All of which brings me to my Quest for an Organized Home. Now, I'll be totally honest here - my attempts at said Home have, so far, been an abysmal failure. I was really excited about the 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge and I printed out my list. I filled in the first ten days of places to "decrapify" and set to work. I got through Day 1 and that was it. (I'm not kidding!) The program gives you Sundays off, so when I explained that to my 8 year old son, when he questioned why the calendar didn't have all the dates on it, his reply was, "Hmmm - it looks like every day is Sunday for you, Mom." ...sigh...
I realized that even that was too ambitious a task for me while our homeschooling year is still in full-swing. Some people can do lots of things at once and do them well. I am not one of them. So I decided to start small. The first thing I wanted to do was get our weekly menu/grocery list organized. I had been writing each night's menu on a little square of a printable calendar and scratching my list onto an index card on the way out the door to the grocery store each week. This was a place I could make a quick improvement.
A quick visit to Pinterest brought up a plethora of home organization tools, lists, and calendars. At first I was a little overwhelmed, but then found an organizer that I liked. It wasn't perfect, but I liked it. Now that I've been using it for a few weeks, and knowing what works for our family, I decided to create my own. I've included them here if anyone wants to use one. This one is a blank template and this one is pre-labeled from Monday through Sunday.
I used the same basic set up as most of the other planners, but I added a little section next to each day to jot down anything I need to be aware of that could change what I make for dinner that night. (Spaghetti and sauce would be a good choice for a night when we have music lessons at 6:30, and homemade pizza is a good option when we have the whole night at home together.) I have the Grocery List section right next to the meal planner and then added a Notes section at the bottom. I found that I want to try a recipe and then forget where the recipe came from. The Notes section is a great place to write its location so I don't have to try to remember it when it's time to cook!
Thus begins my humble Quest for an Organized Home. I know it won't be quick (or likely very easy!) but small steps in the right direction are better than every day being a "Sunday"!