Fresh Start Supply List

We will be celebrating the last of extended family Christmas tomorrow evening with my in-laws. They will be staying with us through the New Year weekend, so I probably will not get a chance to write again until Monday. The first Monday in 2011!

Before the festivities began, I just wanted to give you a rundown of what I did today and what I plan to squeeze in while they are here with us. There are several sheets that we can add to our notebooks and some supply lists you may want to consider.

Let’s see. Today I spent the day running completely through my regular cleaning routine making sure to put the house in order so I can enjoy the weekend. I have done really well keeping up with the dailies. I need to get back on track with the rest of the matrix on a weekly basis so I don’t have to have a real cleaning day like this again.

Goal Sheet

This is one of the goals I want to work on for next year.  It inspired me to sit down in front of the computer this afternoon when I was taking a break. I started making a goal sheet to add to the front of my notebook.

I’m going to think about what goals I have over the weekend and finish, print the page Monday morning. You know, in the past, I have been very OCD (REALLY crazy over analytical? anal retentive?) about setting out specific goals with milestones, bench markers, deadlines. I even had a written out method for how to do it. I’m just not into that this year. I’ll check back in on Monday and let you know what I have come up with to do for myself instead.

Think about what resolutions and goals you are making, your plans of execution for them, and we’ll all talk about it on Monday.

Cleaning Routines

And speaking of my cleaning routine, I have one that works for me. The specifics are laid out on the page I linked to above.  Basically, I have four simple tasks that I do daily Monday through Friday, plus a couple random quick chores from a matrix I worked out for myself that covers the entirety of the rest of the house. I have all of these denoted on my calendar in the margins. The Dailies I have denoted using the letters D – dishes, L – one load of laundry, P – Pick up, D – Dinner on the four spaces of a plus sign that represents the additional chores. The little drawing is also a reminder for me to try to keep God as the central focus of my life every day even when dealing with the mundane.

Anything not covered in that calendar matrix I put separately into either a fall or a spring maintenance page. (I’ll add blank pages titled Spring Maintenance and Fall Maintenance to my notebook when I’ve finished writing this to build later. For now I’ll slip them in around the March and September perpetual calendar pages.)

If you printed out the pages from the link to my planner page yesterday, you will notice that the dailies are listed in front of the note section and there are blocks spaced around the calendar that correspond to the remaining cleaning matrix.

If you want to  try out my cleaning routine, great! Let me know if it works for you as well as it always has for me. If you do not, my feelings will not be hurt. We all work and think a little differently. You need to find one that does work for you.  You can do a search using “cleaning routine” or there are some other ideas and links in the comments section of my ordinary cleaning routine page.

If you are building/rebuilding your home planner, you may want to add these pages to your notebook. You can use actual printings for those routines and the maintenance pages or just add some notebook paper with those headings on them to be filled out later.

Always remember that these pages/systems are never perfect. They are a work in progress. The best they will ever be is perfect for now. I’m proof of that. Don’t get bogged down running all over the internet trying to find every single chore known to woman. If you need to be reminded that a chore exists, it really isn’t all that important for where you are in your life right now. Save your time and energy. Start with what you’ve got right in front of you.

Quick Homework for the Perpetual Calendar

Last night before I went to bed, I took the time to  label the months then add birthdays, holidays, and events in the notes section of   my perpetual calendar/planner pages. I just wrote out really small:

B-days: Name 1st (1st being the date of the month the birthday falls), Name 5th,  etc.

Holidays: Holiday date or approximate date of only the major holidays we celebrate or otherwise affects us such as the banks are closed, etc.

Events: Things such as the apple butter weekend I mentioned yesterday, the approximate week particular friends are in town, approximate dates of homecomings and reunions, race weeks for the local race track, etc.

I just flipped through last years calendar and transferred things before I tossed it. As I go through this year, I can add to these lists as I go, and I’ll flip through this years calendar next year before I toss it. Again, no need to spend time and energy hunting for things that are not relevant to my life enough for me to recall. And if by using the two calendars and the days in between is not enough to prompt to write it in, it just doesn’t belong there.

I put all of these things in the note section because I will not actually write down day numbers into these calendars. (In the past, I have numbered the weeks 1 – 52 and did find that helpful.) I wrote small enough to leave plenty of room, but not so small that any of it becomes hard to read. Some of these may be moved into approximate blocks on the calendar next year. Until I know for sure, I want to save the block space to see what other things come to mind. These are the first of several rough drafts. This time next year, I’m sure they will need to be redone because I am likely to use the block space and fill the backs of each sheet with notes.

Supply Lists

When I was adding the holidays and birthdays, it occurred to me that I’d like to have a zipper pouch to hold note cards and forever stamp sheets.  I prefer plain note cards to holiday cards except for Christmas. Not only are they typically less expensive and easier to come by, for me even a quick personal note is more special than a single name signed to a commercial card.

I couldn’t find an empty zipper pouch in the house. So I started a shopping list. I know I have note cards on hand, but I have used up most of my stamps so I also added them to the list.

Since I had a shopping list started, I also wrote down any other supplies I didn’t have on hand to start getting organized every where else in the house. I’ll pick these up as we are running around this weekend. Then on top of that list I wrote out:

“Do not let the pretty shiny boxes get you!”

They will be out everywhere this time of year. In pretty fabrics, colored  leathers, eye catching shapes. That goes for nifty looking gadgets and gizmos, too.  We don’t really have the money or space to spare for items I do not have a real right now need. I’ve got to remember my rules. Purposeful and intentional.

The other things I added to my shopping list are things I know we can use around here for other purposes. I’ve written about them before:

1. Additional supplies to keep putting this home binder together. These can also be used for school in the fall. I usually do not promote getting things before they are needed, but in this case having what I need on hand will keep me from procrastinating until I only have the choice of doing it all at one time or not doing it at all. I know systems typically work best when built a bit at a time. Not only do I not overwhelm myself, but I get into the habit of going to the notebook which will make it more likely that I will continue to use it.
2. Essential organizing tools. Almost anything needed will announce itself as I go like the zipper pouch for the cards did last night. Do not let the pretty things get me distracted. These items will be the plain Jane things I already have on hand or typically carried at the grocery or dollar store year long, not the designer type the retail world really pushes this time of year.

What did you do today? What are you working on? What other things are you doing in your notebooks?

AND I hope each of you have a safe, happy, festive New Year weekend!