Evernote... everynote... ever simple!

Ok, so I have found *the* tool I needed. No more searching, no more scraps of paper, no more losing stuff. That's right, I am excited!

You have to see it: http://evernote.com/

It synchs with your phone, so whatever you do on the computer or on your phone, the other knows about. Sraps of shopping lists? No more. Too many bookmarks to even find what you wanted? Not an issue.

My dream of having an up to date pricebook is so much closer now. I also use it to clip recipes from the web.

Everything is searchable, so it's even better than Pinterest in that respect, plus everyone doesn't have to see what you are doing this way, especially if you are planning a birthday or event you want to keep under wraps.

A bonus? You. Can. E-mail. Directly. To. It.
So that important e-mail you got relating to the party you are arranging? You want it to quickly go into the Party folder, you just e-mail your unique address at Evernote and put '@ Party' in the subject line. Because @ pops it into whatever folder you name.
And it tags beautifully. You can tag to your hearts content, each note then gets tagged. Then just click the 'car' tag to see everything you have ever saved relating to your car. For me, it's will be the last MOT certificate, the last price I paid AA, when car tax is due...

And for me, I love the fact that... it has checkboxes... and bullet points... and you can change font size and colour. I am very visual so it helps hugely. Already I have build up several recipes, logged key household information, shared it with hubby... and now I can relax because between dropbox and Evernote, things are going to speed up alot in our household. Especially the recycling... as hubby is shared on that folder now! Do you use it? What tools do you use to stay organised? Would love to bounce ideas around as to how you do things.

Bulk Buying Bonanza - Saving on shopping

Ok so here is a short but hopefuly useful post on what I have achieved so far!

I bought 10kg of (broken) dishwasher tablets on ebay, 2p per wash this way. I will also carefully monitor the salt levels and use soda crystals so that the machine runs well and is happy overall.

I am keeping an eye on Amazon Grocery as they can have good deals too, never bought food from there before but when the have deals and also offer discounts for regular orders, some golden deals may be had there.

I'm going to use www.mysupermarket.co.uk more to compare prices and see deals, then if need be do my weekly shop in the best supermarket to bulk buy. It may involve slightly more petrol, but if we can bulk buy and make a family day out of it, it may work out!

Will keep an eye on local boot fairs and markets as they often sell boxes of veg very cheap, so I can make more pasta sauces, casseroles etc and get that slow cooker working for me again...

I will keep my Pricebook up to date, so far I know that 2p per dishwash, 10p per nappy (when I buy some, only buy 1 pack at the moment per month), 6p per clothes wash are best prices to aim for. Next ones will be things like toothpaste, loo roll (can I beat 22p per roll at Aldi!) and olive oil etc. None of them run out, so no danger of wastage - if you have any ideas please do share!

Fast tip for an easy breakfast, yummy!

With a need for quick and easy food, I've loved this idea for a fast ready breakfast - Night before, put porridge oats in a bowl Dollop on some greek yoghurt (other kind would prob do, but Greek works really well) Add chopped banana and strawberry Top up with some milk (enough that it will all soak in) Stir and leave in the fridge to soak overnight That's it! Next morning you will have breakfast ready, and your baby can share it too if you have one. One bowl to wash up! You can vary the combo, I like to have honey and chopped walnuts (for me), or crushed blueberries and grated apple, jam and extra strawberries, chopped peaches and banana... in n fact, that's the one we had this morning. Plus it keeps you fuller for longer, and works out at pennies per portion. We buy the 2kg Mornflake porridge bag at Tescos, excellent value and I find it's always very smooth. My next musings will be on bulk buying - I am investigating reducing the cost of staple items, so stay tuned. Enjoy the sunshine out there today and have a great bank holiday weekend!

Stay on top of those pesky tasks...

Well this week had been a near disaster, so many things to keep on top of! My daily list of things to think about, plan, and action goes something like this: - Start researching nurseries for early next year and maybe visit some - Renew cat insurance - Get new wheel for car - Finish tiling lobby (hubby is mid-tiling, due to finish on the weekend, dead handy when I need to get the pram in and out now... not!) - Re-design office layout at work and plan purchases accordingly - Research family tree and join some sort of website so I can create a proper tree - Finish decorating bedroom - Think about garden design for front of house (because the back is a jungle, scary for even a professional - I kid you not!) So... someone at work recommended www.remindersetc.com, and I have been using it fairly sucessfully. It won't automatically recurr on tasks but thats fine, I spent nearly an hour entering things and then it e-mails me reminders... it can even text you them. I'm sure I have divulged my Moleskine notebook addiction, and in there I do have a project list, a short and basic to do list, diary etc, but reminders etc is my nagging helper! So we now have a 1 year old little boy, costs are starting to get steeper, but we're trying to fight against it... I will write a separate blog about that though, lots of topics to cover! If you have any tips on how to stay on top of tasks, I'm all ears, as I manage all household finances, most of the meals, birthdays, planning a social life (ha ha!) and events for baby too...