Getting Ready For The New Year...

Sorry that I haven't been around much lately. I've been a busy little bee. Between working, and the Holiday's, and updating my Home Management Binder and my Bill Organizer , I haven't had a chance to blog about anything. So I'll play catch up and let you know about everything I've been doing. First off, I ended up making 2 big batches of hot chocolate mix, 2 big batches of chex party mix and 8 loaves of pumpkin-cream cheese bread for Christmas gifts for the family. And I was totally shocked, because I had made the Chex Party mix mainly for all of the kids in the family and made the pumpkin bread for the adults, but as it turned out the kids LOVED the bread and the parents ended up eating the Chex Mix. lol. Anywho, I'm glad they all enjoyed it. Next, I updated my Home Management Binder. I had to make a new Emergency Number's sheet because of Dr. changes etc., I printed off new calenders and filled in a few appointments for January, I updated the daily chore sheets and cleaned out the My Work Schedule section. Then, I got my Bill Organizer ready for the New Year. I didn't have to do much to it, but I have filed all of 2007's bills and added a new calendar to that binder. I also want to add that if there is anyone reading this that could use some organization in their lives, you should definitely try the binders. They have worked wonders for us!! I am also in the process of putting together a Home Management Binder for my mom. Her's will be a lot different than mine. I'll share that with you guys when I finish it. So, what else have I done. I have taken down all of the Christmas decorations and put them away. I've put in a LOT of mandatory overtime at work. I haven't done any couponing since my last post. Well, I think I've covered everything. Catch ya later!

Home management binder...our new best friend!!

About a year ago, I was determined to get (and keep) my house cleaned and organized. I searched the net for any tips I could find. That's when I stumbled upon the FlyLady . This IS a wonderful site. I told myself "hey, I can do this". I got as far as putting together my Control Journal. I was so proud of my journal. But, working 50+ hours a week 7 days a week, I was just too tired to Fly. My good intentions flopped. I think what happened was that "I" was trying to do too much. "I" wanted to be the perfect wife and mother and I thought "I " could do it all myself. About a month ago, I found my control journal,(covered in dust lol) and after I dusted it off, and reorganized it a bit to suit our needs, the family and I have been putting it to use. My first section is the EMERGENCY #'s section. It proved useful one day last week when my DS#2 had to call me at work. I was so proud of him, knowing where to find that number. : ) My next section is a FIRST AID section. For everything from insect bites, to CPR. Hopefully I'll never have to use this section, but I panic in emergencies and thought with 2 teenage sons and a teenage stepson, I'd better go ahead and through it in there. I printed those sheets from Kids Health My next section is our CLEANING SCHEDULES. I realized that "I" can not and am NOT going to do all the household cleaning by myself. When that hit me, I immediately made up daily chore sheets for ALL of us. It has been a month since "we" started using our chore sheets, and I must say, I no longer have the "can't have anyone over syndrome". lol. I also have weekly chore sheets. I only work three days a week(40 hours) now, so I've been taking care of the weekly chores. Then I have my CALENDAR SECTION. This is another section that gets used EVERY DAY. I printed the two page calendar with room for notes on the side from Donna Young.Thank you Donna for the wonderful calendars! The next section is MY WORK SCHEDULE because I'm never off/working the same days each week. And last but not least, is our phone/addresses pages. I printed those off of Organized Home. Another wonderful website! I have a separate binder (which is also working out great!!) for menu planning/recipes/kitchen inventory. I'll share all that info in another post along with some of our family's favorite recipes. Now that I've rambled on and on about our home management binder, I'm curious as to whether you/your family have one and use it daily. What has worked/not worked in yours?