My Homemaking Binder
Lately I have been drowning in housework and trying to ignore a certain screaming Monkey during nap times. So, I decided to get myself organized so that I could do the things I want to do (like gardening and sewing), not just the things I need to do (the never ending mounds of laundry). Enter the Executive Homemaker Binder from TipJunkie by Laurie.Many of the pages are provided, but I did not like the layout of some of them, so I went and found ones that I really like. Also, some of the pages were suggested, but not provided.
Weekly/Family/Party
Mommytrackd has a nice meal planning list with a menu on one side and grocery list on the other. I also like the party planning sheet. I am currently using it to plan an afternoon tea event in late April. The weekly family calendar makes it easy to see what parents and kids are doing, as well as, see meals, too. If you have to leave your infant with a babysitter and you need more than a "phone number of where we'll be" babysitter info sheet, they have a infant specific babysitter sheet. But then, I also put together a 25 page handbook for any babysitter that comes to our house (complete with table of contents and index, can we say Type A???)
Budget
As for the financial section, I have not found another budget type worksheet that I like as much as the ones from Crown Financial. Keep in mind that this worksheet comes from a financial education course ( highly recommended, by the way) and is designed to work with other resources in the context of a class. The worksheet has the capability of recording amounts in different categories for each day and can really help you know exactly where your money is going if you are diligent.
Calendar/daily
For a calendar, I Google-ed a customizable yearly calender from Time and Date with a list of holidays for the next couple years from Cozi. Then, I used this monthly calendar from the Household Planner to help plan chores, as well as, monthly events. For my blogging, I use this planner by Beckie of Infarrantly Creative. I like that it is pretty. Also, to get the daily schedule under control I modified the excel file version of
Goals/Cleaning
The long and short term goal sheet was not easy to find, but I found one here that has a column for each and even a medium category, and I wish I found, a little sooner, the weekly cleaning schedule that works best for me at TipJunkie. I started with a Housework planner by Tashia Calhoun. She offers some free printables, but the site is meant to sell you planning products. If you sign up for updates (which I did), you can get it for free.
Verdict
I have been using this binder for about a week and a half, and I have to say it has helped me be mindful of what I need to do. It also provides a way for my husband to see the areas in which I need his help. It has the potential to cut down on my stress level, in addition to decreasing my frustration with the amount of work I have to complete.Thank you to all the websites and bloggers who created the resources that I have found. A special thanks to Laurie from TipJunkie for the idea for all this and making it available for free!!!
To my readers: If you stay at home, how do you stay organized? Do you plan your days and how do you keep track of events and schedules? What resources if any have you found? I would love to hear from you.
I like to call it organized chaos?! I don't use planners or anything like that, but I do have a calendar up on my fridge where I write in doctors appointments, special events, etc and I look at that daily. In general, however, I stick to my weekly tasks and I dare not deviate from them else a snowball effect of trying to play catch up starts. For example as far as taking care of the house goes, Mondays are bathrooms, Tuesdays are dusting and vacuuming, Thursdays are kitchen and laundry for the adults in the house as well as towels and linnens. Tuesday evenings I always empty the frige in prepration for grocery shopping on Wednesday. Wednesdays I food prep for the girls....steaming loads of veggies to pull out for the week. Every Thursday night I catch up on tv shows I want to watch on the internet while scouring the internet for coupons, planning my weekly meals, and writing any other shopping lists I need. Fridays and Saturdays are usually errand days while also trying to cram in fun with the family like park time, trips to the zoo, etc. And Sundays are laundry day for the kids (which lets face it they are bound to pee or poop on something every other day of the week so almost every day is laundry day for them). Squeezed in between all those things I have to find time for "special projects" like clearing out the kids' closet for their next size/season of clothing, washing cars, deep cleaning what not like fans, pantries, etc. At the end of the day I'm left with like and hour to work out after the girls have gone to bed and if I want to do anything else like read or edit pictures, well that only comes if I want to stay up past 1am. :) Give it some time, you will have more time for gardening and sewing later on.
ReplyDeleteWow! I am in awe... You seem to have it down pat. The logistics of my house make it difficult to clean and put away some stuff because the bathroom is in the sleeping baby's room. Need I say more? Let's just say that I don't drink enough water out of necessity.
DeleteAs for the weekly thing, that's the part I have to get under control. I did not learn this sort of thing from my mother (or cooking for that matter). After a certain age, (I forget when) she just stopped cleaning any more.