My File Box

Plymouth 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!

http://partnershipforcoastalwatersheds.org/is_1 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.