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A stitch in time…
None of us has as much time as we’d like to have. What with busier working lives and children or spouses, it all adds up. Time just seems to vanish. So, what is the best method of saving time? Well, there is a lot to be said for the old Latin expression ‘Carpe diem’. ‘Seize the day’ or, as we would be more likely to say in the West these days, ‘Seize the moment’. I would interpret that as ‘doubling up on jobs and things, as you go about your daily life.
For example, you are in the garden centre looking for goldfish for a child, but you see a beautiful potted plant for sale at a special price, and Mothers’ Day is coming up! Two birds with one stone, so to speak. Well, I’d like to share my top time-saving times by thinking ahead, but first, I would like to give you a quotation:
“Saving time takes time!”
Joe Taylor
A House of Cards: if you are like most people, you are in the habit of thinking of buying a card for a special occasion a week before the event. However, it is far better to buy a card when you see a nice one. Then, put it away for when it will come in useful. If you buy a large box of Christmas cards for people on your periphery, that box will make an ideal receptacle for your stock of stand-bys. You will find that your family will plunder the box mercilessly, but that’s just how it goes. You will save yourself (and others) no-end of trips to the shop and embarrassing situations.
Three Tips For Saving Time
If You Haven’t Got a Memory, Get a Notebook: no, I don’t mean the electronic type! It is not always easy to remember messages for family members, and you can be sure that others will find it equally difficult remembering your messages for you. Yellow, ‘tear-them-off’ note pads are all right, but the first messages easily get lost if there is a sudden flood of telephone calls.
The best thing to do, is to get a weighty, fairly expensive A4 hardback desk diary. It can be divided into days or not, but it is far less likely to be borrowed or go missing and you have a permanent record too. Then, you only need to sort the pen out – one that nobody can inadvertently slip into their pocket!
Where There’s No Will, There’s No Way: or at least, no easy way. We’ve all heard that expression: ‘There are only two things certain in life, death and taxes’. Right? We put up with the taxes, but too many people, like most in the world, do not take their own death seriously. Get over it! You know it is going to happen, so, unless you hate your family or intend having nothing to leave, write a will. Even if you intend leaving nothing, you may die a bit earlier than you’d hoped. You might not have enough time to spend what you have.
There is a lot of hype on the Internet about writing your own will on the cheap although you can do it, if you know how. A will has to be witnessed and not by just anyone. By all means write it yourself, but a bona fide solicitor should validate it in most countries. There must be no room for ambiguity. Saying that you leave everything to ‘my son’ leaves the will open to anyone you have called ‘son’. As in: “Get out of my yard, son, before I call the police!” It happens. You will also have to update the will from time to time, as your financial situation fluctuates.