Step One.

At the advice of my friend Caroline, I’ve started a home-management binder very similar to the one described HERE. Go check it out, it’s kinda neat. It’s been pretty helpful in my quest this week to be more productive.

There are different sections in the binder for calendars, birthdays, meal-planning, emergency information, planned kids activities, fitness progress and most importantly—housekeeping. The housekeeping section is called “Brain Files” and it lists all the things I need to do each day. I put them in clear plastic sheet protectors and cross each item off each day with a dry-erase marker. At the end of the day, I just erase it.

The good part about using this method is that not only is my house cleaner, but there are less breaks in my day where I say to myself, “Okay, so what do I do now?” I’ve definitely kept busier and everyone knows that when you’re busy you don’t have time to weep and whine.

The bad part about is that it needs tweaking. I can’t see myself working like a crazed cleaning woman every week. And some of the things that I listed as needing to be done “weekly” definitely don’t. Also, I don’t like the whole erasing thing. I think I’d prefer some sort of chart, where I get to check off things and see all the gold stars add up over time. (I’m big on charts—and gold stars—such a nerd).

I also have a section called “To-Do List—Eventually”. This is where I list all of those random things I want to do but never seem to think about at the right time. I’ve decided to tackled ONE thing on the eventual to-do list monthly. We’ll see how that goes.

Another list I have is “To Buy—Eventually.” This is a list of things that I want to purchase but don’t have the money to buy all at once. (i.e. sewing machine, shelves, set of frames, etc). So I put them all on the list and I’ll try to get at least ONE of these things a bi-monthly (if there’s money left over, of course). This is a very good system for me because I am the cheapest person on the planet. Therefore, I never buy anything that is over, say, $40 unless it’s a grocery bill. But some things need to be bought, regardless of whether they are over $40. Thus—the list. It at least gives me perspective.

So—there’s step one in my quest to be a better SAHM. Hopefully, more to follow.