Honey do list

You know how some women have a "honey do" list for their significant other?  Well, I don't have a honey to give a list to so my honey do list is for myself.

I'd really like to say I've been quilting the last couple of days on the next customer quilt.  It's not happening.  I've been going through stuff in my house getting ready for a neighborhood yard sale in a few days.  It's my daughter's neighborhood, not mine.  While going through things, I kept coming across papers that really should be in one place.  Papers.... such as notes about possible blog posts, recipes I'd forgotten about, quilting ideas, warranty information, emergency preparedness thoughts, and several other types of papers.

I got increasingly disappointed in myself about papers scattered everywhere.  The more I came across papers and started stacking them in one spot; the more I realized I really should do the way I used to do many years ago.  File everything in one place. At first I told myself I needed to buy a file cabinet. 

Umm... that's not really what I want, more stuff coming into my house.  I have too much stuff coming in and not nearly enough going out.  The balance between coming in and going out is waaaay off.  I think it was Don Ashlett that once said "A file cabinet is a way to store hidden paper junk vertically."   He's right, it's hidden vertically in folders and drawers, unseen, until it bulges at the seams.  Then there is a choice of either buying another file cabinet to hold more paper junk OR trashing as much as I can.  So, if it's gonna be trashed anyway, why store it?

In my younger days I kept a notebook of things I wanted to read regularly.  Actually, several notebooks.  I kept them sort of like scrap books.  Pasted in recipes, school function schedules, warranty information, grocery lists, and pretty poems..... that sort of thing.  That was the way women did things back then.  As my quilting career gradually overtook my personal life, the notebooks kind of fell to the wayside.

Several weeks ago, while traveling around the net, I came across some blogs that had household "binders".  Ooo, how clever!  Binders are sophisticated notebooks.  That was a gentle reminder of how it used to be for me.  I knew eventually I would make myself a household binder.  A sort of "house central" for all the information I need in one place.  I waited for school stuff to go on sale and I bought myself a couple of binders.  Going through stuff the last couple of days only got me more encouraged to actually start creating my household binder.  I had everything I needed so why not now?

With my binder in hand and lots of loose papers, I got started.  I didn't buy any dividers for the binder.  They didn't go on sale.  I'm using regular printer paper and these to make my dividers.  Umm.... both were bought from the discount bin months ago, even before I thought about making a household binder.  I do own a three hold punch too. 

Here's how my household binder looks now.  I plan to buy a monthly calendar to put reminders of things that are done only once a month or once a year.  Reminders like when the next junk day will be, when to change the batteries in clocks, when to drain the sediment from the water heater, what day guild meetings are held, when the deadline is for quilt entries, and things like that.

My binder also has my price book and my grocery list book and a tiny pen I got from the fair.  The pockets of the binder are just perfect for those. 

Well it's a start.  I've analyzed and either tossed or filed a whole stack of papers.   With a binder I can simply pull out what is no longer needed and toss it.  New stuff can go in easily.  I really like a binder better than several notebooks.  There are paper people and there are gadget people.  I prefer paper but my daughter prefers computers.  If you are a gadget person, your household notebook might be on a device of some sort. 

Gradually, I'll make it more organized.  I plan to do a post of each section as I work on those.  I believe my daughter will be interested and maybe some other readers will too.  Who knows?  Maybe someone working their way around the net will come across my blog and get a gentle reminder from me.