The RIGHT way to use a calendar

If you have a bulletin board that looks like this, listen up!  My life got a whole lot easier after I learned the right way to use a planner/organizer.  Before, I used to write things in my planner, then forget to look in the planner, thus missing appointments, forgetting to return library books, and sending belated birthday cards to relatives and friends.  Now, however, I am much more organized because of Deniece Schofield’s organization ideas!

 In our world, according to Schofield, list-making is a popular pastime, but it rarely gets us anywhere.  All those grocery lists, to-do lists, reminder notes from school, wedding invites, and newspaper clippings, can cause us to lose control of our life and the home can get cluttered.  Schofield describes this mess perfectly:

Before you know it, you are overrun with lists and reminders.  You have recipes and lists written on the back of check deposit slips, on the bottom of Kleenex boxes, and in the margin of the newspaper.  The refrigerator is covered.  Notes on bulletin boards are stacked club sandwich style, and there’s a rubber band around your wallet to keep all the papers from falling out.  –Confessions of an Organized Homemaker: The Secrets of Uncluttering Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life,  p. 36

And so I implemented Schfield’s system and now I am able to juggle all the lists just fine.  Basically, you have to live out of your planner!  If the dentist gives you an appointment card, hurry and jot it in the calendar section of your planner, then throw it out! If you get a wedding invitation, jot it in the calendar then throw it out.  If you have library books to return, don’t set them on your countertop as a reminder (that makes clutter!); simply put them back in the bookbag and jot a reminder in your calendar to take them back.  If you have a coupon for a free loaf from the bakery, don’t stick it on the fridge!  Put it in your wallet, then jot a note on your errands list (also in the planner) to remind you to go get the free loaf.  Soon you’ll be looking in your planner more often, because you use it for everything!

Here’s another of my secrets:  The best planners out there are the Franklin-Covey planners, but they cost way too much for a frugal gal like me.  Luckily, Franklin-Covey sells more economical versions of their awesome planners at Wal Mart and Target.  (Note: I find the Target versions to be cuter–with matching totes and purses–, more durable, and with better page styles than the Wal Mart versions.) 

Thanks to Schofield’s book, my fridge has a clean, white front and I don’t have a bulletin board anywhere.  I do have a large calendar on my wall for “family” reminders so the kids know the date when doing homework and so husband knows what our plans/appointments are (because I don’t want him disturbing my planner!).

This next semester will be my first as a full-time grad student, so I am starting now to get my calendar pages and planner pages in order for the upcoming semester.  This is very important because in addition to grad school, I am still teaching my children at home, running a business, volunteering as president and newsletter editor of our homeschool group, training for a marathon, and taking piano lessons.  It all worked fine when I was a part-time student, but full time? Who knows?   I’ll let you know how it goes . . . . .

Every Mom Needs a PLAN

My mom didn’t have a plan.  My father died of cancer when he was only 43 years old.  At the time we had seven children; the youngest was only seven years old.  Poor mom had no resume (she had been a full-time mother for 20 years), no college education, and no choice but to hurry and remarry or starve.  Not me.

Maybe the women of my mother’s generation could stick to the “Get a Man Plan” but that doesn’t sit well with me. MY plan is to provide for my children myself.  If, heaven forbid, something were to happen to my husband or my marriage, I plan to give my children time to heal and adjust to life without Dad before I even think about dating again.  My degrees will buy me that time.

This is why I believe every woman–especially a mother–needs a college education.  If you moms are scoffing at me right now and saying, “Yeah right!  Who has time for THAT?”  I would like to tell you how.  I finished my bachelor’s degree from home and am now working on my Masters, so I consider myself expert enough to tell you how it is done.  (By the way, I also teach my children at home, run an in-home business, and do extensive community service while in school, so it really isn’t THAT hard)

1. Internet learning has eliminated time spent travelling to and from classes, attending lectures, meeting with professors during office hours, and otherwise trudging about campus to study groups, exams, and the records office.  Thanks to the many distance studies programs out there you can get a prestigious degree online and takes half the time!
2. If you have enough time to blog every day, you have enough time to get your degree.
3. If you have the time to watch two television shows each day, you have enough time to get your degree.
4. If you think you can’t afford school, remember that full-time mothers get extra financial aidbecause we have no personal income.  As long as the degree program is accredited, even online and distance studies programs are eligible for full financial aid!  To find which online programs are accredited, search for them at www.petersons.com

My hope is that, by educating my fellow women out there, I might save one more family from the trauma of losing a father and watching poor mom wonder how her family will survive.

P.S. If you STILL don’t believe that a mother can raise children, run a home, and earn a degree at the same time, you need to read Confessions of a Happily Organized Family