My level headed method helps me reach my goals

My daily book has been helping me save my goals and achieve all year. At the start of the year I bought an A4 meeting book, with section dividers. This gives me a section for my goals, one for 'major lists' that will go through the whole year and lists of different levels. To give you an example, it's this one here: http://www.createl.com.au/buy/meeting-record-book-purple/2578P

I count general housework as Level 1, things like tidying up/sorting, paper cleaning as Level 2 and Level 3 as big things that need other help, such as tax or renovating/new major organisation of the house and so on.

I work full time at a job that has many night and after hour events, so find myself doing a lot of Level 1 on the weekends. However, unless I make a conscious effort, I do not get much of Level 2 or 3 done. Using this book both at work and home helps me to be really organised!

Lose weight, save money and reduce waste with friends

Our group of friends have learned there are many more benefits to being health conscious than just losing weight! We first started getting together to try and lose weight after Christmas. My friends went with the keto diet and I chose intermittent fasting. Of course, everyone needs to make sure they are medically safe and that whatever you choose suits you, as well as being mindful that children have different needs.

Having company certainly helps with motivation as we meet for coffee most mornings and compare notes. A bonus from this however, aside from losing weight and feeling much better, is that our grocery bills are a fraction of the usual. I am so pleased to see money left in my account on pay day! One friend reported that for her and her husband the usual spend at Harris Farm was over $200. Now it is under $40. I am single so used to spend around $100 a week on groceries and another $100 plus going out. Now I am down to $60 a week all up!

The other issue for me was waste. I would regularly buy whatever took my eye and it would go off in the fridge. Now I make a list (amazing how that works) and only buy enough for my meals. For example, I buy one zucchini instead of a bag full. I find grating some colourful veggies such as carrot, zucchini, yellow squash and red capsicum makes the meal interesting and seems bigger somehow. I get the ALDI salmon OR the chicken thighs - not both like before! - and either of these will last me for over a week.

Buying fresh produce is much cheaper and better than packets. The diet has reduced my appetite, so I can afford to buy smaller pieces of meat of higher quality. It takes some organisation but is so worth it. Training yourself to eat less certainly helps the budget. There are some good resources on intermittent fasting on the Internet and Dr Michael Mosley's book. My friends are using The Power of Protein. I also found a guy who appeared on The Doctors, who has created the Snake Diet, although that's a little extreme for me!

Cheap toddler food at the shops

I've found a really cheap and nutritious way of feeding my toddler when we are out shopping. Most of the shopping centres around us have a food hall and most of them have a roast carvery type place (that sells roast meat, chips, vegetables and so on).

At the carvery, I ask for a bowl of peas, beans and carrots for my baby. Some places have given it to me for free, commenting how nice it is to see children eating vegetables. Other places will charge $0.50c and the most I have ever paid is $1.00 for a 'big' baby sized bowl full. Don't forget to ask if you are buying a roast meal there yourself, because they may throw in a baby sized bowl free.

It's great when I run out of food at the shops, if he eats everything I have taken with us, or if I've taken longer shopping than planned - it's really healthy and cheaper than buying baby food in jars (which my toddler refuses to eat anyway). We have been doing this since he was eating finger foods from around 12 months old. When he was small he used to eat one pea at a time, which provided hours of entertainment too!

There are other vegetables available but we avoid any that have been fried or cooked in oils (like roast potato) and those that have sauces (like cauliflower cheese).

An organised family is a happy family

In the spirit of getting organised for May, my tip has to do with letting go of control and coming up with organisational ideas that work with the people you love.

For example, my partner is a wonderful, talented individual who wouldn't know how to put away his clothes even if he was bribed! Clothing was constantly strewn over the floor, on the furniture or stuffed into cupboards and this drove me to distraction on more than one occasion.

Finally it dawned on me that the neatness issue was mine and the organising issue was his, so I discussed what would work best for him. I found out that he would prefer a single place to keep all his clothing, something portable and easy. I went away and, based on what he had told me, set up a system consisting of one large plastic tub on wheels and one small wicker basket. I placed both of these in the bottom of the wardrobe.

Clean clothes now go in the tub and dirty clothes in the basket. When the wicker basket is full, it goes in the wash; I made sure the basket was the same size as a machine load. When washed and dried, the clothes go from the basket back to the tub. Simple!

Now I have a clean bedroom and my partner can always find clean clothes. As a bonus, he's reduced his washing by two-thirds because he is only washing dirty clothes, not a mixture of clean and dirty.

Best of all, there is no longer friction surrounding the tidiness of the bedroom. The idea of working with those you love to create a harmonious living environment, where their needs and ways of doing things are heard and acted on really can have a positive impact, both financially and emotionally.