Ok, so we aren’t the Jones family, but I have trouble keeping up with all our activities. I would like to say our life is paperless, but it just isn’t. You can’t keep everything on your smartphone or online calendar. Unfortunately, it takes a combination of online and paper organizers.
Before school started, I felt like I at least planned my day. Once Monkey started Kindergarten a few years back, all these other people were planning my day with volunteering, pick up times, after school activities and appointments. So to make me look like Super Mom I pulled together an organized notebook.
I highly recommend this. It allows everything to have a place. First, it doesn’t have to be a fancy notebook. I went through a few different ones before I found this pink one with plastic slide rings. They weren’t as likely to slip open and bend. Second, you will need some dividers. You won’t know how many dividers just yet, so you go ahead and buy two packs. Buy a cute zipper pencil bag if you want, and you are ready to go.
My first section in front of the divider is blank notebook paper, and I keep a list of things to do now. Within that section I have a couple of lists. One list is short-term things, like things for today or this week. The other list is long-term things like paint the house. It is also great to have the blank paper to take notes at meetings. Also on my short-term list I started putting post-it notes on a sheet of paper with lists for the stores I don’t go to weekly. I keep a list for Sam’s/Costco, Trader Joe’s, Aldi, and CVS or Walgreen”s. When it is time to go to one of those places I can just grab the post-it or take a quick photo of it and I have a ready list.
The next section is twelve months of printable calendar pages. This site allows you to type things on your calendar. With your monthly view, you can put in all the school in service days and other dates that are set in stone. Next add all year-long activities, like the ballet recital dates, that are known in advance. I add all things we are expected to do. It is amazing that I can forget there is church on Wednesday nights if it isn’t listed. Add all of them for the entire family. That way when you go to the PTA meeting you have everything on one calendar so there is no double booking. Another great option is to use a google.com calendar. You have to have an email address, which is free, but you can invite other family members to join and it will email or text your activities right to your phone.
Next up? Rebates/Deals – I always have some sort of rebate out there in la la land. I can keep up with them by having them all together. I also use this section to print out all those Groupons, Plum Deals, Living Social etc. and put them all in one place so I know where they are when we need them.
Behind that I have a divider with ALL our addresses, think Christmas list, so I can always buy that card and mail it. It is also a good idea to have some stamps in your notebook so you are ready to drop things in the mail and be done with them.
After that I have my favorite section, trips. Here is where I game plan vacation. I keep all my reservations, receipts, boarding passes if bought far in advance and schedules for our next outing. It might be Disney in six months or a list of places to go next time we visit Grandma.
I have a special divider for our house. It tends to be whatever I am working on for the house right now. Last year it was the actual house hunt. Right now it is our long-term list of repairs and improvements along with the names of a few handymen, lawn services and other people that work in our home. This is also a good place to list all those filter sizes for your air vents. It saves so much time and hassle.
There is a section for Monkey’s activities (so I know exactly where the ballet schedule is). I only have one child, but I would make one for each child. I make sure I know exactly where she is supposed to be, and what time I am supposed to pick her up. It is so helpful to have the phone number, hours, address and schedule for the dance studio at my finger tips. I also have a list of places I would like to take her, and what days the bounce house have open play so when we have a free afternoon or day off of school I already have a list.
There is a section for Monkey’s school stuff (for her) and another one with PTA-type stuff for me. I volunteered in the library at school and been a room mom, so I kept my schedule, handouts and any instructions I needed for school here. Monkey’s school divider had all those important hand-outs from the first day of school and the class phone list. I also put the county-issued website logins and other things that are hard to get again after that first week of school.
I have a section for Christmas/Holiday with a my gift list so I can write down what I buy. Right now it also has a few recipes I want to try this Christmas, and some ideas for a fun after school Halloween party. The Fly Lady has a great journal to get you ready for the holidays. I usually print out some of those pages like decorating, and gift and meal planning.
Well, that is pretty much my notebook. It sounds harder than it is. A mom recently said it looked too hard. I told her that my notebook isn’t cute, neat or fancy. It isn’t there to impress or even for others to view, it is a simply messy collection of all the stuff I need to keep organized.
How do you keep organized? Have you made the transition to notebooks, do you do it all online or do you have the wall calendar?
Elizabeth's Finds 