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Deal with your papers at source

Deal with your mail if you can as soon as it comes through the door. Or as soon as you pick it up from the mat when you return home. Use the 'only handle things once' principle. Know where you will be putting:

1. Junk mail (in the recycling bin which you've already set up). If you 'bin' this straight away this reduces the volume of paperwork that comes into the house. Even better, contact the Mailing Preference Service and stop it at source.

2. Important letters like those with dates of hospital appointments, school parents evenings and the like. Put the dates onto a household calender straightaway for the whole family to see. If you have children of school age, you might want to get an academic calender that has the dates of school holidays and half-term already marked on it. I stick letters like this on a big noticeboard on the wall and then when the dates have gone by I take the letter down and bin it.

3. Bills. If you get some paper bills, or credit card statements, or anything that involves paying for something (like a letter about renewing your insurance policy), have a special 'to do' place for these - then deal with them and and only take them out and file them when you have paid!

Finances

1. Prepare a household budget and review it once a month with a reality check. www.moneysavingexpert.com have a good spreadsheet you can use for this. Set financial goals for yourself and your family.

2. Whenever you buy something online - put the receipt in a file.

Food

1. As far as you can, to save time and money - plan and cook meals ahead to take advantage of special offers. These needn't be wildly complicated. A great lentil soup and good bread goes a long way in the winter for example.

2. If you're planning on growing your own food, link your food budget with your gardening costs. Grow what you will actually eat, and it will help with the grocery bills.

Cleaning and household maintenance

1. Allocate a monthly sum for household maintenance if you can. This might include a re-wiring job that needs to be done, or loft insulation costs for example. (Worth planning in as they will reduce your bills in the long run)

2. The less clutter you have, the easier it's going to be to do almost anything in the house. Get rid of as much as you can with a yard sale, or a car boot sale. Or sell items you no longer need on ebay. De-cluttering should be done weekly, and daily too if you can, as you go along. It is a good idea to keep a box by the door labelled 'thrift shop' or 'yard sale' so that when you're tidying up you can just pop the item in.

3. Invest in a good vacuum cleaner and keep it maintained properly.

4. Make yourself a cleaning rota, and allocate tasks on it to different family members for different times of the week. For example, the bathroom might need a thorough clean once a week. Kitchen surfaces might need doing every day.

Learn more about this author, Frances Laing.
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