getting organized

Last week at inservice, one of my coworkers gave me a hard time because one of my many calendars was a mess. We'd had to change dates for things multiple times and I'd written in pen and it was just messy.

It inspired me to get organized. First, I bought a Franklin Covey undated planner at Wal-mart.
It looks like this, but it's red. Which is much funner.

I sat down that afternoon -- with a pencil -- and transferred everything from my work and home calendars into it. And my address book. This thing pretty much holds everything I need in my life.

I made reservations for trips that same afternoon and was able to just write down the information onto the dates, so that when we're on the trip, I'll have all the confirmation numbers at my fingers.

On the menu planning pages, I made 5 sample weeks of menus. When I'm at the store to do my grocery shopping for the week, I just open the planner to a page, mentally substitute if needed (for example, last week I was planning to make burgers and mac-n-cheese, only to discover that I didn't have the mac-n-cheese; this week I just deleted one of the meals on my sample menu and remembered to pick up the mac-n-cheese this time). It cuts down on a lot of unnecessary money spent trying to buy enough so we can eat for the week, and it also helps keep us from going out to eat because there's nothing to fix.

I carry it everywhere. I had to buy a new, tougher purse so that I could carry it, but it's worth it to have one book that has my work and home stuff at my fingertips when I need it.One of the kids tells me about an upcoming event? I pop out my planner -- even if they remembered in the van -- and write it down.

We'll see how long it all lasts. Check back in six weeks...

Comments

[Shari]

I had two seperate daytimers... one for work and one for home. It got too complicated so I recently switched to having everything in one and LOVE it! Ü I hope it works out for you!!