Have you ever been in a situation where you could not find enough money to keep up your home and meet your kids' demands for a million things? Your income is enough, or rather seemed to be enough at the beginning of the month, but by the end you find you just don't know how you've spent it and keep asking yourself where all that money went. If you have these symptoms, then you may need to listen to Sherine Ezzeddin, a business administration expert who runs home-management classes. Ezzeddin starts her workshops in the Maadi branch of the Diwan Bookstore by asking those present why they have come. They are then asked to tell her their problems so that she can help them to solve them and understand what they want from the course. She then distributes a brochure that compiles some of the key principles of home management with illustrations that guide housewives on preparing their own home budgets. In the final pages of the brochure there are many useful shopping tips and warning signs that tell readers when a budget is failing. There is also a practical coaching part in which Ezzeddin shows those present how to keep a record of their monthly and daily expenses by filling in a monthly and daily expenses tracking sheet and asking them to apply it to their own budgets at home. At the end of the sessions, she opens the course up to questions. According to Ezzeddin, things started in 2010, though she has only got her website up and running this month. After she left her job in the field of management, she wanted to organise her home. So, she came up with the idea that her home could be like a company that needed organising. “In fact, I used always to find the same problems when talking to my friends. They wanted to organise their households and to save money while buying the needs for their homes. I surfed the Internet and found that there were ways of doing this that I could teach,” Ezzeddin said, adding that she had also depended on traditional Egyptian models in order to arrive at her current method of organising a household. The essence of the course is to apply the principles of the science of management to the running of a household in order to enable housewives to spend less while keeping up a good standard of living. This should leave them with plenty of quality time to spend with their family and friends too. Abeer Al-Maadawi, a part-time photographer and the mother of one child, appreciates the course because as a widow she has had to take financial matters into her own hands. “I attended the workshop to learn tools or methods to help me organise my budget at home because things were getting out of hand and I faced problems. The course helped me to become more aware of my expenses, and I intend to use the worksheets. Many people spend money on what they don't really need, and the course made me think about what I spend and where I can make a difference.” Taghrid Medhat, a dentist and the mother of one child, said that she believed the workshop was a chance to benefit those attending on the financial and social levels at the same time, helping them to organise themselves. “We save time and money by planning and dividing up our incomes carefully. The exercises are easy to apply, and they are not at all complicated,” she said. Ezzeddin teaches five main courses about organising your life and home, including space administration (putting everything in order and cleanliness), time management (organising your schedule), health management (like eating healthily), money management (by making your own budget and saving money), and paper management (putting your documents in order). Each session lasts for five hours. Thus far, she has given some 200 classes in various locations. Her website (www.home-management.org) contains a compilation of articles that can help the housewife at home as well as a window for contacting her for more questions or online courses. “These courses are for every housewife, helping her to feel that she is in control of her life,” comments Ezzeddin. “They aim at enabling a working mum to be successful both at home and at work and in addition to enjoy quality time with her family. The courses aim to enable women to live better lives without spending more. They help people to raise their children while remaining free of stress due to a bad financial situation.” Smart shopping is one of the pillars of the course. “I found that people sometimes go to stores and buy what they don't need. So I focus on helping them to have the know-how to be able to buy exactly what they need for less and to be a smart shopper. For example, I teach them to take the things they could actually benefit from instead of buying just for the sake of buying,” she said. Some of the tips Ezzeddin gives to practical housewives include: - There are two main principles you should abide by in life: first, a place for everything and everything in its place — that is before you buy anything you should have a clear idea of how you intend to use it and after you have used it you should know where to put it; and second, you don't waste time if you spend time planning. - The most important question you should ask yourself when you buy something is whether you need it. It is also important to keep a record of all your expenses so you can think critically and discover where extra expenses lie. - Always look for errors in your consumption, why your electricity bill has increased, for example. - Keep in mind the 3 Rs of reuse, reduce and recycle. If you have material you could use again, like a glass jar for example, then do so. Think about how you can use old clothes, for example for cleaning purposes. - “If you don't need it, turn it off” is a rule that applies to all electrical appliances. Never leave the lights on in a room you are not using. - Use credit cards at a minimum. Never go to a supermarket when you are upset or hungry. Do not buy more special offers than you need in a supermarket. Always buy high-quality batteries even if they are slightly more expensive because they last longer. Be sure that the clothes you buy suit you and take your time choosing because hurrying may mean that you will regret what you have brought. - Always make a list of the essential things you need at home and stick to it. Keep your budget documents in a safe place. Keep your shopping receipts until you have recorded the amount of money you have spent. Always try to save part of your income for emergencies. - Always fix a leaking tap at once as this could send your water bill sky high if you leave it as it is. Try to adjust your air-conditioners to a moderate temperature so you can save electricity. - Keep your personal expenses, such as for clothing and jewellery, out of the family budget, and when you buy clothes you should plan for this in a separate budget.
