Moving...

Every time I move I'm always shocked at how dirty my house is. Everything I can see is pretty clean, but under and behind furniture is disgusting. Dust bunnies, the size of small actual bunnies dwell under my bed, behind the couch, and on top of the kitchen cupboards. The question I keep asking myself is this, "How much do I really care?" In my eleven and a half years of marriage I have never lived in one place longer than three years, if I rearrange my furniture I clean the walls and flooring behind the furniture but other than that I might get to it, or I might not. Take my current home, the bed hasn't moved since we moved in, I'm scared to see what is lurking under there! As clean as I consider myself, and you know I am a self professed clean freak! I don't take the time to clean under and behind furniture that never moves, or that balls don't roll under. It's all I can do to keep up on everything I can see. So what if I never moved? How gross would it be then? If I ever stay in one place longer than three years I will have to develop some sort of system to make sure those life size dust bunnies, don't turn into life size dust elephants! Meanwhile since I'm moving my posts will be few and far between while I get settled in the new house, and get this house ready for the new owners, wish me luck!

Bills, Bills, Bills!

We all have them and we all have to deal with them. In our home I'm in charge of the household finances. After nearly 12 years I finally have a system that works for me. When I get the mail I go through it one time and make a decision: recycle or keep. Everything I keep has a place, (surprised?) coupons, magazines, bills, all go in their own spot. On Mondays I look at what bills need to be paid that week, including the next Monday and if they need to be mailed I use a magnet and put them on the back door so I don't forget to take them with me. Is your garage door magnetic too? It was one of my greatest discoveries a couple of years ago when I discovered the door leading to the garage was magnetic! Weird I know, but true.
Back to bills:
I created a spreadsheet that has all my bills in monthly order. That way I know what is due when, it also has all the passwords, websites and account numbers associated with each account. All the information is in one place and I don't waste time searching. I prefer to set up automatic payments, or pay online and save a stamp if possible. To keep track of everything I use the program Microsoft Money. Then every month my husband balances Money with our bank account. I also like to plan it out months in advance so I can see when big expenses are coming up, like car registration, birthdays, holidays etc. so I can save.
Now, a clutter problem can occur if old bills are saved, and saved, and saved. I keep bills for two years, taxes forever, and shred everything else. So this January I went through all of our files and got rid of everything from 2008.
Figure out a system that works for you. Once a system is in place it will help to eliminate the pain-in-the-neck and stress of bill paying in your life!