What I love about my home organization notebook

I'm a little afraid to show you my housebook because I've tried other systems before to keep myself domestically organized and they've turned out to be dismal failures. But this one has been in place for about two months now and I'm still excited about it; so I'm going to take the risk.

Things I love about my household binder:

1. I get to cross off a to- do list that includes very small, mundane tasks. I even get the satisfaction of filling in a box for drinking each glass of water and another for wiping down the counters.

2. My daily, weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly to do lists only need to be printed off once. I've stuck them in pocket protectors and use a dry erase marker to fill in the boxes. Each day I wipe off the old marks and start fresh. For the every- other- day and every- other- week tasks, I place a small dot to the left of the box if I did them previously; so I know that they don't need to be done on that day/ week.
3. I can easily add to my to do lists. There is a place on each list where I can use my dry erase pen to write additional one-time tasks. If I don't get to those tasks that day, I just don't erase them when I start out fresh for the next day.

3. It uses the "Papyrus" font throughout and makes me happy every time I look at it. (my favorite font :-)

4. My binder has lots of pockets (in the binder itself and also in the form of pocket protectors) I use these to store all of the random bits of paper that would otherwise accumulate on my counters (That weeks grocery ads, recipes, important letters, etc). It's so great to have everything in one place!
5. I keep an abundance of looseleaf notebook paper in the binder. When an idea/ question pops into my mind I scratch it on one of the sheets and then later file that sheet under the appropriate tab.

6. The system is completely adaptable. If I find that my daily to do list makes unreasonable demands on me or doesn't include something important, I just go to the computer file that has the list, make my edits and slip my new piece of paper into the pocket protector.

I should note that I often don't complete every item on my list, and some days I'm in such a whirlwind of busyness that I completely ignore the lists. But even when I don't physically check off the items there is still something satisfying to me in completing tasks that I know would ALLOW me to check an item off a list if I bothered to do it. I feel a little silly when I realize how vulnerable I am to these little manipulative tricks, but they really have helped keep me on track.

What household organizing tools have you found helpful? Building new good habits is so worthwhile but often so difficult. I need all the help I can get!

A Pleasant Home

[W]e must get over the idea that we can't decorate by ourselves. Granny's antique rocker, the stool we got at a yardsale, the pillow embroidered by a friend, the stack of baby's books, the sheets of music at the piano, the flowers picked from the garden this morning; these are what give our homes soul and make them pleasant to be in.

Now, I am not here to promote a certain kind of decorating. We all have different likes, opinions, and resources. We put the bowl of fruit on the table because we love the way it lights up when the sun pours in the window. We are God's people. He created light and texture and color for His glory and our delight. The more we delight in his gifts, the more we can please Him. Our homes are the canvases He has given us to paint. Let us paint them with soul, with gospel, and with all our might.

-Nancy Wilson from Praise her in the Gates

Cheap and Easy Laminating

My mother taught me this trick: for small items that need to be laminated, packing tape works great! Laminating can be really expensive, but packing tape is cheap. It's also clearer and easier to use than contact paper.

Even when an item is a little wider than the tape, you can sometimes get away with using several strips side by side like I've done here for a diaper bag tag that I made a couple days ago. It does make for a faint line down the middle, but it's really not that noticeable.
To see other projects where I've used this method see here and here.

To get more great household and family tips head on over to We are THAT Family!