ready for one of the greatest things we ever did for our household, our budget, our traditions, our home, our family, our health, our sanity?
i’m not even joking.
it’s that helpful.
I’m always talking about it on Instagram. I refer to it at least weekly, if not daily, in my own routine.
it’s our “yearly tasks + expenses list.”
it’s so stinking easy to make, yet so influential. and once you make it, you’ll wonder why you never had one before.
ready?
grab your favorite planning medium, whether that be online or paper. I love Google Keep, but feel free to use whatever you love: a planner, a notepad, the notes section on your phone, whatever.
write out each month. leave plenty of room - we’re about to do a serious brain dump.
now think through: what are things you do (or would like to do) during certain months of the year, every year? what are tasks and expenses you’d love to remember? anything that would be helpful to remember for budgeting, planning, and scheduling purposes. let’s write it all down.
holidays, celebrations, and traditions
a few of our examples: brainstorm mr. valentine baskets, put together christmas eve box, get cheesecake for our anniversary, plan superbowl food, Day, etc.
alllll of our traditions linked here
appointments + tasks for family/pets
a few of our examples: annual dog vaccinations, purchase heartworm preventative for the year, order contacts, flu shots, eye appointments, annual family photos, etc.
house/car maintenance things
a few of our examples: annual car detailing, car inspection, renew car registration, professional window washing, quarterly pest control, borrow dad’s power washer, replace smoke detector batteries, replace air filters, etc.
we also assign each area of our home a month of a year to get deep cleaned. like, in january we deep clean the kitchen, in october we deep clean the laundry room. we have housecleaners for the day-to-day cleaning, but we like assigning each area of our home a month to really get all the nooks and crannies cleaned. like, take everything out of the room and scrubbed. this schedule works so well for us and is on our “yearly tasks + expenses” list.
note: when we don’t have housecleaners for whatever reason, we follow this cleaning schedule. there you’ll also find ideas for your yearly tasks + expenses list, since there I also list out what we specifically do during certain months
memberships/subscription renewals
a few of our examples: home insurance renews, costco membership renews, my masters swimming membership renews, my invoicing software for my business renews, etc.
other tasks and expenses
a few of our examples: brett’s fantasy football payout, prep tax stuff for CPA, CPA fee, annual beach trip, rei 30% off one thing sale, etc.
the end. that’s it. so simple.
but don’t you feel like you’ve been to a spa? my WORD. this list changed everything for me, my family, my home, and my business. alllll those important tasks and expenses that I risk forgetting, in one spot! i swear it’s how I sleep so deeply.
and I’m currently working to post my actual monthly lists on Instagram if you’d like a peek at mine for ideas:
and see this post for how I use my yearly tasks + expenses list to create my monthly to do list.
and, and! below you’ll a free monthly template to get your list started as my thank you for being here.
