Organizing my life... again.

Now that Eliana has started school and I am trying to ramp up my business, it seems like I really do need to reorganize my life. Again. Yesterday was my birthday, and that's kind of like the start of a new year, so I spent a good deal of time thinking over what would be a good system for me to use. And yes, that is what I chose to do on my birthday. I love stuff like that. It makes me happy. So here are my thought so far...

I need some sort of personal organizer that goes everywhere with me. 


I need some sort of home organizer that helps me keep our home in check, including things for Eliana.


I need some sort of file system to help me keep the papers organized so that they're not all just laying about. 


If it's not broken, don't fix it. 

Those are my thoughts. I have several areas of my life to juggle right now... Home, Business, Eliana. Those are what I'm currently juggling. I have other areas I'd love to be working on, but don't seem to know how to go about it. Food and Exercise, Bible Reading, and Social Time are a few of those areas. BUT... right now I'm going to start with what I know.

The File System.

I like the file system idea I found on a random blog, and I think I'd like to try to implement it. It seems like a great way to deal with papers and things one week/month at a time. I could use this as a way to organize and store items for both my personal organizer and my home organizer until I need them.

To  make the file system, I am going to need to get 52+ file folders and a hanging file organizer to put them in. I already have the hanging file folders, so that won't be a problem.

I need to store it in a central location where we have the information at hand and I can easily file things away as they come home, but not in a location that is in the way. I am thinking on top the shoe bin in the family hallway.

The Personal Organizer.

I need to carry a personal organizer with me. I'm not entirely sure what sort of organizer it needs to be, but so far I've not found a good one I like. I think this is going to be a trial and error process as I work to come up with the right solution. For now I'm working on putting one together using a small 3-ring binder. I'll update on that later.

The Household Organizer.

This is akin to Flylady's Control Journal. I used a control journal for a few years, and there were things about it that worked really well. Since I've fallen out of the habit of using one and have added a personal organizer that takes the place of some of the items in it, I am looking for a good way to revamp it for our household. It needs to include things for the household, meal planning, grocery shopping, and Eliana's schedules. That is also a work in progress, and probably the last one I will get to. We'll see.

There are a few things that are actually working really well, so I don't need to mess with those systems. One is how I track mileage for my business. It's a good system. Another is getting Eliana out the door in the morning. When I am doing that, it seems to run smoothly, so I won't change up her routine.

As for the rest, well, it's a work in progress...