3613: [Part 1] 5 Ways to Organize Your Life and Save Money by Emily Guy Birken of PT Money on Better Money Habits

[00:00:00] And we're live on Match Day as Doug reaches for a buffalo wing. He's got it! Oh, and he's going for a can of Pepsi, too! What a finish! There's no doubt about it, it just tastes better. Match Days deserve Pepsi. Study... And play! Come together on a Windows 11 PC! And for a limited time, college students get... The best of both worlds!

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[00:00:56] I hate to admit it, but I'm organizationally challenged. My home is littered with doubles of items I've bought when I could not find the original. My living room often looks like who did it and ran, which is only partially the fault of the resident rugrats. I've even been known to misplaced checks for months at a time in the pile of stuff on my desk.

[00:01:18] After years of failed resolutions, I've come to realize that organization is a habit, and that there is no particular product I can buy that will make me organized, much as I love shopping at the container store. Ready to learn how to organize your life and save? Here are 5 ways that organization will help you save money, and some suggestions for how to go about changing your habits to make organization possible.

[00:01:45] Number 1. Meal planning keeps you from wasting food. How many times have you excavated some moldy food item out of your refrigerator that you never even tasted before it turned to the dark side? Not only do I sometimes find myself throwing out fruits or vegetables that never saw a plate, I also have a tendency to throw out delicately aged leftovers that I carefully put in Tupperware, only to lose it in the back of the fridge until it has become a science experiment.

[00:02:15] The solution to the food-wasting problem is meal planning. Planning out your meals in advance, or even just your dinners, forces you to think about what ingredients you have at home, allows you to only shop for the ingredients you need, rather than going on a grocery binge, and makes you plan out your week with the difficult days in mind.

[00:02:37] If you're new to meal planning, using a service that provides you with menus, recipes, and grocery lists is a pain-free way to start. The SavingDinner.com program, for example, offers menus catering to both dietary and financial restrictions. Even if you go it alone, the main thing to do is to get into the habit of planning out your meals in advance.

[00:03:02] Sit down on Sunday with your calendar and some cookbooks, and figure out what dinner you will make each night of the coming week. Then go shopping in your own pantry to find out what you already have, and make a list of what you need before you go shopping. Post your dinner list somewhere you'll see it, so you remember to defrost the necessary ingredients ahead of time. You'll find that you not only spend less at the grocery store, less of your food will end up in the trash.

[00:03:31] Number two, keeping an organized calendar will save money on everything from gifts to maintenance to food. Most parents have had at least one panicked Toys R Us run on the way to a child's birthday party, and grumbled at the cost of the gift. Plus the gift bag you have to buy at a high markup, so your kid won't be the only one giving an unwrapped present. But giving presents doesn't have to be expensive or last minute.

[00:03:59] As long as you have a well-organized calendar at home. Placing upcoming events on the calendar allows you to plan ahead for the gift-giving occasions, and actually shop around or find items that are less expensive online. Knowing that you'll need a gift in the near future also makes it possible to wrap the present at home, rather than waste money on a gift bag that is immediately going in the trash anyway. Maintaining a home calendar can also save you money elsewhere.

[00:04:29] For instance, regular maintenance is important for both home and automobile, but it can be difficult to remember to clean out your gutters and get your oil changed when you have a busy schedule and a family. Taking the time to pencil in all of the regular home and car maintenance duties on your calendar will ensure that you schedule them and prevent serious problems from cropping up. Finally, the meal plan you set up will be much more useful if you create it with your calendar in hand.

[00:04:59] Not only will that prevent you from buying ingredients for dinner on a day you're scheduled to meet friends at a restaurant, but it also helps you remember which day's schedules can and cannot handle elaborate recipes. It's much cheaper to plan on simple spaghetti for the night of Little Sis's piano recital, rather than realize you have to order pizza because the duck a la orange you planned will take too much time.

[00:05:24] It doesn't matter if your family calendar is a traditional wall calendar, a digital timekeeper, or a paper agenda. All that matters is that all events are posted in the same place and that everyone in the family has access to it. Number three, hear that on tomorrow's episode. You just listened to part one of the post titled,

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[00:07:18] And a good source of fiber. To fuel the rhythm of your morning and kickstart your day. And that sounds absolutely delicious. Fuel to start whatever's next. Quaker. Official sponsor of FIFA World Cup 26. I've always loved getting organized, but I also have a tendency to abandon systems and let things get messy.

[00:07:45] Perhaps subconsciously, I do this to experience the joy of cleaning it up. So for example, I do credit card churning, where I open credit cards to get the sign-up bonus points. The key to doing this well is to keep track of all the cards and either close them or downgrade them before the annual fee is charged. But you also have to monitor them for fraud if you keep them open. I recently realized that I was doing a bad job at tracking all of this.

[00:08:14] I had one spreadsheet of cards, but it didn't include the ones that my Midwestern gentleman opened. I had another spreadsheet I was using to compare the different point options so that when I was deciding how to use the points, I was choosing the most beneficial option. I had business cards and personal cards, and some were connected to airline and hotel programs while others weren't. Frankly, it was kind of a mess.

[00:08:40] I spent hours last week cleaning it all up and closing down cards. Now I think I have a more comprehensive system, but I'm mindful of the time and money this has cost me. So far, the benefits still outweigh the costs, but this experience has shown me how vitally important it is to stay organized. But we're just halfway through the article, so I'll stop here for now. Have a great rest of your day,

[00:09:07] and I'll see you tomorrow where we'll finish up this post and where your optimal life awaits.