Welcome to Step 5 in Designing our Budget. Now this step might sound a bit stringent but really take it for what it’s worth, think outside the box. It’s merely a way to keep you on your toes, not a means to turn your home into a production line.
So far together we have all learned:
- How much money you Gross and Net
- We gathered all the important documentation-pay stubs, banking info etc.
- We know what bills to pay every month and when- credit cards, mortgage, rent, etc
- We categorized the budget and assigned an amount to each “need” we have to pay for monthly.
- We learned the importance of Note Taking and Documentation
In Part 5 of the Budgeting Series you will learn about Organization and why it is crucial to the success of your budget.
What does Organization mean to us?
We firmly believe in “A place for everything and everything in its place.” In Japan they call this 5S in all aspects of the workplace. In adopting this mindset we have been able to achieve greater goals, save time, effort and money.
Although 5s finds its home in manufacturing and is successfully implemented all over the world you can do this at home.
What is 5S you ask?
The term 5S refers to five Japanese words starting with the letter S; essentially “HouseKeeping“
- Seiri-Sorting
- Seitori- Stabilizing and Straightening
- Seiso- Sweeping or shining
- Seiketsu- Standardizing
- Shitsuke- Sustainability
- Safety
- I’ve learned over the years that keeping my space clean (Seiso) and free from clutter helps me save time. It ensures that I will get the job done leaving more time for the family and not my nose in the books.
- I sort (Seiri) through all the stuff I don’t need in my space and give it a home if necessary. ie: Last years bills. I typically will store my earlier years bills in a box for one year then discard them.
- I also learned that if I have a standardized process (Seiketsu) when budgeting in particular I’m assured that nothing will get missed. By organizing a procedure or chart if you wish you know exactly what needs to get paid and when.
- Everything on my desk is clearly labelled (Seiton) and arranged in such a way that I can quickly access the tools I need. Ie: I keep my pens and calculator to the left of my computer mouse. We keep all our bills in file folders ready to be documents in the Canadian Budget Binder Spreadsheet.
- This is called “a place for everything and everything in its place.”
- If you find something is not working out for you, review your new way of budgeting and revise it if necessary.I If you fail to make changes when needed you may resort back to your old way which may be harmful to your savings plan. You need to stay on course and find the easiest way to get to your goal. This is (Shitsuke).
- Safety is the 6th “S” but must be implemented in everything we do in our lives. Safety must be the front-runner as without safety nothing else would matter.
- You can learn more about 5S here.
Typically this is how we keep our receipts and bills organized
- We immediately pull out the receipts and put them on the counter.
- When we get a bill in the mail we open it, read it, circle the due date and cost.
- We take both the receipts and bills and store them in a file folder with 2 pockets until we are ready to document.
- One side is labelled (Enter) the other (Entered/Paid).
- When we enter the data from the receipt to the Canadian Budget Binder Spreadsheet it gets moved to the (Entered/Paid) part of the folder.
- This way we know it’s been documented.
- When we pay a bill the same process applies.
- We also mark the date the bill was paid on the bill and how much was paid.
- **Edit** One of my CBB readers Carrie K says; One thing that won’t work for me in paper now are the bills in the organizing part. I get all my bills electronically. No more paper mess for me on everyday bills.
- So if you get your bills sent to you on-line this is a great organizational tip from Carrie! Keep them altogether in an on-line file folder.
We continue this process until the end of the month. Once the end of the month has come and gone we take all the bills and receipts and put them in a Ziploc, label the month and file it. This makes it easier for us to find a bill for a certain month when needed. It also helps to find what month the bill was from with our monthly spreadsheet by locating the information we documented.
With that being said in this step I urge you to de-clutter your space, get it cleaned up and organized. Design a chart outlining a process that suits your needs;
- name of all bills,credit card numbers and when they are due typically each month
- checklist of items to make sure you do at certain times in the month so nothing gets missed- this helps to make sure you get no NSF cheques or interest on missed payments that you shouldn’t.
- Set up your workspace, have all tools readily available to you.
Stay tuned for Step 6 in designing our Budget…Who does what and when! Working together to save money in the budget~
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Copyright (c) <a href=’http://www.123rf.com’>123RF Stock Photos</a>
Copyright (c) <a href=’http://www.123rf.com’>123RF Stock Photos</a>
