Household Diary

Prudence

Lovely thread. I spend the first week of every year reading about organising and setting up, so that's the first week gone. I also tend to do overkill, so my best solution so far is a ring binder with plastic sleeves, an index at the front, and divider tags because it is easy to expand, insert, and rearrange.

Last year I started my 'When I'm Not Here' book which contains the latest version of utility accounts, bank statements, when things are due to be paid, important documents, etc, and where to find stuff. Also things like what sort of food the cats eat. Address lists, birthdays, and codes are all on my computer and I need to print them out so they can be found quickly by non computer minded people. Slowly does it.

As for the myriad of day to day lists, a new law came into being in our household on Jan 1, that says I have to get on the exercise bike for at least 2 minutes every half hour It keeps me focussed!

Chris25

ostaragirl wrote: »

I've picked up so many good ideas and today I did my store cupboard inventory and to see it all listed was a revelation, will do freezer tommorow.

http://thelovebugsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/freezer-inventory.html I keep meaning to do something like this for our tiny freezer in the garage. I have a printed sheet for it in my ring binder with other household sheets - but I keep forgetting to update it. I thought if I hang this up beside it, I'll should use it.

The original idea which I found many moons ago on a blog, uses a wooden picture frame, screws a hook into the wood & hangs a marker on it.

rising_from_the_ashes

Chris25 wrote: »

http://thelovebugsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/freezer-inventory.html I keep meaning to do something like this for our tiny freezer in the garage. I have a printed sheet for it in my ring binder with other household sheets - but I keep forgetting to update it. I thought if I hang this up beside it, I'll should use it.

The original idea which I found many moons ago on a blog, uses a wooden picture frame, screws a hook into the wood & hangs a marker on it.

I inventoried my freezers a few weeks ago and have been managing to keep the list updated whenever I use something / put it in them :j - I've got the list on a magnetic clip on the front of the fridge so it's right in front of me & I can't forget!;)

I think it'll probably be staying there as I think if it was in the household folder I would forget about it

sarah222

I am on a prepay meter and I have started writing in my diary the weather condition each day and what is left on my meter and plan to add amounts topped up by etc. This should give me a better idea of how much Im actually using and hopefully plan better for the future. I tend to top up monthly (pay day) obviously at present more in the winter. I think if I record it maybe I could spread it better over the year and then keep to a budget rather than put less on in summer and struggle in winter!

Beccatje

I love reading about organizing, and i love the look of all those organisers!
I could go totally overboard and buy and print lots of stuff.. but... then what?

How do you actually use it? Those household organisers..how do you use it? Meal planers and such..do other members of your family look in them? How about chores for teens and husbands?

How does it work in a family with more than one person doing and deciding stuff?

I fear I will get all enthousiastic, and then end up with a great looking organiser that is in reality another peace of clutter in my house that never gets used.

Help?

Eenymeeny

Beccatje wrote: »

I love reading about organizing, and i love the look of all those organisers!
I could go totally overboard and buy and print lots of stuff.. but... then what?

How do you actually use it? Those household organisers..how do you use it? Meal planers and such..do other members of your family look in them? How about chores for teens and husbands?

How does it work in a family with more than one person doing and deciding stuff?

I fear I will get all enthousiastic, and then end up with a great looking organiser that is in reality another peace of clutter in my house that never gets used.

Help?

Thanks Beccatje I'm just the same, love the idea but find that I only 'keep up' the easy tasks. Like a calendar which is in easy view (can't be doing with things on the computer...what if it crashed?:eek: ok, so I'm old fashioned:o)
Like the idea of 'leaving things tidy' so that people following on can find details they need, like solicitors used, passport, birth certificate etc. (I downloaded a good folder from AgeUK which was recommended on here a couple of years ago) Sorry if it sounds pessimistic but once it's done you can forget about it.
A little tip for hanging your freezer log in the garage. I use clamp-type trouser hangers for holding recipes on the kitchen door handles while I'm busy cooking, maybe you could hang your freezer log on a nearby hook or nail?
Lots of good ideas that I'm going to adapt to me. Thanks a lot everyone

lindseykim13

Has anyone mentioned yet how to bind the book? I'm trying to find a way of doing it as close to spiral bound as possible-i want to be able to flip the pages right over to the back but i can't find anything other than machine based ideas.
Anyone help?

rosy

You could maybe use these
http://www.ryman.co.uk/0743015060/Essentials-Binding-Rings-25mm-Pack-of-4/Product

You can open them and insert new pages pretty easily as well so more flexible than a machine spiral bound book

lindseykim13

rosy wrote: »

You could maybe use these
http://www.ryman.co.uk/0743015060/Essentials-Binding-Rings-25mm-Pack-of-4/Product

You can open them and insert new pages pretty easily as well so more flexible than a machine spiral bound book

Thanks i actually just found some of those while hunting on ebay which work out slightly cheaper and larger at 38mm so should hold all my pages!

Solstice_3

Beccatje wrote: »

I love reading about organizing, and i love the look of all those organisers!
I could go totally overboard and buy and print lots of stuff.. but... then what?

How do you actually use it? Those household organisers..how do you use it? Meal planers and such..do other members of your family look in them? How about chores for teens and husbands?

How does it work in a family with more than one person doing and deciding stuff?

I fear I will get all enthousiastic, and then end up with a great looking organiser that is in reality another peace of clutter in my house that never gets used.

Help?

DH knows I write the meals out each week but he still asks me what's for dinner, even when I used to put it on the front of the fridge lol. I also write important dates and delivery days on the calender but you guessed it DH just asks me. I use the calendar and meal planner daily, the budget bit of my book is new because I have only just started to try and budget but I'm using it so far.

As for chores my DS is not old enough but I hope to implement a system (White board or charts with stickers) when he is old enough to understand and as we will be starting out from the beginning that way I hope it will stick