Organization

In my perfect world I am awesome at organization and planning.  In my real life I kind of stink at it.  I've really been wanting to create some sort of weekly schedule so that I can get things done around the house and free up more time on Saturdays to actually play as a family.  Essentially I'm trying to experience some sort of cleaning nazi conversion (yes, I'm going to the dark side).  Brian has been the trusty laundry man in our house for the whole time we've been married.  Yes that means I've had someone else to do my laundry for the last 7.5 years.  With his new work schedule and working longer hours it has been hard for him to keep up and he's frustrated.  So I decided I would take over and then maybe I could start adding some cleaning tasks each day so that I can get everything done and thereby open up our Saturdays for more fun or just being lazy.  Naturally in my perfect work it is going great.  In my real life it sucks.  I know that right now it's just because I'm juggling my work life too and one day I won't have to do both but for now I do and it sucks.  By the way this long ramble is leading to something. :)  I've been having a hard time keeping track of all of the "to do lists" in my head and started trying to use a planner but I'm not loving having to write down the same tasks each week.  Yes, I have to write them down b/c my memory is crap since I had Eliza and I can't keep track of work and home. So I use Microsoft Outlook for work but for home I want something on paper b/c the computer isn't always handy/functional/in a central location so that I see it all day.  Anyway, my point to all this is that I came across an idea that I'm going to try.  Michelle at {Chez Moi} has been taking some organization class and came away with this idea called a "brain box". 

It's a recipe card box that's divided out into daily tasks, monthly tasks and seasonal tasks.  It's totally one of those that you need to click on the link to see how she's set it all up.  I totally think this is a great idea.  You create cards for each task and then file it under the appropriate sections.  Then each day you pull out your to do cards for the day and get to work.  I don't know why this speaks to me they way it does, but I think it's going to be my new plan of attack.  I like that I do the work of creating the box/system once and I don't have to mess with it each week like in the planner. I got annoyed with re-writing my consistant cleaning jobs in my planner each week.  Plus the physical aspect of refiling the card back into the file box when each task is done somehow feels better than a dinky checkbox in my planner.  I know, I'm a nerd.  Organizational items and office supplies thrill me, so that's probably the real reason I like the idea. :) 

Michelle got the idea from an organization class that a woman named Marie Calder Ricks teaches.  She's published a few different books that I've seen at Desert Book from time to time.  I think I'm going to hunt some of them down at the library and see if I like her stuff.  Her blog is here.