My Inner Organizing Geek

It’s time for me (read: US!!!) to get organized.  We have lived such a chaotic life for so long that I fear I’m getting too comfortable with it.  The piles of boxes and heaps of who-knows-what hardly even cause me to bat an eye anymore.  AAHGHGHGH!!!  That scares me just a tiny bit!

My inner organizing geek (which is huge, but timid) drools over the plethora of organization pictures and posts on Pinterest.  Seriously, who can resist a pantry that looks like this…

 

…or a closet like this…

…or this mudroom?

I think I just died a little!  The neatness.  The containment.  The order.  Sigh.

Frankly, I’d be happy if my kids would always put their shoes in the same place, hang up their coats, and put things back where they belong!!!

In the past I have made fun scrapbook-type calendars – which we have loved – to help keep track of our goings on.  (OK, really what they did was give me a really cute way to feel a sense of control.)  The only problem was that they didn’t give me much room for writing and I couldn’t really take them anywhere.  I need space to write lists and plan menus and make notes.  So, in my feeble attempt at finding the pathway of organization, I created a calendar/planner thingy that is the perfect size to carry in my purse.

 

It has a monthly calendar…

…and a weekly planner.

This, my friends, is accountability!  If there is nothing written in the dinner box, there’s a big chance that there will be nothing to eat when it’s starvation time around here.  (I just printed this today.  My inner Monk couldn’t NOT print the weeks that have already passed, nor could it NOT write in the dates from those weeks.  It IS, however, OK with not filling in what we ate for dinner those days!)

The only thing this baby needs is a pocket for stuff and a way to quickly find the month-at-a-glance calendars.  Some day I might find a solution.  But until then, I know what’s for dinner tonight, and that I have two commitments this coming Friday!  Baby steps, friends.  Baby steps.

(I believe in giving credit where credit is due.  I adapted these calendars and these planner pages for my book.  Thanks to Katies Wish for the digital paper that I altered for my cover.)