Filing in Binders: UPDATE

Well, I wanted to give you an update on one of my favorite Less Stress Tools  ...Filing in Binders.

I posted this a little more than 6 months ago...this was my inspiration:

I started where I was, meaning not with all the supplies to make mine a cute as Jenna's at I Heart Organizing. But I loved the concept and wanted to initiate the process right away.

Here is what I started with, using what I had with big plans to cute it up ASAP:

Well, here we are six months later:

SO, clearly I havent gotten to the cutesy part yet (still REALLY want to!). For now,  these babies are stuck away in a cabinet. This works good for me, because they are accessible and organized, but not seen.

What I have lacked in the time and effort to make them more presentable, though I have made up by how much I USE them.

Seriously, this one of my favorite Less Stress Tips ever!

I love that I have a place to store those pieces of paper I just can't part with. Also everything in them is so accessible. I can so easily look at a bill from last month or file away a medical receipt in my Taxes binder (currently my favorite binder as of last night when I was doing the taxes!).

Its easy to manage, store and use...it's a winner all the way around!

Filing into binders has been so effective for me that I have bled it into several other areas of my home. I make binders for everything :)

The list of binders I started with included:  Monthly Bills, Taxes, Important Papers, Insurance and Warranties/Instruction Books (click here to learn about how I use those).

Since using this system for a bit I have added: Lesson Plans, School Work (for my oldest son, to keep his work samples together), and Household (also includes my Stress Less Journal), Everything You Need (for work on the EYN bible study), ThirtyOne (for my home business) and a second Warranties binder.

Basically, anything and everything that has paper, that needs ordered and collected goes in its own binder.

I will tell you, as I suspected this system earned its wings when I had to do this years taxes. Since I started the binder system in June of last year, I had a little catch up to get my Taxes binder up to date. I had to collect a few receipts for the year up to that point but since then its been easy to collect and store any more that have happened since then.

Sitting down with the taxes this week, it was so nice to have everything we needed to itemize our medical, education, work expenses and charity contributions. No scrounging for receipts, no digging through file folders or trying to remember what money we spent.  Just open the binder and it was all there!

This system has been a great tool in my home! ...tell me, do you us it or another system like that works well for you?

Less Stress Tool: Steam Mop

Its funny, I have started this post about 3 times over the last year and I am not sure why I never finished it. I think because I wanted to give this tool its due and I wanted to take the time and do it right.

This is one of my favorite "less stress" tools because it is something that I use on a regular basis to help me with one of my must needed, but much hated chore of cleaning my floors. I have LOTS of wood floors, like both floors of my house ..wall to wall, everything but the stairs.

I also have three boys, a husband, a cat and a dog. That is 24 potential muddy feet whose owners are acutely unaware of the degree of messiness the underside of their feet carry into my house on a daily basis. If you were to do a scientific study on my floor you would all manner of things in your sample ...food, water, mud, various and assundry bodily fluids, and an unidentifiable sticky substance throughout.

All these things require me to sweep, and (blech) mop it regularly (which is a relative term, btw).

Since I hate this chore (it seems sort of pointless?) I have added in a great tool to make it less stressful for me.

My steam mop.

There are several of them out there, I have used a few of them. Only one stands up to my high standards in the area of cost versus quality. High, because if I am going to spend the money on it I want it to work and last more than 5 minutes.

That one for me is the Haan Steam Mop.

It uses steam to clean the floors, using a microfiber pad that is washable. The one I bought came with two, so one is always available to be used.  You just turn it on, it heats up and you can mop away. 

I do not stress over using chemicals around my kids, but I love that it uses water only because water is cheap.  If you do stress over using chemicals around your kids, you will love this thing.

I love that I can mop while my kids are running around because it dries as I mop - no wet floors to worry about. That is helpful, since I usually clean my kitchen floor as I am working on supper or something.

Its super light. I can carry it up and down my stairs with no problem. It has an adjustable handle that works great for me or or my super tall husband (if I can convince him to 'mop' :)

I purchased mine about two and half years ago, haven't needed to purchase any replacement anything. It still works great. I still use it all the time. I am still thrilled with it.

It retails at about $86-99. The best deal I found was on QVC.com (disclaimer ..I get NO compensation whatsoever for using this link, its just a link from one housekeeper to another) for $86.

 Anyways ..thought I would share. I was using it in my boys bathroom this week and thought I should share that one with you ..it really is a less stress tool for me :)

Pear Budget: Update

I have been using Pear Budget now for 6 months. I can say that I love it now as much, if not more than I did when I reviewed it 6 months ago! It has made easy work of keeping up with my monthly budget and keeping track of my pennies.

The system is simple, the program is very easy to use. Pear Budget does all the math for you, every calculation you can think of to keep up with things. It makes it easy to know what your current and past budgets look like, keeping track if what you are spending where ...all through simple receipt entering.

I say simple receipt entering because I have used programs like Quicken and MSMoney that both required more info that I really wanted to enter in order to track my receipts. This entry system is easy, requiring minimal info that I have no trouble keeping up with - even if I put my budgeting of til the end of the month (or two weeks into the next month ;)

Pear Budget support is also great, my having gotten very quick responses to any questions I may have had in the course of my learning the program. 

Basically, I still have found that this tool is one with spending the $ on - the work it does for me is worth paying for!

Pear Budget costs about $5 a month, or $50 a year. That is after one month to try it out for free (all you need at any point is your email address ..no other personal info is needed, aside from payment info). This service is absolutely worth it ...a worthy use of my financial resources :)

{while I have received a few months of free Pear Budget use in appreciation for my past review of this online tool, I do not review any product I do not use myself and feel comfortable endorsing.

Basically, I would say the same things even if I didn't get it!}

Less Stress Tool: a Study Bag

I am in my hiding place again today, and I brought with me something that just dawned on my as being a wonderful tool.  Even after my hiding place goes away (a.k.a., when the neighbors get home from vacation) I am going to keep using this tool as a great way to store and tote my study stuff.

The last two days I have been using a "study bag".  This morning, it was so great to grab my coffee that I had set up on an automatic timer, my Study Bag and head out the door to go hide :)

I am recalling now, Emilie Barnes, in her book Spirit of Loveliness encouraged a woman of God to have a "prayer basket". This is a basket that holds all you need for your prayer time, so that these quiet moments with God can be anywhere that you can carry your prayer basket.

The same idea, I filled up my Study Bag with the things that I would use in my quiet time, and the things that would help me get my mind working in the right direction this day.  I used my every faithful Organizing Utility Tote by Thirty One. I chose this one because it can handle my slue of books without falling apart. It also has a ton of pockets, so I can put my pens, highlighters, small notebook and phone (for when my hiding is more than my family can bear :).

I didnt read or even look at all the books in my bag in one sitting, but because I never really know which way my quiet time will lead I make sure to have lots of options :)

Currently, on the menu is: a couple versions of the bible (today, its the NIV and NLT),  What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancy (because our study on grace has really sparked an interest in the topic!), Mere Christianity by C.S Lewis (for Sunday School), a couple books by Dallas Willard (havent started these yet), and my Women of Grace notebook.

Having this bag ready to go helps me be able to take my quiet and study time anywhere in a moments notice - to a hiding place, to my bedroom, or to Starbucks for a cup of coffee with God :).

I am also loving that I have a place to store my stuff, instead of all of it just being stacked all over the table all the time :)

The only problem, is that the bag I am using  for my study bag is the one I use ALL the time for other stuff also ...SO, I think I just found a great excuse to get another Thirty One bag! :)

What do you do to make your study time mobile? What do you use in your study time?...what versions of the bible do you use? What books are you reading right now? Tell us about your study time ..I would love to hear all about it!

Less Stressed Tool: Pear Budget

Okay, I have been so excited to share this with you since I discovered it last week! This tool is going to make a BIG stressor WAY less stressful :)

I am reading Organized Simplicity, by SimpleMom (more on that later!). She is a big fan of this husband-wife team's online budgeting system.

Pear Budget is a super simple way to be a good little Dave Ramsey follower/debt free live-r/good steward of your financial resources. Using a very easy to use format, PB sets you up a monthly budget and helps keep track of your spending in less time and with less effort...thus, with less stress! :)

I have been keeping a budget for my entire marriage, which includes tracking every penny we use. Our beginning spreadsheets were in a word, complicated. They involved way more than they should have, for something that need to keep on top of in order to take good care of money. We have simplified through the years, but this takes the cake.
 

My favorite PB highlights:

*You enter your budget ONCE..meaning, that I made my monthly budget and they have it set up for me from here on out. I love that I can fast forward two months and put that I will need a haircut in May so to budget for that.  Love it.

* The whole thing is extremely simple - simple fields, simple key strokes, easy to find everything and easy to figure out as a newbie. The have you put in just enough info to keep your pennies behaving, but not too much where you spend way to much time entering info.

* Not only does create your budget for monthly stuff, it also takes irregular bills (like quarterly payments) and breaks it up for you. It helps you budget your big expenses better. I really love this because it something we do anyway with our car insurance and stuff. I love that PB does it for me! 

* They have an iphone app! ...I pulled this up this morning because that is something that will help me, both to keep track of what I can spend while I am out and about and also to put in what I am spending when I spend it. The app lets you hop on your budget, check out how much is in say, the "Dining Out" budget and then track the receipt, all from  your iphone.  One of my favorite things about that ..hubby and I can be on the same page!  He can know what we have, and knows if we have the bucks to buy me flowers ;)

* Dont have an iphone? Its okay ..they have something else that is great too ..its called a "Go Card" ..a 3x5 version of your budget that you can print and take with you. Love it.

* Aside from your email, it doesnt use any personal info - no bank info, no account numbers, etc. I like that.

* Their website is pretty .. :)

* The website and app is well worth the $5/month... And since they give you a free 30-day trial so you can play, learn and become dependent :)   ... this one is a no-brainer for me!  In order to try it, you dont have to enter any personal info, aside from your email address. No credit card numbers or anything.


BUT .... my #1 favorite thing about them to date ...drumroll please ...

They have offered LPLS readers a giveaway of a free 6-month subscription!

Wahoo!..you will WANT this!

In order to enter,  please go check out Pear Budget! ..set up a super easy budget (it literally took me less than 5 minutes) ..and then come tell me what you think!

If you "like" them on Facebook ...you get another entry. I got on there this morning and learned even more great tips about new fav budgeting tool! 

If you "like" LPLS on Facebook ..you get another entry...really, we want you lots of chances to get this great tool!

We will choose a winner NEXT Monday! ..ready, set, GO!

{in effort to manage my resources well...this WORKS FOR ME!}