There is always stuff to do. Getting up immediately when you wake up is helpful, although the temptation to lay in bed longer persists. Time passes quickly and if you don't start getting things done in a calm and persistent manner.
Making a list each day helps, journaling what you do each day can help find clarity on what needs to be done, and as a record to look back on. The details can get fuzzy later on so it can be helpful to write down a few notes throughout the day.
So to review, I have Daily notes, Daily index cards, Daily envelopes, weekly (5 days at a time) tracking, monthly expenses (weekly totals) & bill summary pages. I need to review and create the food summary lists, looking at what I spent on which foods in 2025 each week and month, so I can get an idea on what I've spent and eaten, so I can think about my monthly shopping list as well as take out summaries.
Getting a handle on my expenses has made a huge difference. Knowing where every dollar goes helps me to understand the big picture although it can be overwhelming to think about everything, by following my procedure for daily tracking and weekly totals I can later add up the weekly amounts and see month to month my total expenses, total bills, extra expenses, etc.
Income is another matter, keeping track of money coming in, bottles returned, etc. I am of course limited by how much money I have, but the government sends notices of assessment throughout the year about taxes owed, gst and credits, and you need income T4s for each year.
I didn't keep any of this as organized as I am striving to this year, and you can see how writing about it helps me sort through my thoughts. I've developed this paper system because I don't trust the apps and feel we are becoming too dependent on technology. It doesn't matter if i have a spreadsheet because I dont know the spreadsheet by memory. If I write it down twice, good chance I've thought about it.
I've been practicing this daily weekly monthly yearly tracking for the past few years, and some aspects I've been doing for longer, but we can all benefit by taking an hour a day to review where you spend your money. I figure each reciept is worth as much as the money I spent.
I have a ton of other things to do today, this weekend, and next week. I've been decluttering, cleaning, destroying cardboard doom boxes and repacking important items into heavier duty containers.
This summer I've also been attacking laundry, bought more detergent last week so I can keep washing, but i have too many clothes I never wear but keep washing. There are things that dont fit, have holes, and are soiled. I threw out a whole bunch of that this spring.
I'd like to get my life simplified in 2026 and resolve as much as possible, before 2027. That way I can be ready for whatever new opportunities, challenges or circumstances appear as we go into 2028! That's about it for now.
How about you? What do you need to do? What have you been working on, and how have you gotten ahold of your life lately?
