Many years ago, I put together a file box in accordance with one of Emilie Barnes’ books, Survival for Busy Women. I love my file box! I thought I’d share with you a little about it because it is so simple and compact!

For starters, I have a whole slug of 3 in. x 5 in. index cards . I started out with bright, colorful cards, but have resorted to a mixture now. My card box is a bright yellow so I can easily locate it if I set it down somewhere. Everything is written in pencil so I can erase as needed. The exception would be for some storage cards, which I will explain later. Tabs could also be in pen, as those don’t change.

Next, I have dividers. They are labeled:

• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly
• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December
• Storage

Emilie Barnes recommends the following:

• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly
• Quarterly
• Twice a year
• Annually

I prefer my way, because then I can nail down an exact month in which to assign items. If the items are quarterly, I make 4 cards. If the item is twice a year, I make 2 cards. I hope you are following me now

Now to explain what comes behind those headers on the cards….

Behind my daily tab, I have several cards that need to be done each day. Yours may vary. Mine are as follows:

• Consider dinner preparations: Pull out meat for thawing
• Make Bed, tidy bedroom
• Balance checkbook
• Have quiet time
• Take garbage out of each bathroom and put in new bags
• Wipe down sinks
• Sweep floors
• Laundry: Wash 4 loads, dry, fold, and put away
• Do school
• Dishes: Maintain
• Wipe down front of cupboards and appliances

I do not do all those tasks. Some are shared and some are assigned. They are in no particular order. Each day, I go through my cards and make sure each task has been accomplished. I have been doing it so long, though, that I know them by heart and are routine here. I do revisit the box no and again, though, to see if I should add or remove something.

Behind my weekly tab, I have a card labeled for each day of the week. The days of the week could be in pen since that doesn’t change. Mine are as follows, yous could be different.

• Sunday: Plan for next week, take a break
• Monday: Iron, mend, vacuum, water the live tree in the living room
• Tuesday: Mop floors, do bills
• Wednesday: Vacuum, bathe littles, yard work
• Thursday: Town day, get garbage cans out for garbage service
• Friday: Clean bathrooms, plan menu
• Saturday: Check over undone chores, bathe littles, vacuum

Behind my monthly tab, I have 4 cards, which are labeled

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4

On each of those cards, I have written tasks. Mine are as follows:

• Week 1: Clean all 3 upstairs hall closets (blankets & linens, towels, coats & shoes), yard patrol, clean garage
• Week 2: Clean out van, clean refrigerator
• Week 3: Change linens, clean pantry, watch kitchen walls
• Week 4: Follow up on things to be mailed, sorted, and filed, clean washroom, wash appliances thoroughly.

Here are the things I have behind each of my month tabs. I have a card for each task:

• January

1. Clean under refrigerator and stove

• February

1. Straighten drawers
2. Clear upstairs bookshelves, clean thoroughly and put back together

• March

1. Sort through clothing boxes and rotate clothes.
2. Clean the shed

• April

1. Wash windows, inside and out.
2. Defrost & clean garage refrigerator & freezers
3. Change smoke alarm batteries

• May

1. Put bacteria in toilet/septic

• June

1. Clear downstairs bookshelves, clean thoroughly and put back together. Rotate books.
2. Change furnace filter
3. Clean the shed

• July

1. Clean the dryer vent in back of dryer

• August

1. Rearrange some furniture or consider what might make my home warm and welcoming. Make changes as desired.
2. Clear upstairs bookshelves, clean thoroughly and put back together.

• September

1. Clean screens from windows for storage over winter.
2. Clean the shed

• November

1. Sort through clothing boxes and rotate clothing.
2. Change the smoke alarm batteries
3. Harvest/can/freeze
4. Put bacteria in toilet/septic

• December

1. Clean shed

I know… I have some duplicates often, but the idea is maintenance before it gets bad.

I am going to share about my storage tab another time, because it is a little involved and will probably take another post.

Tags: Organization, schedule

Our internet was down over the weekend. It’s a real bummer to wait for internet tech to open on a Monday, only to find a cord was unplugged on our end!

Anyway, here’s this weeks’ menu. Sunday has already come and gone, though.

• Sunday – Ham, scalloped potatoes
• Monday – “Green Soup”. Dennis dislikes split pea, but loves green soup. Think he’ll notice?
• Tuesday – Swiss steak and potatoes (can you tell we gleaned potatoes last week?)
• Wednesday – Enchiladas
• Thursday – Cabbage soup with homemade bread
• Friday – Hamburger pie
• Saturday – Pizza!

Tags: kitchen cares, Organization, schedule

• Today – Deer “fingers” (I bet you didn’t know deer have fingers)
• Monday – Tamale Pie
• Tuesday – Steak quesadillas
• Wednesday – Turkey broccoli casserole
• Thursday – Stroganoff
• Friday – Chili and cornbread
• Saturday – Turkey dinner

Notes for the week:

Take turkey out of the freezer Sunday
Cook turkey Tuesday
Divide turkey Wednesday into meals.

Tags: kitchen cares, Organization, schedule

The agenda today consists of … and not in any particular order:

• Coffee
• CTBHH chat
• Watering the yard
• Quiet time
• Wish my twins Happy Birthday!
• Finish getting our network hooked up to use SOS (Switched on Schoolhouse)
• Finish our MOTH schedule before school starts next week
• Attend a maquillage party, hosted by two of my daughters, Bethy and Anne
• Laundry

Tags: Anne, Bethy, Birthday, Emily, Family, Katie, MOTH, Organization, schedule

I admit it. I’m a list-maker. I like to make lists of what’s for dinner, l what I need to do today, what I need to pick up at the store, what I want to do in the future. You name it, I list it ~grin~

I wanted to share with you about Motivated Moms planners. I have heard of these before, but had not purchased it. I know… I’m cheap. $8 for a planner seemed like a lot. Ha! It really isn’t, though, at least not for this planner.  AND…. it’s half off because the year is half over! So, if you are interested in taking a peek at her other items, this may be the time to give them a spin. Then you’ll know if you want to go back and spend the extra $4 later.

She has check off boxes for daily and weekly tasks. They rotate week to week.  These are a great starter kit for anyone wanting to jump start their daily schedule.

Some items she has are:

• Full Size Planner
• Half Size PlannerFull Size Planner with Bible Reading Schedule (I wish I had tried this one out)
• Half Size Planner
• Half Size Planner with Bible Reading Schedule

Let me know if you end up purchasing one of these that I don’t have. I’d like to know what you think… or if you already have one that I don’t have, would love to hear.

Tags: great finds, Organization, schedule