes. Jennifer Tankersley is providing 2 copies as giveaway prizes. I was not otherwise compensated for this post.