Homemaking 911

 The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.

Proverbs 21:5

If you have an electronic planner, the following is for you!  This will work if you have a Dell Axim, Pocket PC, or any other electronic planner.

We use Microsoft Outlook on the main computer. My oldest daughter and I put everything in there….every contact, every appointment, directions to places. Once a week (Sunday night) we sync it up and print out the new calendar. The new for that week goes on the refrigerator for all the kids to see. On my calendar I determine the main purpose for the day. Are you a local person? Have you seen one of my presentations? If so I am talking about my “day lists.” If not, I will explain it to you the best I can at the end of this. I do not want to get too bogged down in the details if you already know what I mean.

Does yours have excel and word loaded? If so, we created an excel file in there for Sam’s Club, grocery, library, errand day, and Christmas gifts (if you have snoopy kids do not call it Christmas gifts, call it something different). For the Sams Club list: I list everything I usually buy at Sam’s Club (honey, detergent, yeast, contacts etc) and when I am going to Sam’s club, I will check my list to make sure I am not low on any of the items I buy there exclusively OR, If I realize I am getting low on something I will go into that file and highlight the item. For the library file I will list things to research on their computers, and they allow a patron to print 100 pages per month on their nice printers there. I keep a list of larger things I want printed so that when I go I am reminded to hop on the Internet and print what I wanted printed.

For freezer cooking meals that I do I have created excel files that multiplies out the ingredients for bulk cooking. You can load those on there. Then if you plan to go to the grocery you do not have to stand there doing all that math.

You can keep your price book in there. This is a list of things you buy frequently and the price you have found it the cheapest (and where). Then, if you see turkey is one sale for 99 cents a pound you will know if that is really a good deal or not.

You can keep scripture memory verses in a file for when you have down time.

Mine also has Bible software. I find it difficult to use, but my husband has this same tool and he uses it all the time. He keeps sermon notes, notes for his next talks, memory verses, etc all marked in his. I just use my actual Bible, for some reason I resist going electronic on that.

You can keep a 30 day list in there. This is where you jot down those items that you would like to buy but are nor planned for, and are not in your budget. If you really want something, pull out your 30 day list and put it on there. In 30 days if you still really want or need the item, you and your husband can agree to put it into the budget.

You can also load e-books on there to read if you are stuck in an appointment.

If you see a friend or are at church and hear a prayer request you want to remember you can jot it in there, then you will not forget it.
It looks like yours has the capability to browse the Internet. Mine does that as well. That came in handy when I was in the hospital. I could check on things like my bank account, my web business, my email, and my daughter could check her email as well.

I use it as a calculator.

OK, for Day lists here is what I mean:

I use a variety of scheduling method to fit the need at the time. My schedule can be very detailed (like Managers of Their Homes from www.titus2.com ) or very loose (just jot priorities for the day on the calendar), but the method I use most of the time I got from a website called: www.largefamilylogistics.net which is now gone. She basically had each day of the work week assigned as a special function. For example: Town Day (errand day), Laundry Day, Kitchen Day, Gardening Day, Paperwork Day. Then, I keep a running list of ALL possibilities for the day. If you like I can send you those lists, they are in word and I cannot get them to load properly on the website. They are also now available on my MOM Rescue disk.

On Sunday (sometimes I do two weeks at a time) I will look at our schedule and decide which day would be best for an errand day, kitchen day, laundry day, etc. Errand day might be a day when we already have an appointment outside the home and I will just work around that appointment. Laundry day will be when I have a lot of time at home (at least the entire morning). Kitchen day might be when my Father In law is coming to pick up the toddler for a park day. I try to see what day fits best where and put that into my planner. Then, that morning, I will look over all the possibilities on that list for the day. I prayerfully consider the top three things from that list and in every spare moment (between changing diapers, chasing toddlers, grading math, teaching reading, etc) I will go back to my list and work on item #1 until it is complete. Then onto #2.

If I get up before the children ( I do most days) I can get a jump start on that list and actually knock out several items before they are out of bed. By keeping my focus on one list per day I am sure to hit the most important areas each week. I also hit some of the less important areas each week and nothing gets out of control. I have the lists separate, so all I put in my calendar is “town day” or “kitchen day”, and I make these “all day events” so that they just show up printed on the top of each day’s schedule.

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