Organized Mommy: tips for staying on top of things
I have always been a super organized person, and these days my organization skills are the only thing saving me from missing appointments and forgetting very important details!
When I was working full-time and especially as a full-time university student, I always had a day planner that held all my planned appointments and schedules. These days, my role as a mom and co-head-of-the-family has it’s own needs and demands for staying on top of things… I take my domestic engineering job as a big responsibility because even that is a great deal of work for someone struggling with a chronic pain syndrome!
One method of organization I wanted to highlight is my “book book”. I have had this system for several years and have found it to be invaluable. Even when you are a stay-at-home-mom or home on disability or anything like that, it’s still crucial to stay on top of all the household responsibilities. There will always be bills to pay, extra-curricular activities for the kids to plan for, shopping and meals to plan, budgeting, etc.!!
I recently had to get a new “book book” because my previous spiral notebook got full. Here’s the one I chose:
It has since had some graffiti added to the cover courtesy of my DS, so I’m glad I got a pic of it when I did!!!
On the inside…
… if I have the time and inclination, I can stamp into the pages with a couple of my favourite Stampin’ Up date stamps (I have the big stamp with the “To Do” list and “Week of…” calendar and the little “Save the Date” set with the month stamp and coordinating tiny stamps). Looks really pretty and also tends to keep my week manageable! When I just write “Week of” and have unlimited space for each day, it doesn’t help encourage me not to overdo it!
I write down pretty much everything family related in my notebook, including jotting down recipes I find on the internet, details of phone calls, and plans for meals and trips.
Here are some other items in my “organization” toolkit:
* a large family calendar (I currently use “More Time Moms” but there are others out there too – get one with big squares to write in and pick a highlighter colour for each family member)
* a tiny planner (cheque-book sized) for my purse to schedule appointments while I’m at them (e.g. physio, dentist, etc.)
* snappy cases for different types of paperwork: one for childcare documents, one for school stuff (newsletters, food orders, event flyers, etc.) & others
* a notepad and folder for health claims with a pocket for all related items (letter envelopes, printed address labels, stamps, claim sheets, receipts gathered that month)
* a large wicker basket with cloth liner to keep some of these cases and folders!
Anyways, my “book book” and other tools is what works for me! maybe they will work for you too and you’ve found some of these tips to be helpful! For other tips that are more specifically on the subject of clutter, bills, and incoming papers, check out my previous blog post, the Paperwork Parade!
Good luck managing whatever your clutter may be and staying on top of it! 
March 09 2010 10:29 pm | domestic engineering
