Keep track of important monthly things with lists
- Karen Wilson: Family Corner
- June 22, 2019
- 1371
Do you find yourself caught off guard by things even though those things actually happen on a regular basis?
Does the property-tax bill surprise you in August? Do you find yourself rushing to get your income taxes done once you flip the calendar to April?
Have you recently forgotten your spouse’s birthday? Do you always remember your anniversary?
You get the point. Some things don’t happen every month, but important things do happen each month. So you need a system.
Start with a notebook. Put the name of each month on a separate page.
Begin with the fun things. List appropriate life events for each month such as anniversaries, birthdays and such. Early in our marriage, I sat down with my mother-in-law to collect all the family birthdays because they seemed to be popping up unexpectedly.
Do the bills next. When is your child’s tuition due? When does the property-tax bill arrive? Do you pay it once or twice each year? When would you like to have your taxes done? How often do you pay house, car or other insurance?
What about license renewals? When do the plates on your car expire? Your spouse’s? What about your boat license or driver’s license? Do you have a job-related license that requires renewal?
Do you have events such as festivals or professional workshops that you enjoy attending? Have you missed them because you forgot about them until the weekend after they occurred? Add your favorites to your list. If you need to make a reservation for the event or accommodations, list those on the preceding months so you don’t miss deadlines or early-registration specials.
What about materials for special projects? Add things like ordering garden seeds in January so you are ready to start plants on time. Don’t forget about ordering books if you have or are a college student.
Are there other types of forms that have deadlines? For that college student, note deadlines for financial-aid forms, scholarship applications and college applications.
Do you have memberships that need to be renewed on a yearly basis?
Do you need to prepare equipment such as lawn mowers, weed eaters or snow blowers? Add a note to each appropriate month.
When do you usually take vacation? How far ahead do you need to make arrangements?
Do some organizing while you are at it. What month do you want to start Christmas shopping? When do you want to be finished? When do you want to purchase school clothes and supplies?
Have you thought about work-related items? My lists include farm-related items such as when we expect young livestock to arrive, when to buy hay, registration deadlines and more.
Once you have each rough list, you can organize the items by priority or by date that they occur in the month. You also may want to transfer them to an appropriate app on your favorite device. I suggest putting a copy with your calendar and with your budget. Often monthly events affect your spending.
Life has lots of surprises, good and bad. By compiling monthly lists, we can minimize the unexpected that really should be expected.