August 21

This is my latest project--a household notebook. It is my newest attempt at keeping my life and our house organized. I am a pro at creating organizational systems. But I am a failure at following through with those systems consistently. We'll see how I do with this one.

For those who are interested, here is what is inside my notebook. Just do an internet search for household notebook or home management journal and you'll find all sorts of forms you can print. I printed a few from these sites (http://www.lifeasmom.com/ and http://www.moneysavingmom.com/), and then I made a lot of my own lists/forms to make them work for me. A lot of people use binders, but I saw one mom who made hers spiral bound, and I really liked that idea. I spend a lot of my free time curled up on the couch with my laptop, and a spiral bound notebook seems easier to work with on the couch than a big bulky binder.

1. Calendar: I just have a monthly calendar here. Some people include daily/weekly calendars, but our schedule isn't quite that crazy right now. I also included a master list of birthdays/anniversaries each month. I'm determined to do better at sending cards to people. I have piles and piles of handmade cards; I just always forget to send them out!

2. Chores: This is my new chore chart. I have pages to check off a few tasks that I want to accomplish daily (like posting on this blog...and doing dishes and other boring stuff like that). Then I have checklist pages of tasks that I want to get accomplished every week (like dusting, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, laundry, etc). I really enjoy crossing things off of a list, so I am hoping that this "checklist" system will work in helping me keep everything in our house/lives in order.

3. Meals: For the past year and a half or so, I have been pretty good at planning our meals and shopping sales/using coupons to keep us on our grocery budget. But I have always wanted one central location to make this an easier process. In this section, I have a place to write down the best deals found in stores' weekly ads. Then after looking at those deals and at my coupon box and at the food in our pantry, I have a place to write down our week's menu. And then, printed separately from my book so I can take it to the stores, I have shopping list pages created for shopping at multiple stores with room to write down prices and coupons used. I used this system today, and I think it is going to be a good thing. Oh, and I also included a page to write down meals that we like, which will hopefully make things easier when I am trying to brainstorm menus each week.

4. Bills: Here I included some pages to write down what bills are due each month, how much is due, and when they were paid.

5. Gifts: Since Christmas is coming up, I included some gift pages at the end. Pages to write down gift ideas and what we bought each person. I tend to go overboard with gifts and buy too much, so maybe this will help us stick with our Christmas gift-giving budget!

So, that's the notebook. I'm excited about it right now, but somebody needs to check in with me in a couple of months and see if I am still using it!!