Organize Your Home Life Before the New School Year Starts

With a new school year starting soon, an organized home life will be needed for a smooth transition and stress free days. A simple and affordable way to get your home life and family activities in order is to create a home life planner.

It does not have to break the ban either. I have shopped around for ready made planners and have found them very expensive and not tailor made to my personal needs. Creating your own can be fun, include the kids and very affordable.

First, you will need to buy a 2 or 3 inch three ring binder. Let the kids pick the color and design a fabulous cover for it. This way they are involved in the pending order that will make Moms life less stressful!

Once that is done, you’ll want to have the following items on hand to fill the home life planner:

• 8 1/2” x 11” calendar (purchased or one you print for yourself)
• 3-hole punched dividers with pockets
• 3-hole punched dividers with tabs
• 3-hole punch

Decide which categories you’ll need in your home life planner. A few category ideas to get you started are;  finance, contacts, school, medical, scheduled activities, church events, bills, take out menus, etc. Tailor make the categories to fit your family’s needs.

Print off blank contact pages which include name, address, telephone, and cell phone numbers. There are many sources online which offer this type of file to print out for free. You can also find blank calendars to print off to include in your home planner.

Find papers that have accumulated in your family – notes from school, old calendars, take-out menus, etc. – and determine which category they’ll fit into. Three-hole punch them and place them behind the tab they belong to. Smaller items that can’t be punched can be placed in the dividers with pockets to keep them from being lost.

After you’ve found papers with important dates on them, transfer those dates to the calendar you have or have printed out. You may want to color code your family so you can see at a glance which person in the family has activities on a particular date. Don’t forget to write down standing dates such as birthdays and anniversaries so you can plan for them.

Not sure if you’ve paid a bill for the month? Having a schedule of all bills owed, when they’re due, and when they’re paid behind the finance tab can make that problem a thing of the past. The home life planner is also a good place to put all bills as they come in so they’ll be available when it comes time to pay them.

Meal planning is another task that can be made easier by having the home life planner. You can create weekly or monthly meal plans and store them in the planner. Make sure you allow for fast food and take out nights. Especially on days that are busier than others. The home life planner is meant to help make life easier and less stressful for Mom.

Be creative and make your home life planner. Of course, after your planner is made and you’ve used it for a while, you may wonder why you didn’t put one together sooner.

Copyright © Moms of Faith, All Rights Reserved