I have become faced over the last several months at how unorganized my life is. I have my personal planner that helps me organize my schedule but trying to keep my husband's schedule and the schedule with his daughter in order has been difficult. That's why I was so excited by the challenge from
Life As Mom to develop a household management notebook. After pouring through ideas on how people have done it and resources available to create my own, I have finally come up with my own household management notebook.
To highlight a few of the things that I am so excited about:
1) The to-do lists
I printed off the 52 Weeks of Organizing list from orgjunkie so that I can continue to get the rest of my house organized and less cluttered. I also printed off the daily docket from simplemom. This will be laminated so that I can save paper. I am also using the cleaning lists from moneysavingmom. This double-sided with the monthly/semi-annual list on the back and will be laminated so that I can re-use it. I also printed the preschooler chore chart from simplemom so that Quinn can do chores when she is with us. This will more than likely not be kept in the notebook, but on her bedroom door.
2) The calendar
I have to say that this is the part I am most excited about. I have told my husband for a couple of years that I am going to start a family calendar. If something is on the family calendar, it is set in stone. Now, I have finally done it!! There is a calendar for each month and there is an ink color for each type of event (black is family, green is Nathan & I, blue is Nathan, I am purple, & pink is Quinn). This will give order to our house and everything can be in one place and once it is on the calendar, it can't be changed.
3) Birthdays
With so many people in my family and some birthdays so close together, I can't always keep them straight. I printed the birthday organizer from yourway.net and included birthdays and anniversary for everyone in our family but cousins. That way, I can plan better and get cards or send a card to everyone for their birthdays.
4) Christmas (I tried to get a picture of this section posted, but it wouldn't upload right)
Christmas the last couple of years has been ridiculous. I wind up doing all the planning with very little time. I used the planning pages from organizedchristmas. I look forward to getting all my gift giving, parties, and baking planned so that I can relax and enjoy the reason for the season.
There are other dividers for phone numbers, emergency/medical information, and school.
This month I read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I didn't know anything about this book prior to reading it this month, so I didn't have any expectations. I have to say I really enjoyed the book. It was easy to read and very easy to relate to. I can especially relate to the clutter issue as my home has not been a place that I want to be as of late because it is so cluttered. I will definitely be taking her advice on clutter and I may start my own happiness project in the next year. While I do believe that true happiness is found through faith in Jesus Christ, I think that the methods in Gretchen's book are the key to feeling more at peace with life. For example, my home has not been a source of refreshment because it is full of clutter. By clearing out the clutter, I will feel more settled and refreshed in my home, my husband will feel more at peace because it is not cluttered, and I will have more of a leg to stand on when I expect my daughter to clean up after herself around the house. I also like the idea of increasing my energy and vitality through exercise which is in line with my goal of running a half marathon this year.
