April Update and New Binder

So April is over....and my goal for the office...well it got a little sidetracked but I made progress. This is a hard time of the year for those who work in schools, what with testing, end of year events, and the general feeling of "oh I'll wait for summer to do that." sometimes I'm surprised I get anything accomplished!

So on to exciting news....my new Month by Month binder....

I picked a autumn like design after looking at hundreds of them. I like it. Autumn is my favorite season so it works for me!

Here's the spine:

And the very back.....

Now I just need to find some dividers I like....it would be great to have some with monthly designs on them. I scraped some of the ones I have in there now...but not all of them and at this point I'm ready for a new set!

I created a little four months at a glance sheet to go in the front of the binder.

I like it so much I'll probably create a four month one for September through December...my favorite time of the year!!

So I'll be back in the next post to tell you the plans for May!! 

New Menu Planner

My new menu planning binder arrived from Zazzle.com  I bought a customized one. While I wouldn't normally spend quite so much on a binder, I wanted something that was cute and that I might use more often because of that (and the investment). I like it!  I'm already plotting about buying another one (already picked out the design) for my updated Month by Month notebook.

The background is kind of rustic wood and you can write your own title! There's some checked trim along the spine and I customized the spine with wording too.

I've sort of run out of ideas and I'm only to June so I hope I can dig up some more recipes. For some reason I always have trouble with the summer recipes. Once I get to autumn and winter, I'll have tons to use again. I am also using some basics too, like tacos, hotdogs, and such.

I'll update again later on the menu plans and recipes. Hmmm....they have some really nice Christmas recipe notebooks on that site too.....(addicted)

Month by Month Notebook Revamp...

 

 

 

As I posted earlier I am revamping the Month by Month notebook. Behind each section is the monthly list with Declutter Focus and Monthly Routine Chores. I took chores that need to be done once a month or every few months and divided them out throughout the year putting a few each month. 

 

Next I decided that I wanted a weekly-daily list.  It's a weekly list because it shows the whole week but it is really divided up by days. This is not my first such list. I'm not good at long term commitments but I know that developing habits will certainly help things from accumulating.

 

 I started small with little things that I feel like build up but which if kept on top of would really make a difference. Mine are most likely not what you would choose. That's fine...each person needs to decide what one-three things they NEED to do each day. For me they are not the same each day and some are very specific...like clean the litter box and some are very general like clean bedroom. I also realize that I might not have time in the evening after work to completely clean a room (or have the energy) like this evening. On the list is the bedroom. In the past I would have skipped it all together because I didn't have the time to do the whole thing. But instead this evening...I hit the hot spots...clothes on foot of bed, dresser top and shoes to put away. Not perfect but I feel like I have accomplished something so I consider it a win!

 

I'm not sure I have just the "right" combination on my list but I am going to stick with it for six months and then revise as needed. This list stays the same EVERY week.  Then I looked at my monthly declutter and routine list...How could I add those items to the weekly list so a little gets accomplished each day and the things are marked off the list by the end of the month?  See my solution above...little sticky note strips. I wrote chores from the monthly list on them and stuck them to the to do sheet.  If by chance I don't get to something I can transfer the sticky to a new day. When the chore is done I can throw the sticky away.

 

I'm still working on making this a true working notebook and something that doesn't just collect dust....watch for more posts in the future. 

Menu Planner

I decided recently to create a menu planning notebook. I currently have two notebooks that I use for this purpose but they have never been fully organized and I have sort of neglected them of late. Included in the two notebooks (one for Autumn and Winter, and one for Spring and Summer) are seasonal menu rotations that I developed a couple years ago. Each season has five weeks of menus that you can rotate through the season.

Right now I am leaning more toward monthly menu plans (a whole years worth) but I also wanted a section in the notebook for the seasonal menu rotations. I might use them again sometime or at least use weeks or parts of them in the monthly planning. So I created a little divider page for the Seasonal Menu Rotations (shown above). I am trying to make the notebook "pretty" so that I tend to use it more often.

I also ordered an actual personalized binder from Zazzle to be the Menu Planning Notebook. It should arrive in a week or so and when it does I'll post pictures and some more details about the monthly sections.

Do you plan weekly? monthly?  seasonally? or a whole year at a time?  I'd love to hear about how you menu plan. 

April Update #2 More Pizza Box Sorting

 

So I ran into a bit of a problem today that may delay my progress of decluttering the office this month....the TERMITES are back...UGH. Which means another cleaning of the garage and basement area so the guy can reapply the poison. YUCK.

 

But I felt a bit inspired today so I decided to declutter a bit more in the office before moving in another direction (the garage) tomorrow. I can't remember if I posted my pizza box organization here or over at The Creative Spirit. I ordered like a flat of 50 14 x 14 pizza boxes to use in my paper tower and for some other items. Well needless to say...I had some left over!  As I looked at the mounds of stuff....and you may think I'm kidding when I say mounds (I'm not) I thought I need to sort this stuff or I'm never going to get anywhere. So dear hubby put together the remaining pizza boxes and as I went through the stacks I sorted items into them. I just used a post it note as a temporary label because right now they are "holding spots"  

 

There's still mounds and stacks to get through but at least I have made a dent in it and the things in the boxes can be located when I need them.  They aren't the prettiest looking things but it is certainly better than piles, and piles, and piles, of stuff.

April Update #1

Okay....I decided to start out with a small BEFORE picture....I might work my way up to another picture of the REALLY big mess but starting out with baby steps. This is a stack of random stuff on my desk. There' coupons, bills. scraps of paper with notes about who knows what, business cards and other crazy mail stuff. I don;t know how this accumulates so quickly. Tonight while watching Bates Motel (yes I have crazt viewing habits) I'm going to work my way through this one small stack. Another night...another stack. All the stacks aren't paper...some are going to take more decision making then this small stack! :(

I typed up and filed the monthly Declutter Focus and Monthly Routine Chores behind each monthly section. Last year I worked up Weekly Focus areas (which I only stuck with for a short period of time) that I'm keeping in place also.

I also placed a monthly birthday reminder list behind each monthly section, as well. These sections will evolve more as time goes by so I'll post when I add anything new.

In the last post I mentioned the April Declutter Focus (the office) and the Monthly Routine Chores (Clean pantry and Clean linen closet) so now I'll just add what I have on the Weekly Focus List.  I could probably change the weekly focus to go more with the Declutter Focus but I figure I need to try to keep getting things done in ALL areas of the home so I will try them as I originally planned them.

April Weekly Focus List:

Week One: Desk (works well since it's office declutter month!) Also that's WHY I'm working on that stack tonight!

Week Two: Files (again pretty great because I have a file drawer in the desk in the office that I can work on)

Week Three: Garden Shelves  (Now these are in the garage but still a good time to attack them because spring might actually be here. Shhh don't tell Mother Nature I said that)

Week Four: Flower beds (Hopefull it will be warm and nice by the end of April and a good time to work outside.)

Any Fifth Week is a Wild Card Week. Not sure what I will tackle this week. I'll keep you posted.

Month by Month: April Highlights

It's been a while since I've blogged here....sometimes living life gets in the way of blogging....and if I have to choose....I'm going to live life. That's as it should be!  However my home is a wreck, my notebook is a mess and I have no routines what so ever...so it's time to buckle down and get back on track. I had divided my Month by Month Notebook into four notebooks...one for each season. Now the notebooks are lovely but not really working. I am planning to keep them as files for all those great holiday and seasonal ideas but set back up my original Month by Month Notebook.  The home notebook can not be under used if one wants to stay on track.

I'll have a divider for each month as I did before as I'm just taking them out of the four seasons notebooks.  As I was cleaning house for Easter, I reminded myself that having routines and regular decluttering and cleaning plans keeps things from gettting so out of control.  Reminded myself of all the Organized Home and SHE stuff from the past. It's not NEW but it works. So I took some plain paper (for not) and wrote down each month of the year. Under each month is a list of big chores and cleaning items that you don;t have to do every week but that do need scheduled work. In additon each month is going to have a declutter room or area assigned to it also. This is my own take on the Room A Month cleaning approach but with the major emphasis on DECLUTTERING. I'll keep you up to date on how it all transpires.  I don't have all the list established yet but here's the tentative one for April.

APRIL

Declutter Focus: The Office (I'm developing a check list for decluttering this room also)

1. Clean Pantry (I'm planning to have this on the list every other month)
2. Clean Linen closet  (I plan to start with twice a year but will see how it goes.)

If I find additional items to add to the list I will update later. I want to start out small as the problem in the past has been mile long lists that NEVER get accomplished. This month the declutter area is really bad....so I figure keeping the rest of the list small might help!

Cheers....I'll update later. I'm trying to blog this to get myself motivated. If I can bring myself too...I might even take before and after photos...oh it is so bad...I'm not sure I can. We will see,