Home.Organized: creating a home planner

Well, I toyed and toyed with this idea, decided to give it a test run in November and December, and due to its fabulous success, have embraced this organizing idea for 2013!

A Household Planner. This seemed like a very daunting task to me the first time I was introduced to it. However, as I contemplated the thought, the idea grew on me. So much so that I decided to give it a whirl. I am so excited about using it this year to keep my home organized!

Its purpose? To help me keep track of everything going on in life and to keep it in one place. After searching and searching for just the right pieces to go into my organizer, I have finally completed it and already put it to use this month.

Here's what I did:

(1) Purchase: Notebook, Dividers, Pocket pages

(2) Find: Printables online to meet my organization needs

(3) Print: Everything that I wanted to go in my organizer

(4) Label: All of the sections of my notebook. 

(5) Complete: Fill in calendar, information sheets, to-do lists, etc. 

Ok, so that sounded super simple right? It was! The only time-consuming part was finding all of the printables and handouts that I used, but I'm including links to all of them for you! (If you want to use the same ones). 

My Sections:

(1) Calendar. This includes a monthly calendar through December of this year. I will write down all events on this calendar to keep up with our very busy lives. (Yes, some people prefer to do this electronically on an app, but I like to see the big picture written out - call me old-fashioned :) Click here to download a 12-month calendar.

(2) Weekly Plans. This is one of my personal favorites! I love this printable weekly planner. Mine hangs on my fridge in my Mead Organizher fridge organizer! I keep all of the blank ones in my planner and pull one out on Sunday night and fill it in for the week, then to the fridge it goes! Click here for weekly planner printables. 

(3) Meal Planner. I found this handout that coordinates with two others in my book! Yay! for coordinating colors. What does the meal planner do? Makes me plan out what my family is going to eat for the week. I try to base our meals on what we already have in the pantry, but if I need to grab something at the store, I can write it on the grocery list on the right side of the page. I keep my meal plans in my fridge organizer as well so that I can quickly glance at them to remind myself what's for dinner. Click here to get your free meal planner printout. You may have to scroll down on the page when you get there, but it is there :)

(4) Blogging. I also printed 52 of these blogging planners. Obviously, you won't need this section if you don't blog, but I love to take one out each week and hang it on my bulletin board above my desk. Keeps me focused and in-check for writing. Click here if you are interested. I also store and keep ideas in the pocket folder for this section. Did I mention I love my pocket dividers? They are so practical!

(5)To-Do Lists: Here I use a master list that includes a start date, task description, and target date as well as a check box for the completed task. (I just love checking items off my list!) Although there are many to-do lists out there I finally settled on this one Click here to download it yourself!

(6) Reference Section: This section is home to all kinds of information sheets. Anything from an emergency information sheet, pet information, birthdays, party planning, gift purchases, to thank you card records. I don't keep these in bulk, but rather use them to make copies if needed or simply keep them in the book for useful information. 

(7) Budget: Here I keep a ledger of our monthly expenses. Pretty simple, but very needed. 

(8) Cleaning: Oh yes, tips, recipes, tricks, cleaning plans, all of it is kept here.  Click here for the source to a few of my favorite cleaning tracks and organizing sheets. 

I plan to add a few more sections as I find need for them, but for now, I am loving the help that my household planner is giving me.

Whatever your stage or style of life may be right now, I seriously suggest using some type of planner to help you keep your home organized. It is our job as wives and moms to run our home in a way that is decent and in order. Just look at the Proverbs 31 mom - she was most certainly organized! 

Of course, my planner and its sections are not going to work for you. You must make your planner work for you! Take this idea and adapt it to fit your needs! 

Happy planning!

Time Crunch Fix

Over a year ago, I remember having a conversation with my mom about time. I was in the middle of hurriedly cleaning our master bathroom when she called around 10:00 p.m. At some point during the conversation, I commented, “I can’t keep this house clean now, how in the world am I going to do it when I have kids?” Of course, she laughed and told me that when the time came for it, I would adjust.

Many months later, we welcomed Owen into the world and after choosing to stay at home with him instead of returning to my teaching job, I thought I would have no problem getting everything done – cleaning the house, working a few part-time hours a day, running errands, keeping up with laundry, having dinner ready when my husband came home and so on.

Unfortunately things didn’t work out like my mind had laid them out. I found myself trying to complete all of the week's cleaning tasks and grocery shopping on one day – Whew! How exhausting! – And trying to get in three hours of work on Monday through Friday seemed nearly impossible. Finally, I decided that I had to buckle down and do something about my inability to manage my time.

Conviction set in when I started studying the Proverbs 31 woman in my devotional time. She “worketh willingly with her hands” and “riseth also while it is yet night”  - Yikes! On that one! She is definitely described as a woman who uses her time well and accomplishes all of her duties in an organized way because she gets everything done!

So, where did I get started? I found these templates at http://moneysavingmom.com/downloads/household-management-forms and decided to write everything out and stick to it! I downloaded the blank daily and monthly schedules and filled them out to fit my day.

I also decided that I had to get up BEFORE my son in order to get everything accomplished (3 hours earlier to be exact). So far, I’m a month in. My house is cleaner than it every has been on a consistent basis, the laundry stays in check, I get three hours of work in every day, spend lots of time with Owen, and have time to run errands and do anything that may pop up unexpectedly.

A tool that helped me? The Mead Organizher – I put all my schedules in it and keep it on my fridge (Even though I hate fridge clutter) – It has three pages and works great for keeping those schedules visible and accessible.

I must say, I’m not nearly as stressed and I love having everything done at the end of the day!