Striving Towards Organization
As many of you know, organization is an area that I still have a long way to go in and something I have been working very hard at recently. I made it my goal for 2006 that I would not only make out a schedule, but I would also abide by it, by the grace of God!
In order to do so, I first bought Candy's ebook on Home Management Binders and then I reworked my previous Home Management Schedule to accomodate changes in our schedules. I put this schedule along with my cleaning schedules for each day (which I have been doing a fairly good job of keeping up) in page protectors in a binder which I keep open on the kitchen table. I use a dry erase marker to mark each task off as I do it. For some reason, just marking things off my list gives me a real sense of accomplishment.
In my schedule, I scheduled time blocks for what I am viewing as four separate "areas" of my life which have projects which change from day to day:
In order to keep everything straight and organized, I have set up a separate binder which is my "Business" Binder. I broke down and bought some nice planning pages that I felt would really be best suited for my situation.
Here's what my system looks like in the order that it is in my planner:
Franklin Covey Simplicity Monthly Calendar Pages (which give a brief monthly overview and where I jot down birthdays, aniversaries, trips, events, etc.)
Franklin Covey Simplicity Weekly Planning Pages (where I write down basic goals and projects for each day at the beginning of the week)
Franklin Covey Simplicity Daily Planning Pages (where I transfer information from the calendar and weekly pages into the four columns which are for the four separate areas of my life that I listed above. I've been searching for a whole year for a planning that has a two-page spread for each day without times listed in -- I finally found it and the four columns were a huge added benefit!)
Shopping List and Menu Planner from Graceworks
(My husband was most excited about me actually having these in my Business Binder -- like I would take menu-planning and cooking a little bit more seriously -- and I think he is right. Something about having official pages for it really does make a difference in how I view things!)
At the back: Address Book and Note Pages
So far, this system has been working very well for me. It may seem overcomplicated to you, but for me, it was essential to have a plan for planning. I'm excited about having a productive and efficient year, byt the grace of God!
In order to do so, I first bought Candy's ebook on Home Management Binders and then I reworked my previous Home Management Schedule to accomodate changes in our schedules. I put this schedule along with my cleaning schedules for each day (which I have been doing a fairly good job of keeping up) in page protectors in a binder which I keep open on the kitchen table. I use a dry erase marker to mark each task off as I do it. For some reason, just marking things off my list gives me a real sense of accomplishment.
In my schedule, I scheduled time blocks for what I am viewing as four separate "areas" of my life which have projects which change from day to day:
- Personal Projects
- Biblical Womanhood work
- The Old Schoolhouse work
- Ad Sales Team work (part of my TOS work, but in order to keep things straight, I am separating it)
In order to keep everything straight and organized, I have set up a separate binder which is my "Business" Binder. I broke down and bought some nice planning pages that I felt would really be best suited for my situation.
Here's what my system looks like in the order that it is in my planner:
Franklin Covey Simplicity Monthly Calendar Pages (which give a brief monthly overview and where I jot down birthdays, aniversaries, trips, events, etc.)
Franklin Covey Simplicity Weekly Planning Pages (where I write down basic goals and projects for each day at the beginning of the week)
Franklin Covey Simplicity Daily Planning Pages (where I transfer information from the calendar and weekly pages into the four columns which are for the four separate areas of my life that I listed above. I've been searching for a whole year for a planning that has a two-page spread for each day without times listed in -- I finally found it and the four columns were a huge added benefit!)
Shopping List and Menu Planner from Graceworks
(My husband was most excited about me actually having these in my Business Binder -- like I would take menu-planning and cooking a little bit more seriously -- and I think he is right. Something about having official pages for it really does make a difference in how I view things!)
At the back: Address Book and Note Pages
So far, this system has been working very well for me. It may seem overcomplicated to you, but for me, it was essential to have a plan for planning. I'm excited about having a productive and efficient year, byt the grace of God!
posted by Crystal Paine at 7:23 PM
4 Comments:
This is funny. I have been working on this very project myself, and am also in the process of putting together two binders - business and homemaking. You know, you often seem to post on topics I was going to post right before I get around to it! I don't set out to copy you, but it certainly could appear that way sometimes! :o)
Congratulations on your successful system by the way! I'm so excited to be getting more organized now that I'm finally at home! My house is looking SO much better now that I've been trying to focus on a different cleaning area every day. Today was the living room / dining room deep cleaning. I finally got all my Christmas decorations stowed away...yay!
Have you tried the book "Saving Dinner" by Leanne Ely? It made menu planning so easy for me. I spent a lot of time doing my own menus before i got that book, and my meals weren't as balanced and healthy as hers (she's a nutritionist). The book has weekly menus with recipes and the best part - WITH SHOPPING LISTS for everything you need! It's great. And it's only like $10. She also does "Menu Mailer" which is the same idea, but it come to your email instead of in book form. There's a particular menu mailer for people pinching pennies, called Frugal Menu Mailer. If i didn't have the book, I would try that one.
I'm so glad you posted on this! Organization is big on my list of things to improve right now, and your list of tools gives me something to work off. The other comments are helpful, too - thanks, everyone!
I just bought a big business day planner with a weekly layout. It has time blocks from 7am until 9pm during the week and allows me to see the whole week at a time without having to flip pages. I'm hoping that this in combination with my organizational tools including Candy's ebook and The Treasury of Vintage Home-Keeping Skills (from Crystal's website) will help me with my goals for this year.
~Jennifer
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