Rhonda Hetzel - The Simple Home: A Month-by-Month Guide to Self-Reliance, Productivity and Contentment

When the new year starts, I sometimes feel like Im living in a bubble. Most people are on holidays, schools out, and my attention moves from daily work and getting things done to a contented calmness sustained by the sound of ice cubes in cold drinks, cricket on the radio, knitting needles and holiday visitors. For Hanno and me, its a beautiful time of year when we relax, spend time with our family and friends and make the most of the warm summer days. We didnt achieve this seasonal slowness overnight we work at it every year and feel thankful when the pace slows and we start to unwind. After the rush of Christmas, when youve had a few days of serious relaxing, its the ideal time to think about the year ahead and how you will approach it.

No matter what year it is, you can count on change. Some will be changes that you know about and have prepared for; some will be unexpected and sudden. Youll put yourself in a better position if youve thought about potential changes and have a strategy to deal with them. Planning early in the year will help move life in the direction you want it to go. Things wont always go according to your plan, but when the unexpected happens, it will be easier to get back on track if there is a plan to return to.

I prefer to share the ins and outs of how we live rather than lecture on the rights and wrongs of it. But I know when people are in a muddle and dont know where to start, sometimes another voice offering suggestions can help, even if those suggestions seem so obvious they are barely worth writing down. I hope my lists inspire you to come up with your own. Developing your own independence and applying many of the practical activities well be discussing later in the book will help you stop relying on those ever-present whispers from social media, fashion, well-meaning friends or anyone else who tells you what to do and how to do it. I hope I can encourage you to live your life your way and if you find one or two or twenty things in this book and modify them to suit you, I will be happy.

Make time in January to mark up your calendar and diary with all the important days for the year such as birthdays, anniversaries, school and work holidays, training days, family trips and get-togethers. Some cultures celebrate saints days such as St Patricks Day, some families hold the winter and summer solstices as special days, and Halloween is becoming more popular with young families. If any of these events are important in your family, mark them on your calendar, and if they need extra money, add them as an item in your budget as well. If you have school-aged children, when you receive the first few school newsletters and register for after-school activities youll probably be able to add dates such as pupil-free days, school camps, excursions, sports days, concerts, award ceremonies, practice sessions and game schedules. If you have a baby or preschoolers, youll need to add vaccination dates and clinic check-ups. Also add reminders for your pets tick and flea treatments and vaccinations.

I rely on my computer to keep me organised and on track. It suits me to add reminders to my calendar in the form of alerts and emails. If you mark up all your relevant dates on your computer calendar, then sync it with your phone, youll have your current calendar with you all the time and will be able to check dates when youre out and about. Alternatively, you could use a paper calendar to mark up the year, then write all those dates into a diary you can carry with you.

Once your calendar is set, there are many more things you can organise during January that will help keep you on track later in the year.

One organisational system Id encourage you to try is a home folder. I wrote about this in Down to Earth, but since then my folder has evolved. If you do this thoughtfully, your folder will develop into a comprehensive reference manual customised specifically to you, your family and your home.

When I first started living as I do now it took me a very short time to realise that unless I organised myself and recorded all the new tasks I was hoping to do, I would sink like a stone. I had downloaded recipes, ideas, patterns and project plans, but needed to gather all my printed materials together and keep them in one place. Enter my home folder. Its an old three-ring binder that I covered in fabric. I also added a few plastic sleeves left over from my old office. Try to make do with what you have when you put your home folder together a filing drawer or a concertina folder are good alternatives to a binder.