Household Management Notebook

I have been making good on one of my resolutions - to dust off my household management notebook, refresh and utilize. New Years Eve I pulled it out and began to sort through its contents, discarding outdated items and figuring out what items were still relevant to my life. I organized the organizer. My notebook contains a daily schedule, master to-do list, weekly routine, weekly and monthly cleaning checklists, blessings for each area of my home, monthly calendars for the year, yearly calendar, lists of monthly events, activites, related foods and activities, important phone numbers and addresses, and other cleaning-related information. There is more yet to do - I need to add menu planning information and chores and responsibilities for the kiddos. I may also include broad educational goals for the year and each month. Yesterday I gave alot of prayerful consideration as to how to structure my time, how to be a good steward of the time that God has gifted me. My kitchen, laundry room, and mud room will be tended to on Mondays, grocery shopping and errands on the north side of town on Tuesdays, bedrooms and baking on Wednesdays, bathroom and errands on the south side on Thursday, dining room, living room and hall on Fridays, and Saturdays will be used to clean the van, front porch, art studio, and the (soon-to-be) rec room. My daily schedule will include quiet time, exercise time, "school" time, meal prep and clean up, time for the chores and for addressing business, planning, and blogging, 'independent' time, family worship and family read-alouds. Although I have not clearly defined every aspect of the plan, I have begun to implement what I do have in place. Today, I have not completed everything that I set out to complete (ie. I didn't get my exercises in because I am fighting something bronchial; I failed to get my floors done in today's designated area) but I have accomplished a great deal. Among other things, I read the book of James and I completed two loads of laundry, cleaned the fridge and freezer and inventoried the contents, cleaned all the appliances, and began to catechize the boys using Training Hearts, Teaching Minds. I feel more balanced, focused, and productive. I will continue to tweak my organizer, making it more functional. I also want to personalize and prettify my binder just a bit. That particular task I will place on my p.m. list. The p.m. list is another aspect of my organizational plan that I need to put into place. The p.m. list is a list of tasks that I can complete during evening down time, tasks that could be done while watching a movie or listening to a radio broadcast. I remember my granny, after a long day of cooking and cleaning, would sit in her green upholstered rocker doing some mending or crocheting an afghan while the evening newscast was playing. My granny had her p.m. list that allowed her to be productive even during her "down" time. My p.m. file presently includes organizing recipes that I have clipped, assembling my traditions notebook, working on scrapbook pages or other art projects, writing letters, painting my toenails and prettifying my household management notebook. I have to decide how to keep track of my p.m. file ideas. I used to jot them down on a dry erase board but I don't have that board anymore nor do I have a place for it. I will come up with something creative. I also plan on getting an index card file with monthly tabs and setting it on my kitchen counter after prettifying it. This file would allow me to quickly store seasonal ideas that I might spontaneously come up with. I suppose that this is another project for my p.m. list. I have so enjoyed getting my notebook out and refreshing it. There is so much peace to be found in an ordered life.