I have a confession.............I'm a binder junkie. I use binders to organize just about everything. It helps to keep my life clutter free and it helps the kids and hubby too!
Today I'll share my most important binder:our Household Notebook:
This binder sits at the end of my kitchen counter 24/7. It contains all of the following sections & information:
Planning: This section is divided into subcatagories of Daily, Weekly, Monthly & Personal Developement.
In the Daily catagory I have a printed form with the following information: My days general plan broken down by hour. A list of tasks I would like to accomplish on that day. My top 3 most important tasks to complete that day. My dinner plan for that day. My baking plan for that day (I like to have a fresh baked treat ready for the kids to have during homework time each day.) A list of "To-Do's" focusing on a particular project I may be working on...this could be reorganizing a closet, doing some scrapbooking or working in my yard. On this form I also keep track of my water intake for the day...I'm not very good about drinking enough water so this helps me.
In the Weekly catagory I have a printed weekly calendar. Here I list out everything that is taking place that week, including times, such as kids events, hubby being out-of-town, appointments ect. I also include my cleaning routine here and my project goals for the week.
In the Monthly catagory I have a month at a glance calendar. This helps in my weekly planning so I know what the month has in store for each family member. Hubby also uses this section to block out times he will not be home or will be working late.
In the Personal Developement section I keep track of my personal food intake, my excercise routine, my personal goals ect.
The next section is Household Inventory. This section is also broken down into subcatagorize: Dry Goods, Can Goods, Baking, freezer, Cleaning Supplies, and Paper Goods. I do a weekly check of items so I know what we have, what has been used and what we need. This is a GREAT tool when making my grocery list.
The next section is titles Projects. Here I have individual printed sheets for each project I am currently working on and projects to be worked on. On this form I list what the project is, my goals, any shopping needs to complete the project. I also break down the project into managable To Do items so I don't feel overwhelmed with the "big picture" of the project.
The next section is Cleaning. Here I have cleaning checklist for EACH room of my house. Here I'm able to keep track of Daily-Weekly-Monthly-Yearly task for each area of the house.
The next section is School. Here I put any "need to keep" correspondences from the kids schools; calendars, class schedules, class contavct list ect.
The last section is Misc. Here I put anything that needs to be kept, but doesn't fit into any of the other sections.
Every Sunday evening after the kids have gone to bed I sit down with this binder and first look at my monthly calendar. From there I transfer information to my weekly calendar and from there to my daily. I write out my daily routines for the ENTIRE week. Based on the events for that given week I plan out what projects I will try to tackle. If I have a busy week I may skip a project all together, but if we have a light week I may choose a larger task that takes more of my time. I also check my cleaning schedule and add anything that needs to be added to my daily routines.
Once a month I go over my cleaning checklist and write down on my monthly calendar any less frequent cleaning and household maintence tasks like changing the heater filter.
I also use this time to do any meal planning. I use to try to plan an entire month in advance, but that became unrealistic for me. Now I focus one week at a time and write a shopping list for that week. I do my grocery shopping every Monday and my large wholesale shopping once a month. I will be posting more about this later.
So as I said before I'm a binder junkie and have many more binders to share, so stay tuned.....
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