Journal ·
What to set on the table before an opening sitting
People postpone an opening sitting because they think the table must look like a clerk’s desk. It does not. The Annual Household Plan can be written from imperfect papers. What helps is a small pile that shows the next twelve months, not a sack of receipts from years you have already survived.
Bring these if you have them
Bring something that shows money in and money out for the last few months. A bank book is useful. So is a shop notebook, a note of what the boat earned, or a list written the night before in your own hand. Bring school notices, the names of people the household supports, and any large cost you can already see: a wedding, a roof, a motor, a family visit, a regular clinic day. If you owe a monthly amount, write who is owed, including a relative.
If two adults share the decisions, both should come if they can. A plan written with only one of them in the room often frays at home the same week. A parent who is part of the money can come too. Tell us when you book, so we allow the time.
Leave these at home
Leave passwords, PIN numbers, and banking apps signed in. We do not need to enter an account. Leave product brochures that a relative or a bank officer asked you to “just show the planner.” Leave five years of unsorted slips. If a single old receipt matters, bring that one and say why.
You also do not need to arrive with the three goals already agreed. Disagreement is a reason to sit, not a reason to cancel. If you truly have no papers at all, come anyway and say so at the door. We will spend the first part of the hour building a list from memory, and we will mark it as memory, not as a record.