Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Home Management Notebook Pages: Calendar and Daily Docket

Click here to dowload Important Dates template
Most of my dividers are double sided. In other words, they say the name of the section and have the same design on each side (which you can see and dowload in the Skeleton section) But here I chose to use the back side of the divider to house my Important Dates overview. I made this one from scratch, finding nothing I really wanted to emulate. It may be difficult to see here, and I apologise for the glare, but there are 4 columns. The first two have the header {birthdays} and the second two are headed by {anniversaries} There is a triple divider between. Then each of the columns has 6 sections, each labeled by one month of the year.  Then I simply filled in the dates that pertain to my family.  The download is blank and unfortunately, I'm not sure how to make it a typeable document, so either you can handwrite your dates, or you can modify it in whatever word processing document you have on your computer.

Click here to download the 2012 Calendar
I couldn't find a calendar that I really liked. At first I was going to use the one from Life...Your Way, but then I realized I needed a little more than just a few squares with numbers in them if this was really going to work for me.  I also didn't like having to turn my binder sideways to look at the calendar properly.  I needed a 2 page spread, which is what I created here. This Calendar might take a little getting used to, since I started it on Monday and both Saturday and Sunday are on the right, but that's how my life works, so that's how I laid it out.  Feel free to download it or not, and tweak it as you wish.  I included lines for notes or reminders at the bottom and an eighth column at the right to remind me of important dates coming up next month, such as birthdays and anniversaries (to buy and send cards) or holidays or if Nathan has to go out of town or whatever. Especially if they're at the beginning of the month I hate turning the page and realizing that I've forgotten something important and I'm completely unprepared.  For example, My In-laws' wedding anniversary is April 1st!  That card definitely needs to go out mid to late March, and so on.  All US holidays are in the appropriate date box. I opted to leave off Jewish and Canadian holidays because neither of them pertain to me as well as things like Rosh Hoshanna.  No offense if you celebrate them.  Quick side note: I wasn't sure if I was going to include my Daily dockets between the months or have all the months together and then have the Daily Dockets behind. If you want to have your monthly calendars together and your printer can do double sided printing, print out page 1 first, by itself. then print the remaining pages double sided. That way you won't have blank pages between, and you'll be able to see your entire 2 page spread for a single month all at once. It will use less paper that way, too! :)
Click here to download my Daily Docket
This is my daily docket. I stole it from Simple Mom, but changed a few things. If you want to see hers just follow that link up there. :)
First of all is my TO DO list for the day, it may be things from my Master To Do list, phone calls and errands Nathan has asked for my help on, or something from my calendar, etc. As Tsh points out on her blog, the important thing is to keep the list short--no more than 10 things in addition to my daily routines--it's less overwhelming that way, and I'm more likely to actually feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing my to do list for the day. Then I go through and pick out the 3 most important things. Things that absolutely MUST get done today and put them on the Most Important Things list at the top of the page. Requests that Nathan has made are usually at the top. Since his Love Language is Acts of Service, part of my efforts to show my love in tangible ways is to make sure his requests are a priority.
There is a space to write down what's for dinner today and what's for dinner tomorrow to keep me mindful of what I need to do for prep work. Maybe I need to soak some beans or get some meat out of the freezer or whatever.
I'm trying to start memorizing a scripture verse a week or a passage in a month or two, depending on the length so since I look at the docket several times daily, I included a space for scripture.
There is a section titled "reminders" for things from my personal growth goals or maybe something I'm trying to work on with one of the boys.
The small box in the center helps me to be mindful of health and fitness. I find I have to force myself to drink especially in the winter. I never have enough to drink in a day, so I included 8 little pictures of water glasses that I can cross off to remind me do get my 8 glassses a day. Under "workout" I can plan my excercise deliberately.
And in case of an appointment or two, or a bunch--depending on the day-- I included a section for appointments or a general plan of what time I'd like to start certain routines or whatever.
Finally, there's a "notes" section at the bottom for when the phone rings or if I think of something or whatever. Then later I can transfer the important stuff that needs to be saved to the other sections.

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