You asked for more – JULIE AGREED!
A while ago Julie shared her 3 tricks on how to take the work out of housework and we received a ton of response about wanting to hear more about her ideas. Today she is teaching us about how great it is to have a household planner.
I love anything that will help me be more
ORGANIZED
!!!
“When I started my quest to create my ideal home, I began with changing my attitude. From there I moved on to conquering clutter, establishing routines, and finally developing a zone cleaning system.
Setting up a planner is a key part of establishing a routine and keeping track of your zone cleaning. I’m going out of order here, but since the majority of comments from my first article (Three Tips to Take the Work Out of Housework) were interested in “the binder,” here are some ideas to get you started setting up a household planner.
Having a household planner really helps active, creative, free spirited women keep their housekeeping from getting away from them. For years, I used to lose track of the last time I washed the kids’ sheets, or vacuumed under the couch. Once I started using the household planner, I could easily track and evaluate the different aspects of homemaking.
This suggestion isn’t for everyone. I have 2 amazing sisters, one of which is a natural born perfectionist (NBP), and a binder would be useless for her since everything is already positively perfect in every way. So if you are NBP, this tip is not for you, you can move on to hosting amazing birthday parties and making adorable sweets. Our mother once gave NBP a book on organizing for a gift. (I think that my other sister and I got diet books.) NBP graciously tucked it away into her perfectly organized re-gifting drawer. Once I glimpsed it, and knowing I’m a sucker for any new info on this topic, she gladly passed it on to me. I know mom really meant it for me in her heart. I digress. . .
My household planner is a personal blend of ideas from www.flylady.com , www.organizedhome.com and www.simplemom.net. For supplies, you need a 3 ring binder, divider tabs and some paper. To keep things simple I use only 5 dividers; Calendar, Contacts, Cleaning, Cooking, and Planning. There are many other options, so personalize it to fit your family. For instance, if you do the family finances, you may want a finance section. I had to move the finance section to a binder of its own. I like the household binder to be useful for the whole family as well as guests, so personal finance details are kept separate. The basic idea of my binder is that if you were to get sick or go on vacation, anyone could step in and run your household using the planner.
Calendar – no mystery here, I keep a basic weekly plan and monthly pages for the upcoming year, running to do list, as well as a master list of important dates that reoccur yearly.
Contacts – A telephone list of important and frequently called numbers, calling lists for church, clubs and sports teams, and a printout of Christmas card mailing address list
Cleaning – My daily routines, the kid’s daily routines. A floor plan of my cleaning zones, as well as detailed cleaning lists for each zone.
Cooking – I keep a one month meal plan, food storage inventory, list of healthy snacks, lunchbox packing ideas, and preprinted grocery lists.
Planning – I have a ten year family timeline, my personal vision statement, a vision statement for Lillywood Cottage, the Meyer Family Rules, my degree plan to finish my bachelors, and notes on any projects we are working on or planning to work on, for example; Christmas or vacation planning.
I also like to keep an envelope in the back for receipts, I just stuff them all in and sort them once a month or so.
This has been a useful and handy tool for my family. It is a constant reminder of all the great systems and ideas I have learned about in my quest for my ideal home. Having a grand plan for the home keeps me on track. When I wander off the track and into the weeds, and believe me I do, the planner makes it easy to get back on the path to happy homemaking.”
– Julie
Thanks Julie! I know she has more ideas up her sleeve and hopefully she will be back soon with some of these other genius ideas:
keeping kids on track with chores and…
effective ways to discipline your kids.
Tess S says
they have home planners on etsy that they sell for a resonable rate. i’ve been thinking about making one but maybe buying one instead. i’m afraid i’m not organized enough to get organized!
Carrie says
Awesome as always! I just started my home binder – and what a difference it has made already! Love the ideas!
KandiLand says
Oh my word, what a great idea! Especially keeping your Christmas card list in there…every year I have to rewrite it because I forget where I put it! I’m going to run out and buy a binder so I eliminate all the loose papers floating around my household. Great ideas, Thanks!!!
Bobbi says
Wow – she is amazing! So inspiring. I need all the ideas I can get to keep my household organized. I loved this post!
Carolyn says
Have you been reading FlyLady? This is exactly the kind of thing she suggests, Julie. Thanks for re-enforcing the concept for me!!!
Teri Bennett says
I linked this to my blog. I am a new blogger, so I hope I did it right. We recently “inherited” 2 children from a friend that passed away. I WISH she had something, anything, that told us about her household and how it was managed.
My blog is mostly personal tool to update those in our support community about how our family is doing. But I use it to personally push people to think about these situations. I am using your post to encourage people to have something that their friend and relatives can go to in order to support them in the event that something happens to them.
Thanks for this great post!!
Shelley says
G-Reat. As IF I didn’t have enough on my ‘to-do’ list already. 😉 Thanks for the inspiration Julie. –As for the ‘NBP’ in your family. I know her,…UGH! 😉 She makes EVERYTHING looks so easy. 😉
stacy says
YOU ARE SO ORGANIZED!!! I love it! Great idea to have a master plan book like that…thanks for the tips!
Brittinee says
Would love to get any ideas from her on how to organize those pesky finances 🙂
Nesleirbag says
You have got it together! Makes me wish I had been more organized when I was raising our five kids! Never too late, right?
Jenn says
Great ideas!
Thanks alot, and I can’t wait to hear more from you!
~Jenn
Jessica says
I would like to know how to ZONE your house? I’ve never done this but i’ve been hearing alot about it. Thanks! Love the blog
Julie says
link on over to flylady.net, she has examples of zones
Jessica says
Sorry but I would also like to learn how your kids charts are done and your effective way of disciplining
Cara says
I wonder where those metal squares she has hanging on the wall came from. I’m not even sure what to call them so I could google them! I’d love to have something like that!
Ami says
Hi, Cara ~ We had some magnet boards cut to size a few years ago by a heating & sheet metal company but I also see some pre-cut ones at Home Depot here:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/MD-Building-Products-1-ft-x-1-ft-28-Gauge-Steel-Galvanized-Sheet-56032/100287204?N=c27v#.UXSQPoLpUZI
Good luck! ~ Ami
melissa says
Cara, they’re called sheet metal, I’ve never used it before but I think it’s not too expensive & you can get some at Home Depot or something like that.
Tammy says
I used to be organized (I thought) then I had kids. I need to get organized again now that I have gone back to work.
JOY says
Love it, Love it, Love it! Thanks!
Michelle says
What a great idea. When I worked a 9-5 job, I had that type of binder for every employee, including myself. I never thought to have one at home! It’s next on my to-do list
Dana says
This is aweseome! I can’t WAIT to get the rest of those tips!!
BColes says
I hope she’ll share about her children’s “squares” (the sheet metal) and the discipline thing SOON! 🙂 Excited to hear ideas
Courtney says
Missy I can’t thank you enough for doing this post!!! I took your advice and started my own family folder. It took me about a week to get it all put together the way I think will work best for our family. Which I am sure will change as I begin using it and need to adjust. I blogged about it if you would like to take a look at it.
http://frog2fab.blogspot.com/2011/01/organizing-our-family.html
Thanks again!!!
Courtney
Lorene says
Thanks so much for sharing! I love this idea so much. I linked for a segment I’m hosting on my blog called Housewife MacGyver. We’re getting organized this month and this is a perfect place to start! Thanks again!
Lindsay says
I absolutely love this article! As a mother of 4 boys, I would also love to hear more about the keeping kids on track with chores and effective ways to disciplen your kids! Nothing I try seems to fit. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Tanya says
I have tried the star charts, prizes and checklists and just can’t seem to stay consistent with them. I am due to have my fourth boy in a month and my lack of organization and consistency is not something I want to pass to my children. If you find any ideas that are easy to maintain and effective please let me know. Good luck and thanks
Tanya says
Hello, I am a stay at home mother of 3 very active boys 2,4 and 11 also with another precious boy due in a month . So I am now 8 months pregnant and my husband works a lot (heating and air). I think the only reason I have not lost my mind with disorganization is because my husband (when he is home) is a huge help!!! However I really a, a little OCD and need to get my organization back in my home. I take pride in being a housewife and want it to show. I just want to say I am so excited to try these ideas and customize them to my on the go family. Thank you so much for sharing and I will let you know how it works. Thank you, sincerely no more organized chaos. Lol
Michele says
Would like to find out about effective ways to discipline listed above but I couldn’t search and find anything that shows about the infraction file from Julie. Any details? Thanks!
Missy says
She talks about that file in this post
https://howdoesshe.com/chore-chart-for-multiple-children/