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Making a Household Planner / Organizer
Updated
November 02, 2004
Sometimes it's called a household organizer, a household
binder, a household notebook, a household information book, a home file book, a
home organizer, a home notebook, and a ton of other names. In my home, we
call it "the book" (and I use a variety of names for it throughout this site). No matter what you call it, it's a must-have
item in every organized home. A home organizer is just like a personal organizer
that you carry around with your but acts as a central
information center for all members of your home. It simply a place to keep track of all the
important household events, schedules, and information that everyone in the home should know
about.
It can be a bit time consuming to put a notebook together,
but it's worth the trouble. You'll thank yourself at least a hundred times
for it, even immediately after you make it. If you don't have a lot of time to work on it, just promise that
you'll spend fifteen minutes a day putting it together. It's worth it.
Putting Your Organizer Together
All the materials you'll need to get started.
Sections
Every person sets up their notebook differently, but
there are a few must have sections:
Other possible sections (depending on your circumstances) may
include:
- Sitter Information
- Phone Messages
- Greeting Card / Thank You Card Lists
- Logs (borrowed items, loaned items, library books and
rentals to return)
- Chore and Allowance Charts (for children)
- Shopping (shopping lists, coupons, rebates, price lists)
- Inventories (kitchen inventory, supply closet inventory,
books, videos, music library)
- Finances (Budget, Expense and Income Tracking)
- Projects (upcoming parties,
hobbies, upcoming trips)
- Health logs (food log, exercise log, well-child doctor
visit schedules)
- Computer information (for when you need to call tech
support because you're computer died)
Just make sure that you set up your sections in a logical way,
so other family members won't have to fumble through the notebook to find what
they needs. It's best to put frequently used sections closer to the front,
so they can be found quickly.
Don't try to make a section for every little thing. For
example, I've seen people make one section for "daily chores," one
section for "weekly chores," one section for "monthly
chores," and so on. It would be more logical to simply place each of
those lists under the master list section for reference then schedule them in
your calendar section as needed.
It is also best to try to combine everything together on a
page that you will look at daily, like your daily or weekly planning page in
your calendar section. I've seen some people set up one calendar for
menus, one calendar for appointments, one calendar for events (like birthdays
and anniversaries), one page for the current "to do" list, and so
on. With such a method, you would be flipping through pages all day.
Instead, get it all onto one planning page (either a weekly planning page or a
daily planning page), so you can open your book to a single page and instantly
see everything that is going on and must be done.
What You Should NOT Put in Your Organizer
Some people go crazy when they set up their organizer
and try to put every bit of information about their home and family in one
convenient place, but not everything should go in the handy notebook.
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