How We Do It

This is what Kendall was doing instead of napping. This is why I pick out her clothes the night before on school days.

I like when the blogs I read show how they manage the running of their household, par

ticularly how they organize all the information that has to be juggled. I decided to show how I try to stay organized.Being married to Brian it is only fitting that I utilize Excel--Brian's undergraduate degree is Engineering, he is way more organized then me and the word Excel gets his heart beating faster much like paper products and art supplies do for me. I have kept multiple spreadsheets for organizing but recently combined them all into one large file with different tabs. Here is a screen shot. The first tab has my budget tracking, (I've removed the actual numbers).

Basically I try to spend within a certain amount in each of the categories, I can input expenses and see what I have remaining for the month. Everyone would have different categories, Brian pays the bills so those aren't shown in my expense tracking, he has a 'budget' just like me that looks differently (but we share the same allotment for the fun spending...clothes, cash for eating out). Next tab is a register, juggling two kids I don't have time to write down every time I use the debit card, I just keep the receipts and input them here to keep a running account of what is in my checking account.

Other tabs include calorie tracking and a grocery list. Usually I will print off this grocery list each week, plan our meals and then make the list. Only recently have I added this tab to the spreadsheet so I can add items as I notice we need them during the week.

I also like to collect images (digital images from various blogs and websites and physical images from magazines and books). They actually make software that you can scan all your images and organize them all on the computer but I like my binders so will keep using them. On the computer I keep different photo folders, I organize our folders by year and month and the downloaded images in folders as well: fabric projects, scrapbooking, cards, home ideas, holiday/party, teaching and "not mine" includes paintings, and various other things I want to make.

For physical binders my favorite is the Russell + Hazel Signature 3 ring binder with the 8 tab index dividers. I keep a binder for scrapbooking ideas, recipes, house ideas, and children crafts and learning activities. Actually right now I only have one of the Russell + Hazel binders but I have others on my Christmas Wish List so all my binders will be matching (the others right now are just regular ones you find at Target).

I

would love to use an online calendar system that can be shared between people (Google has a good one) but I'm too attached to my actual planner to do that. I do usually write our meal plan on it and what Kendall is doing in school that week in addition to the normal appointments and such.

Finally I use this little chalkboard in our kitchen so I can look at our meal plan at a quick glance and so Brian knows what to expect (although I don't think he ever looks at it).

That's it in a nutshell. I think this will be fun to look back at when the kids are out of the house. I would love to hear if any of you have a different system that works for you.