My time planning is often done three months in advance, once my school meeting dates are settled. For example now all governing body and main Council meetings are in place for the autumn term I will soon be working through the days on which tasks are performed to prepare for each meeting - when I make contact with the school to set up an appointment to meet the headteacher, when to prepare the draft agenda and other papers, when the ideal day for the agenda-setting meeting will be, the day of printing and posting the completed agenda, and the post-meeting tasks of writing action sheets, minutes and follow up letters on behalf of the governing body. In the middle of any term there are about six meetings in some stage of this planning and post-meeting process so it makes sense to spread out the tasks in manageable chunks on each day.
But my lists also include the days I will set aside time for reading Council meeting papers, cleaning the flat, buying stuff and packing bags for holidays. I today made an entry for "holiday shopping" which will include a bulk buy for suntan lotion and mosquito repellant. It is somewhat satisfying when you know you are close enough to a break to even put this into your diary!
Of course I also have on my computer packing lists for every holiday and weekend break I have taken in the last ten years. This allows me to have a list template that only requires a little tweaking to have a ready made list for the next jaunt. Sections are set aside for the main suitcase, my hand luggage, and (yes I know this is sad!) what I will be wearing on the journey. This is because you need to juggle the space in suitcases for shoes which are an awkward shape to fit around clothes and books, so I often choose to wear trainers to travel in and put squashable sandals into the case. If you take a further pair of proper shoes you need to pack socks inside the shoes to save space.
I revealed my system for packing lists to Nick and Liz recently in the new local. Nick thought it was a bit nerdy (that's rich coming from him!) but Liz was most impressed. You can tell who is the organised one in that partnership.
I devised some time ago my own business spreadsheet for tracking all my spending, and associated with this a monthly personal budget profile that takes account of my likely spending totals against different types of expense (mortgage, Council Tax, household bills, health club subscription, credit card standing order and so forth), plus my income from the business and the Council. This profile includes a calculator which provides a weekly "pocket spending" figure which covers supermarket spending plus cash in the pocket for day to day expenses. I can adjust the predictable spending totals and my known income to set my personal spending target. And can then plan for different income scenarios in the future too.
This process has been applied to my eventual retirement. I have been juggling my possible retirement date for some time, but sadly the prospect of copying my sister in retiring early has been fading in recent years. The critical facts are when I will pay off my mortgage (currently when I am 63) and when my various private pensions can be started to make sure of a basic income before my state pension will kick in. Two decisions of the Coalition Government and TfL have come into play. Last Saturday I was reminded during the drinking session after the CCLSC AGM that my official retirement date has been moved to my 66th birthday, and today I read in an article from TfL that a decision was made earlier this year to move the date for receiving my freedom pass until I am 65.
Both these decisions are sort of reasonable given the ever aging population and the budget crisis we have, but it proves yet again that those born in 1949 (like my sister) had the best of the post-war rise in opportunities and public spending which those who were born later will miss out on. And it means my retirement planning has to change again. Now where did I store that spreadsheet...
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