Ready. Set. Go.

 

So as discussed previously, what we are trying to achieve is firstly just to collate everything in one spot. Responsibilities. Tasks. Goals etc.  Then when we’ve let that settle in we’ll start to dissect everything, ask questions, put some processes in place and ultimately simplify everything. Make it all quicker. Easier. Start kicking some goals in the game of life. Adulting level 10 and yes I’m kidding. You can adult however you wish to – or not. Whatever works for you.

 

You can have as many sections or lists as you want but I would recommend keeping it simple to start with. If you try and do or solve everything at once you’ll most likely just end up in overwhelm not the simplified, efficiently running life we’re working towards. Your manual will get more refined over time. But start simple and then we’ll get more simple but maybe prettier.  I don’t recommend multiple manuals for different things. You’re just making it more complicated and time-consuming than it needs to be. We want everything in one place.  The exceptions to this are if you run an actual business, blog etc or have a real estate or shares portfolio for example that you manage. You not going to put something so large in your home manual. If you have a few shares or a couple of properties for example then you can keep track of them under a section within your finances section. The sections I would recommend to get started and possibly subsections under those.

 

 

PERSONAL

Goals

Health / Well Being

Self Care

 Responsibilities. Committees etc

Lists

(eg. Books to read. Movies to see. Sports / Hobbies to try.)

FAMILY / FRIENDS

Goals

Birthdays

Holiday Events

Family Holidays

Contacts

HOME

Goals

Shopping List

Meal Plan

Cleaning Schedule

Bills / Utilities

Maintenance

FINANCES

Goals

Debts

Budget

Accounts

Net Worth

Now you just brain dump. Everything in your head, half done schedules, goals, ideas, things that need doing, things you want to do… out of your head onto these pages. Start doing that a bit at a time as things come to you… into the home manual they go. No more trying to remember. No more notes and bits of paper everywhere or worse .. forgetting. There’s no need to make it pretty at the moment. If you want to, great, but only if it doesn’t delay or side track you from getting the actual information down. Information first. Pretty second. Title page for each section, maybe list your goals right there on that front page, a picture, a positive affirmation. Whatever inspires you. Write up everything you can straight away and then start putting some thought and research into what you don’t know, aren’t sure about or need to do some research on.

Also in the front of your folder stick

  • Yearly Calendar  – for reference.
  • Life Goals List {AKA a Bucket List – but I never call them that}
  • 2 Month Focus {This is where you pull goals from your other lists that you are going to hyper focus on to completion where possible over the next 2 month period eg. Jan / Feb 2017 }

 

You’ll notice there is a goals list under every section the reason is simply that you can not hit a target that hasn’t been defined. So under finances, you might have. Credit card paid off by . $5,000 in savings by December 2017 etc… Personal Goals might be .. Learn to knit or make a perfect croissant. Home…. Clean out the closets. Add a fruit tree to the garden. Replace the guttering. Family .. Take a vacation to… Write down Aunt Edna’s fabulous recipes for.. Monthly picnics in Spring/Summer. Catch up with the Girls quarterly… You get the idea. These are goals for the current year mainly.Or you may just want to put them under one general list at the front. “2017’s Goals”. Don’t do this for your personal ones though they should always be separate. Growing you as a person. Enjoying your life and special moments or things you’d like in it. Life Goals are for the BIG stuff. Blue sky dreaming if you want. Stuff you’re not quite sure how you will pull off or that may take a while … but wouldn’t it be freaking cool if you could stuff, like.. Visit the Pyramids. Own my own farm and grow organic veggies. Compete in First Grade level Football. Meet Arnold Schwartzenegger. Run a magazine. Own a Mr Pearl Corset… whatever they are for you. Think Big!

 

The Home Manual is both an extremely simple system and a very detailed one in time. Somebody would be able to walk in off the street and run your house – that detailed. It’s the home equivalent of the Corporate Worlds Procedures and Processes Manuals. Updated periodically it allows your home and life to run like clockwork. Fewer surprises, saving time, saving money, much more peace and ease. It’s not set and forget but it comes close. Lists and Routines become your best friend. It eliminates so much rework and redundant nonsense and adds much more efficiency so that we can get on with and have more time and money for the things in our lives that excite us, intrigue us, light us up.

 

Start collating your lists, gathering your bills and debts, thinking about your goals and getting it all down in this one place. We’ll talk about it all again, each section more in depth as we go along. This will start us thinking and focusing and give us a central point of reference. Even just this first step will start to work for you as your brain starts pulling the ideas and possibilities out for you. I always had so much fun and deep love for this home system and it is the first step in saving time, money and effort. If that sounds hard or scary or you don’t think you can… stick around, we’re gonna work it out. That’s what community and family are for right!

 

E x

Tags: , , , , ,