Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A House of Order and FUN: My Day Keeper!

My days can be CrAzY sometimes!
I have a son in College, one in High School, and two in
Elementary School.
Trying to keep track of everyone's schedule can be
a little bit of a challenge to say the least!
This is the solution we came up with to try and keep
some kind of ORDER in our home!
It's called a:
My Day Keeper!
Everything that I need to keep track of, is included in this book.
My Day Keeper Includes:
Weekly and Monthly Menu Planner
Shopping Lists
Food Storage Planner and Shopping Lists
Family Calendar
Daily Focus Organizer
Weekly Cleaning Schedules
Kids Jobs
Extra Money Jobs
Weekly Reminders
To Do Lists
Running Project Lists
Family, Couples, and Personal Council Sheets
Goal Sheets
Sunday Lesson Planner
Saturday Check List
School Information
Ward Lists
Family Phone Book
Important Names and Numbers At A Glance
(Emergency)
Meeting Agenda and Notes Pages
My Daily Absolutes
Family Activity Planner
"Here's What We Did This Month" Journal Pages
Birthday and Anniversary Reminders
Cards
Holidays
Birthday Wants, Needs, and Sizes Page
Budget and Spending Sheets 
(Monthly Expenses: Fixed & Flexible)
Weekly Over-view
and
Our Family Mission Statement
(As well as a Grandparent's Section!)
I THINK THAT JUST ABOUT COVERS IT!
To Make the Day Keeper
You Will Need:
Wet Erase Markers
Lined Post-It Notes
Index Tabs with Adhesive
(They come in clear or in color)
2 - 24 Page Presentation Books
(I got mine at Office Max)
A Picture of Your Family
and Printed Copies of the PDF Files
you choose to use in your Day Keeper.
(There are no PDF's yet . . . but just you wait, they're on the way!)
I want to start off by explaining
My Daily Focus.
Trying to make sure that everyone gets plenty of
one-on-one time is sometimes easier said than done.
As parents we tend to go where the need is,
and by the end of the week we wonder how much
time we actually got to spend with each child.
My Daily Focus is an idea we came up with
to make sure that
EVERYONE
gets some special time with mom and dad.
(Mom and Dad even get some time!)
We assigned each family member a day of the week.
That day is THEIR DAY!
We still have everyday responsibilities with the
other children, but we make special efforts
to make the each person's day special.
This has made a huge difference in our family.
We let the kids stay up a little later on their day,
we serve their favorite dinner and
we even do their jobs for them on their day!
They choose something special to do with mom and dad.
Sometimes it's just staying up 15 minutes later to play a quick
card game or listen to one more story before bed.
Sunday we focus on the Savior.
We try to do things that help us to remember HIM
and keep HIS DAY Holy.
Dave and I have our "Date Night!"
Because we love our night sooo much, it helps us to
make sure we follow through with our plans for our children.
It truly fills our cups and helps to keep our family strong!
Each of our children have their assigned color
which I use in My Day Keeper.
(Notice the colors I used are the same colors I used
in my family flag.  I use their colors ALL THE TIME!)
In just a glance I am quickly reminded who's day it is.
This section is incorporated into the
Weekly Spread Sheets
I'll go over these tomorrow.
In the meantime . . .
I have a little homework assignment
for YOU tonight!
Assign each of your children a day of the week.
Take into consideration lessons and appointments,
and Don't Forget to include your Date Night.
The whole Day Keeper Revolves around
this information, so it's important to start here.
I will show you pictures of my Day Keeper layout
tomorrow and all through the next week.
You will have a
New Homework Assignment Each Day,
which I hope will be FUN!
(I LOVE this kind of stuff, so it doesn't really feel like work.)
By the end of the week, your Day Keeper should be
ready to go!
(I'm sooo EXCITED . . . I know I'm not going to sleep tonight!)
YEAH!!!

6 comments:

Natalie said...

Holy cow! You are great. I can't wait to see the file this afternoon. Not long ago I posted on my own blog how I wanted to make some "organize my life binders" which included a vital records binder and a "House of Order" binder. Thanks to you I just might accomplish these goals!
PS. In another post you commented back to me that I could come use your food saver to seal mixes! You are great! I just might be over! :)

Cari said...

love love love this blog! can't wait to see the pdf. thank you!!!!!!

kimber said...

I am sitting on pins and needles waiting to see the pics and pdf file! thanks so much!

Teri said...

Okay...so I have followed your blog for a couple of months, A friend of mine stumbled onto your blog and sent me the link and can I just say ...."AMAZING....TALENTED....AWESOME...WONDERFUL"
How on earth do you seem to be sooooooo on top of EVERYTHING! But I will say that I was so excited to see the planner and now I have to wait? AAAHHH the suspense is killing me! I check your blog daily for all of your "AWESOMENESS" if that's really a word!

Janelle Savage said...

I was wondering about the presentation books can I just use a folder that has the three prongs and then use sheet protectors?

The David and Tricia Smith Family said...

Savages sent this comment:
I was wondering about the presentation books can I just use a folder that has the three prongs and then use sheet protectors?
To answer your question:
A three-ring binder will work perfectly.
You just need to add heavy duty clear page protectors and you're good to go!
Trish