For all the RAK-a-teers

Special Rak for all the Rak-a-teers

So many of you have expressed an interest in how to organize your paper piles. I thought I would share how I corral and manage all my papers. Feel free to email me with any questions -

Planner

Since I am not an 8-5 schedule every minute type of person, I have the Franklin Covey planner called Simplicity. This planner has a 2 page monthly calendar as well as daily pages. The daily pages has a place for Today's Schedule, What I need to do, Daily notes and A blank column.

The additional sections I have set up according to my needs - I have my "Brain Dump - aka master running to do list, budget (where I keep a bill tracker) a snapshot from the Change your life challenge - which is an organizing site that helps you change your life in 70 days. As I was working towards becoming a PO, I worked with various sites and groups. Then I have my web log where I log the website URL, login and password information as well as any comments about the site. and finally my address book.

In the address section I have 3 sheets of paper for each letter. The first is a white page (like in the phone books) I list all my family and friends information. Then there are the yellow pages - this is where I have the plumber, doctor, dentist - any professional that I would use. When I had the kids at home they were listed according to their profession - doctor and dentist were under "D" making it easier for everyone to locate if needed. The last page is for things that did not fit into the other tabs. For instance - under "P" I have listed my printer's name and the cartridges they take. Since I have 2 printers - I get them confused as to which ink goes with which one. Another example – “W” I have my wish list – since I am on a budget, I list some of the things I would like to have (but don’t necessarily need) and then when the extra is there I can try to purchase one or two of the items. Behind each grand childs letter I have their current sizes and what they are currently into. For example – my grandson is now into John Deere things – so I changed his from “Cars to John Deere”. Makes gift shopping easier. I also use the last column on the planner page for random bits of inspiration.

ALL THINGS ARE WRITTEN IN PENCIL – Life changes and so do appointments, etc. and it is easier to erase a penciled in appointment than an ink one.

Notebooks:

Firstly let me start by saving these ideas are not original to me. I have combined resources from the web, personal friends and clients and was able to develop a system that works for me. I am not saying my way is the right way – just that it has worked for me for years.
First thing I did was to decide that I wanted to go with a notebook storage system and not a typical filing cabinet. At the time I didn’t have a file cabinet but had tons of notebooks that I had collected through the years.

Plus I had already purchased the Easy Organizer and the Easy Bill Paying System from Maria at http://www.getorganizednow.com/ . So continuing with the notebooks seemed the most logical.

I sat on my patio one morning very early with a cup of coffee, pad and pencil and I started thinking about (1) the types of categories for the notebooks I wanted and (2) how I wanted them to work for me – not me work for them as some of the organizing sites tend to do.

I determined I wanted the following categories:

Kitchen
Tax Preparation
Easy Bill Paying System
Holiday Planner
Craft and decorating Projects (now split into multiple notebooks)
Warranties and Manuals
Easy Organizer
Household Organizer
Address/Phone Directory
Professional Organizers Guide (also from http://www.getorganizednow.com/)
www. Getorganizednow.com moderator manual. I am a moderator on her site.
Career Planning
Prayer
Sprit Lifters

These are not in order of importance – just reading them off as I type. Depending on your family needs, careers and affiliations you may want others. Some suggestions would be a PERSONAL notebook for each child which could display all their artwork, awards and certificates, report cards and other important documents. Memories of your MOM AND DAD, EDUCATION, ORGANIZATIONS – ones that you belong to and their rules and minutes from meetings, etc. , PROPERTY, LEGAL ISSUES, DECORATING, WEDDING PLANNER, STUDENT LOANS. The list goes on and on – again depending on your personal needs.

The next step I took was to determine how I wanted each book to work for me. So I set up a list of questions:

Purpose of each notebook
Contents of each notebook
Long term goals
Future additions


Now that you have the basics – l will start with my kitchen notebook. **As my children grew and married I made them some of these notebooks also so that they can have a jump start on organizing and some of their favorite recipes.

The Purpose of this notebook – to corral all those loose recipes and papers pertaining to food preparation, storage, grocery shopping, etc. This assisted me in the planning, storing, shopping, preparing and overall healthy eating habits.

Contents:

Pencil pouch/sheet protector for holding pens, pencils, unclipped coupons, sale flyers for the week, etc.
Recipes – these are set up according to type – chicken, beef, pork, desserts, salads, vegetables, etc.
Weekly Menu planner – I don’t use this much anymore since I am an empty nester and can eat when I want. Before I used it to plan a least a weeks but preferred a month’s worth of meals so that who ever came home first – knew what was for dinner and if they needed to do any prep work for me.
Once a month cooking – this is when I would go to Sam’s and stock up. I would brown ground beef and put into individual plastic bags for quick spaghetti sauce. Taco or whatever. Other things that I could pre-make and freeze.
Master grocery List – There are many that you can get already set up by searching the web for them . I made my own based on the store where I shop and the items I buy.
Pantry, freezer and refrigerator inventory. I hate hearing the phrase “We have nothing to eat” or seeing the kids stand with either the cupboard door or refrigerator door open staring into space. I created a master list of what was in the cabinets (and on what shelf) as well as what I had in the freezer and refrigerator. As we finished eating a particular item – it was added to the grocery list (or checked off if it was on the master list).
General information – weights, measurements, substitution tips, and any other pertinent kitchen information.

Long Term Goal –

The main goal was to reduce the “what’s for dinner” and “there is nothing to eat in this house” stresses.
A functional system for creating and preparing nutritional meals that my family will eat that are manageable with my food budget.

Future additions

Price comparison book – at one point there were 3 grocery stores within a block radius. So it was no problem doing the comparison shopping and getting the best deals at each one.
System to track grocery expenses and wasters – for example when I opened a jar of salsa, I need to know the last use date is so that we finish it before it expires and I end up tossing a full or almost full jar. Therefore tossing money out with the garbage.


More to come………………………

God's Cake

GOD'S CAKE

This is about the best thing I've ever read as an explanation. We all wonder many times over WHY? Sometimes we wonder, 'What did I do to deserve this?' or 'Why did God have to do this to me?' Here is a wonderful explanation!

A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away. Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, 'Absolutely Mom, I love your cake.

‘‘Here, have some cooking oil,' her Mother offers. 'Yuck' says her daughter. “How about a couple raw eggs?” Gross, Mom!' 'Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?' 'Mom, those are all yucky!'

To which the mother replies: 'Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! God works the same way.

Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!

God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.