Home organisation....

I am not a naturally organised person, if such a thing exists at all. I love the idea of being organised but it isn't something that just happens. It's something I really have to work on. As I start to plan my upcoming move, I have been thinking about making a household management book so I can keep on track of my life and my home and, eventually, my family. I did try and start one a few years back but it failed miserably and when I moved out to live on my own again I found I didn't really need one so much.

I have a small collection of home making books that I peruse occasionally for home ideas, etc. One of my favourites is "Cut the Clutter" by Cynthia Townley Ewer of OrganizedHome.com. This book gave me the idea of having a household notebook in the first place and the website has a wealth of great printable templates and forms to use.

A quick search on the internet leads to so much more, including You Tube videos of various homemaking blogger's own household planners.....all very American of course. I don't think I have found a single British one! I think we Brits can learn a lot from our friends across the pond. Yes, there can be a lot of Christian influences which might be off-putting to us non-religious types but, to be brutally honest, maybe   a few Christian values are exactly what this country needs. I'm not saying we should all start going to church every Sunday, just bring back a little more emphasis on the importance of family and community.

Anyway, getting back to the subject of this post. I have a general idea of how I want to organise my notebook:

1. Calendar/Schedule:  daily to do list, whole year planner and monthly pages, probably two months at a time.

2. Home:  cleaning checklists, supply lists, homemade cleaning recipes, etc.

3. Food:  larder and freezer inventories, menu planner and shopping lists, recipes to try and coupons

4. Bills and Finance:  receipts, master list of bills and when they are paid, list of other outgoings that are due such as car tax or MOT, insurance renewals, etc.

5. Contacts:  family phone numbers, utilities, emergency contacts, etc

6. Seasonal:  christmas planning, holiday plans, etc

7. Projects:  details of current home projects. My house move would be the first entry here!

I have been looking around for a folder to use but nothing has caught my eye yet. I really want dividers with pockets....is that so hard??!

The idea is that I will have three calendars: a general scheduling calendar in section one, a menu planning one in section 3 and a finance one in section 4. Every evening I will fill in my to-do list for the next day using these calendars and the cleaning checklists. The bills/finance calendar will be used for irregular expenses like birthday presents and car tax.

Hopefully this won't be too complicated! I can just imagine that a single calendar will get so full that I won't know where I am.

This video from Life.Yourway.net has some more great ideas. I especially like the ideas folder.