Plans define your tasks and actions to help you achieve your goals. Being well organised in your home-life provides the backbone for all your other activities and life runs more smoothly. And you are more likely to be able to deal with the unexpected.

You need plans from big goals to smaller tasks and actions

1. Big plans - visions, goals, road maps that give you direction.
2. Yearly plans - business plans, seasonal plans
3. Financial plans - to help manage your monies, mainly budgets.
4. Household plans - to ensure your home supports you, including shopping lists, meal plans.
5. Project plans - for those special activities, events, etc

I have put together some plans that you can use as templates to help you on your way.

A planning tool I enjoy using is a Mind Map

Basically it is a spiderweb with the key theme in the middle and the threads spread out from the centre linking ideas.

Mind maps can be drawn by hand, or use an "app".

It was popularised by Tony Buzan who suggests the following guidelines:

• Start in the center with a word or an image of the topic, using at least 3 colors.
• Use images and symbols throughout your mind map.
• Select key words and print using upper or lower case letters.
• Each word/image is best alone and sitting on its own line.
• The lines should be connected, starting from the central image. The central lines are thicker, organic and thinner as they radiate out from the centre.
• Make the lines the same length as the word/image they support.
• Use colour to separate different ideas.
• Develop your own personal style of mind mapping.
• Keep the mind map clear by using radial hierarchy, numerical order or outlines to embrace your branches.

See 15 Useful Online Mind Mapping and Brainstorming Tools,by DUSTIN BETONIO on JUNE 8, 2011

Did you know that there are five money personality types:

1. Saver
2. Spender
3. Risk taker
4. Security seeker
5. Flyer (flying by the seat of your pants).

I am sure that you can recognise which type you are.

One way to have a healthy approach to managing your money is to have a budget. Do have a budget? And better still do you stick to it?

A budget is your financial plan. It helps you to keep your spending within your income and plan for extra expenditure for projects.

I have a budgeting map and a budget you can fill in. Or Ask me if you need some help.

Planning our housekeeping helps us to better utilise our time and not feel pressured, guilty and any other useless emotion.

This schedule plans daily, weekly and yearly tasks. Work out the best times, and highlight when you have done the task for a sense of achievement.

Yearly planning helps us to build in external influences such as busy times like Christmas, preparing for the new school year, school holidays throughout the year. You can also plan around the seasons when it is the best time to do some activities, eg doing the windows is best during spring or autumn, summer is too hot and you will get streaky windows and winter well is just too wet.

Review this once a year.

This is one of the best goal setting forms and processes I have come across.

You can go to their website to listen to the video that explains the process.

mindvalley.com.

The three most important questions are

1. Experience - What do I want to experience?
2. Growth - How do I want to grow?.
3. Contribution - How do I want to contribute to the community?

Do a project plan when you are redecorating a room or rooms, moving home, or any major activity that needs more than a basic to-do list. Describing the end result in both words and pictures (Mindmaps) will help you visualise what you want and it may even happen quicker!