Time for a Schedule

When I was much younger (like in high school and college) I quite enjoyed keeping a daily schedule.  I picked out a planner each year and took a lot of pleasure in “booking” all my obligations.  Weird, I know …

When I got married and then had Spencer I never really had a schedule.  My life wasn’t that complicated, and I was pretty good at remembering where I needed to be.  We had a little house that was a breeze to keep clean, and my husband cooked most of the meals, so I didn’t even need to plan dinners.

When Andrew and Haley came along my life got really complicated – visits from social workers, therapy appointments of many varieties, school and after school activities.  I resorted to a specialized calendar with a column for each person in the family.  It worked pretty well, but my house got bigger and my husband got tired of cooking and I have found it almost impossible to keep on top of anything.

Have you seen the many blog posts about a “Household Notebook”?  There are lots!  They include everything under the sun, from finances to housecleaning, to homeschooling.  Some of them seem really ambitious to me, but I got to thinking that I could tweak the idea and maybe make my life a little easier.  Of course, I was fighting the idea of actually structuring  my life a little more – I didn’t want to commit to washing my sheets on Monday, for instance.  What if I didn’t feel like changing bedding then?

Well, I’ve slowly been talking myself into it.  I read some “FlyLady” and decided I could give myself daily assignments.  I wanted to use more coupons, so I planned a way that I could keep track of them and take them along to the store.  I found a simple schedule that I thought I could live with.  I even, (gasp) added a monthly and weekly meal planning sheet after being inspired by friends who feed large crowds daily and make it look easy.

So, I’ve made myself my own little “Household Notebook”.  It has daily schedules for me and the kiddos – mostly what chores and responsibilities we have each day.  I have a daily assignment that takes me through the house over a three month period, cleaning such things as light fixtures and baseboards (I totally get obsessed with deep cleaning when I start cleaning a room – I can spend a couple of hours just sorting and organizing and cleaning my kids’ toy closet!).   I have the meal planning charts (now, will I follow through????).  I have a cool section to keep coupons – all clipped and sorted and ready to use.  Eventually I want to add food storage lists – what we have stored in the pantry and freezer – and a list of prices of some of our staples so I know when I’m looking at a good deal.

The best part is, I bought this really nifty binder from Office Depot.  It was a little pricey ($10) but it’s padded and has this handy elastic that holds it closed.  Best of all, it’s pretty small (for a regular three ring binder) so I can carry it into a store and park it in the front of a cart and easily find the coupons I want without feeling too conspicuous.  Oh, and it’s a pretty green color (smile).

So, I’ll let you know how it works out.  I’m trying to be realistic about what I can get done each day, but also, I need to feel more on top of my life and I’m hoping this will help.