I came across an inspirational site last night and because of it, I have spent the last 14 hours organizing changing my life. I’ve always had a vague idea of what home organization should be. Oddly enough, when I used to work in the office I was very organized. All of the files on my computer were organized into specific, easy to find folders, I always tried to remove the clutter on the desk, etc. However, now that I am home full time, I am noticing that I don’t take the same care in my home office.

I have dedicated this week to re-organizing my life.

• Earlier in the week, I organized ALL of the files on my laptop and desktop computers. This let me tell you, was a task in itself.
• Last night, I created my first home management notebook.
• This morning I organized the entire office.

My Home Management Notebook

This was an idea that I learned about last night on SimpleMom.net. It is an easy way to keep your life organized. It is basically a binder or folder of some sort with dividers that contains all of the important and organizational information that you and your family need on daily basis. At first I thought, right what could I possibly need an entire notebook for? But now that I have started, it is almost addicting.

I am reusing an old 3 ring binder that I found around the house and some recycled paper dividers I had in my office.

Below are my categories so far. I will probably add more in the coming days.

• The Daily Docket
• Clean
• Finance
• Lily
• Passwords

The Daily Docket: This is a simple yet robust to do list and daily planner. I use the free download from SimpleMom.net. I love it because it has a to do list for blog/work items, a place for scripture, a general (flexible) daily plan, a reasonable sized to do list, a place to log food, water, and workouts, and the top 3 things you want to accomplish that day. I’ve tried many store bought day planners in the past and none of them suited my needs so I ended up putting them on the bookshelf to collect dust. This one is functional.

Clean: In the clean section, I have another free download from SimpleMom.net. It is a basic weekly checklist of items to clean in the house. I think I will also add a list of things that I want to get rid of and things I want to buy for the home under this tab.

Finance: Under the finance tab, I have a print out of our budget, bills, etc.

Lily: Under Lily’s tab I have things like her immunization record, some health insurance forms I need to fill out, and other things to track and keep her health.

Passwords: I created a full password lists. Since my work is in computers, I use a variety of websites and programs – most of which require passwords of different lengths, etc.

I am also working on a master to do list. This is everything that I want to get done. I can then decide which day I will do it and add it to that day’s daily docket.

I might also add a monthly calender. Here I will write special appointments and dates that are coming up. However, I may just stick to my Google Calender because it sends me email reminders.

Do you have a great way to organize your home? I’d love to hear it!