Getting ready to start the fiscal new year...

So far, I have transferred a lot of information to the new Polestar calendar. This will be the third year I have bought this style of calendar, and each year, I find better ways to use it!  Keeping it simple seems to work for me these days.  I love everything about this calendar, from the pocket in the back to the useful pages for information.  Check it out if you are tired of trying calendars that just don't work!  Here is a shot of the weekly pages. Lots of room for meal planning, budget reminders, appointments.

And here is a shot of the family profile section, which will go the distance where my memory gets sore feet and sits down to rest!

The family profiles will be filled out by the end of the year, since I will have a captive audience while they are here. And I do think family and friends are tired of receiving the same gifts again and again, because I forgot what I bought them before!

There is also a monthly calendar, that I find invaluable for a "long shot" of the month. I like to know where I will be at any given time, even if I do wake up in strange hotels not knowing exactly which city I may be in!  I have a tendency is to make things far too complicated, so this year, I am going to use this calendar to consolidate  our information into one space. That being said, I also downloaded a program to keep track of our finances more effectively.  It isn't that we have zillions of dollars to keep track of, but if you keep track of the pennies, the dollars look after themselves.

This whole paper game should be done before the new year starts!  I do love playing in my office though, and looking for more efficient ways of recording things can sometimes take several days of online research and general sitting at my desk. I am getting papers organized for income tax, and plan on shredding a good deal of the bills, etc. that I have a tendency to collect. Why, I save them in the first place, |I will never know. I think the habit comes from back in the day when records were not so easily accessible online.  Since we are living in 2011 going on into 2012, I do think it is time to declutter the papers that have attached themselves to me over the years, and start 2012 off lighter than ever. I will still keep the receipts for the furniture we bought in the seventies, though. It has been my habit over the past years to shred through New Years day...literally, but this year, with the kiddo being here, I doubt that I will be hard up for excitement on that day, so better get at it now!