Ever find yourself in the waiting room of a doctor’s office, a car maintenance facility or other type of visit much longer than you anticipated? I had that experience once again this week, which is why this topic came to mind.
Being able to avoid this “waste of time” or making the most of it can mean not only more effectively using our time but more importantly reducing our stress level.
First, let’s discuss how to avoid the wait in the first place. If we can find out when the wait for appointments is more likely to be less, we can go a long way to avoid this situation. If we ask, they will most likely tell us. As a rule of thumb, we should schedule appointments, when we can, first thing in the morning or just after lunch. As the day progresses, scheduled appointments get more and more behind and if there is a long wait it is most likely going to be the appointments just before lunch and at the end of the day.
We cannot all make appointments when we wish to or we might be in a waiting situation that is not even a planned visit. What can we do then to make the most of this time? This is when we can do things that we ordinarily don’t have time to do but wish we did. We can read a book we have been tying to get around to, read articles in magazines, sort through coupons, fill out forms, read newsletters, write a letter and on and on. The trick is to have these things available when these events happen. Try to keep a folder or bag of items in the car that are those non-urgent things that we would like to do and enjoy the opportunity to do them versus stressing over the lost time. We can make what would have seemed like a long period of time, just wiz by.
Happy waiting!
Rosanne
770.995.8556
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Are Coupons Saving You Money?
Some tips to increase our success rate with coupons are:
- Have a place to keep coupons that is portable. This system should be easy and allow us to add coupons so we can easily find them. A product that I can recommend for those without a successful method is the iParenting Media award winning system called The Couponizer. It is a complete system in one package. Check it out at www.thecouponizer.com.
- The system should include a method to purge coupons as well; if we do not have any other process, we should choose a day each month to go through and toss those that are expired or that we have determined we will no longer use.
- Have coupons and applicable advertisements available when we sit down to make a list before we go shopping. Make this part of your weekly goal/task planning exercise. Planning ahead for a shopping trip is crucial to minimizing the time and money we will spend. Another great resource in this area is a book I read earlier this year called “Greatest Secrets of the Coupon Mom” by Stephanie Nelson. It has great ideas, processes and tools to become a strategic shopper without spending a lot of time. $$ Savings Tip: While supplies last, this book is free with a purchase of The Couponizer.
- We should not limit ourselves to the coupons in the newspaper. We can find valuable coupons in our local stores, magazines, mailers, and on-line. The trick is to identify what we will use and add them to our system. It is also important that we know when they expire and make key purchases in the right timeframe.
Rosanne
770.995.8556
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Gas shortage! - How to make the most out of our trips
Gas or the lack thereof certainly seems to be the topic of conversation today. That is if we are not talking about our uncertain economic times or the upcoming election. Since investing money and politics are two of subjects I don’t share my opinion on I will talk about ways to make more out of those trips we venture out on each day to work, chauffeur or play.
1. Make sure along with your other planning for the week that you have determined what tasks need to be done away from the home or office. Highlights these so they are easily identified.
2. Review these tasks and determine they really need to be done.
3. Batch tasks that can be done at the same time and determine if there is a day and/or time that you will already be going to that location or in that direction. Sometimes waiting another day to do something will allow you to save an entire trip altogether.
4. Record any information that you will need to have when you reach your destination, i.e. paint colors, names, phone numbers, forms, sizes, merchandise to match or return. This will greatly increase your odds of not making a second trip or not accomplishing what you have set out to do.
5. Finally, decide if you need to make the trip at all. With the internet and telephone at our finger tips; we sometimes don’t think about how easy it is to get information or products that we would normally “go out” to get. Sometimes they do not even have a shipping cost and if they do they might be worth it. Shipping costs have been a deterrent in the past; but with gas at $4.00 +/- a gallon, we can certainly justify more shipping costs than we used to.
Rosanne
770.995.8556
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Disaster Preparedness - What You Should Have at Home in an Emergency
If you were at home in an emergency and lost power for several days, would you be ready? Again in keeping with September being National Disaster Preparedness month here is a checklist that can help be more prepared:
- Flashlights and extra batteries
- Non-perishable or ready to eat foods (enough for 3 days – one to three 1lbs per person is recommended). Foods such as: canned and dried foods (pop top or twist tops are preferable), dried foods such as fruits and cereals), granola, breakfast/food bars, salt free crackers, dry or canned milk and soups, peanut butter, jelly, nuts, trail mix)
- Manual can opener
- Baby formula and foods
- Pet food
- Medication (over the counter and prescription)
- Water - at least one gallon per person is recommended (1-3 gallons preferably) Water Tips: Boiling is the preferable way to purify water. Let water boil fully one minute. Cool before drinking. If unable to boil, use pure chlorine bleach (1/4 tsp, 1.25 ml or 16 drops to each gallon). Stir, then let stand 30 min. Slight chlorine taste and smell is normal.
- Portable, battery operated radio (& extra batteries)
- Disposable utensils
- Camping stove with fuel and matches.
- Fire extinguisher
- Toiletries
- First Aid Kit; including a list of emergency contacts, bandages, scissors, tape, disinfectants, antiseptics, latex gloves, non prescription meds such as aspirin and non-aspirin, bendryl, and hand sanitizer.
- Cell phone (charged) and/or standard land line phone (non remote) if power is out.
- Emergency plan for family or business
Rosanne
770.995.8556
Disaster Preparedness - Are you ready?
September is National Disaster Preparedness month and our latest hurricanes and floods can give us a very visual reminder of how an emergency can happen in an instant.
This week I thought I would highlight documentation preparedness. It is important to have documents and the information they contain in a safe place and accessible when we need them. Here are some ways to take a great step toward being prepared in case of an emergency.
- •Have birth, baptism, death, divorce certificates and passports in a safe place; preferably a safe deposit box or fire safe.
- •Have insurance policies, house and other property deeds and loan information in a safe place and the telephone and account numbers available to you.
- •Copy the front and back of credit cards, driver’s licenses, insurance cards and the like or keep a copy of a statement that would have the same info. Remember if you lose a credit card, you need the number on the back to call and the credit card number to report.
- •Have a record of checking, savings and investment account information as well as pin numbers and access information.
- •Have important phone numbers so that if you don’t have your phone you can make important phone calls. Keep a copy in a remote location.
- •Have a written family communication plan where you have phone numbers, addresses, emails and other vital contact info as well as locations to meet in case of an emergency.
Rosanne
770.995.8556
Meal Planning Made Easy – Save Money and Eat Healthy
Do find yourself in the afternoon or on your way home from work wondering what you will have for dinner? If you are the one that does most of the meal planning this can become very stressful and you may find yourself resorting to less than healthy alternatives. If saving money and eating healthy are high on your wish list than here are a few things you can do to make a change today!
- Make a list of all the meals that you like or would like to try.
- Put each title of the meal on an index card. You can include the ingredients and preparation instructions on the card or simply the location of the recipe (i.e. Betty Crocker Cook Book, page 7). Don’t forget to include index cards that say “Left Overs” or “Eat Out” for days those solutions might apply.
- Each week, choose a day to plan out your meals. For instance if you choose Sunday, you would decide what you wanted to eat each day of the next week, Monday through Sunday by selecting an index card identifying the meals you want that week.
- These 7 cards can now be used to plan the meals, do the shopping and prepare food in advance. For instance we can chop onions for 2 or 3 recipes if we know we will need them several times during the week.
This will allow you to plan ahead for shopping, meal preparation and tasks like defrosting frozen items. You can display the index cards if you wish in the kitchen in clear index card holders, make or purchase clips to hold them or store them in a convenient place. Now you can spend that time you would have been worrying about what’s for dinner, doing something more enjoyable.
Happy Meal Preparing!
Rosanne
770.995.8556