Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Organization and the (infamous) ToDo List

The “ToDo List” and I tend to be the best of friends and worst of enemies. Since I am not the task driven, Type A personality, well organized kind of person I need a list to keep me focused and organized. Being the artistically-organized-wanna-be that I am I tried putting together a “Housekeeping Notes” journal but, while it may be useful to some people, I tend to hardly look at it, there's too many dividers and various notes that I find overwhelming. I've tried make notes on scrap pieces of paper, but those seem to either get lost or I forget to throw them away when I am done which leaves me with useless, messy paper piles - particularly on my night stand.
Enter the "1 Subject, 70 Sheets, College Ruled Notebook"! It fit well within my budget (a whole .50 cents!) and my personality. I just make up my daily todo list, which I don't lose since it's bigger and heavier than a single piece of paper and then I get to it. I don't have dividers for the books I want to read, projects I hope to accomplish, company I need to have over, menu planning, etc. because although those are good, I tend to get lost in so many categories. I am better off just looking at my bookshelf for something to read, looking around my house for my never ending list of projects, flipping through the church directory or walking around the 'neighborhood' for people to have over. The one category that I do have a separate paper for is menu planning. While I am still working on learning exactly how to menu plan successfully I am convinced that it is a worthwhile skill and that it will (eventually) save me time and money. 

How do/does you/your family stay organized?
If you are the "keeper of your home" what does this look like for you?
If you are a daughter, how does your mother do it? How would you theoretically like to implement the principle of organization in your own home some day?