Now that I'm in process of transitioning out of my Kindergarten teaching job (I only work one day a week), I'm home a lot more, which is great. Over the years, though, I've learned that a day at home without some sort of plan, no matter how loose or simple that plan may be, always leads to dissatisfaction with myself, chaos in the way my house looks, and grumpy or bored children. It's no bueno.
So, I've been busy creating a new "home organization binder" to include a little bit of everything for my life (organizationally speaking). Not only am I staying home now with 3 kids under age 6 (and a 4th arriving in October), but I am going to be homeschooling my children come fall (I swore I would never, ever, under any circumstances homeschool my children...see...never say never!). I am also devoting a bit more of my time on my blog each day, usually about 2 hours. I would like to grow my blog to be a small business for my family (I love seeing you all on my blog and I love and appreciate when you "share" my blog with other people, too). I also handle the finances in our house (any major decisions are always made together), the majority of the cleaning, and all the cooking.
I've found some great planning resources for my home binder, and wanted to share the links to them in case you, too, are finding that you need a little more organization in your life!
Pinch a Little, Save a Lot has an amazing financial printable pack. I probably won't use a few of these ones myself, but I'm already using several of them! She also has a printable Kids Chore Chart, and a Cleaning Checklists printable too!
Confessionsofahomeschooler.com has a super cute printable 2013 blog planner (for those of you who blog, too). I printed it out this morning in b&w (because that's all I have) and it is so cute and helpful!
Livingwellspendingless.com has a free printable homeschooling calendar/planner. I love all the different pages in this pack-daily planning, weekly planning, quarterly planning, etc. I'm super thankful someone else has made this already for me to use!
The sections in my binder, in case you are wondering, are Master Calendar (I printed out a basic calendar and EVERYTHING goes on it), Homeschool (I used the homeschool pack above), Financial (also used the printable above), Blog (used printable above), and Special Events (I use this to plan all the little details of birthday parties and such). I will soon be adding a Menu/Food section, and a Cleaning section to organized household chores.
How do you stay organized? Do you have some sort of a family binder system? Charts? I'm curious to see what others use and enjoy.
Hey Jessica, congrats on number 4! The main way I organize is just by doing specific things on certain days. Like Monday is grocery shopping, Saturday the kids have to do their house chores and then some days, are do nothing days! ;) I don't use alot of paper charts. I did like the chore chart you posted!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Erica! I have also organized that way before (still do, mostly), particularly with certain cleaning jobs. Wednesdays used to be my "cleaning" days where I'd change the bed sheets, clean the bathrooms, etc. I'd keep it tidy the rest of the week, but it was nice not having to do hard cleaning the rest of the week :)
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