Making a Household Notebook

Over the last couple of days, I did a lot of researching and printing. I have learned quite a bit along the way about creating a Household Notebook. (By the way, there is lots of advice online about doing this. Just Google "Household Notebook" and you'll get a ton of links to blogs and websites on this topic.) I decided to begin by creating these sections (not necessarily in this order in my notebook):

1. Finances (see below for more details on this section)
2. Home Management
1. Schedules
2. Cleaning charts
3. Planners
4. Positive reinforcement ideas for kids
5. Loaned/Borrowed
6. To Do lists
7. Year at a Glance
3. Recipes (I'm only giving this its own section to make it quick & easy for me to find.)
4. Homeschooling
1. Grade chart
2. Extra worksheets
3. Ideas, notes
5. School (mine--I'm in college right now)
1. Schedules
2. Important information
6. Projects
1. Crafts
2. Ideas for projects I'd like to work on
3. WIPs I need to finish
7. Writing
1. Blogs
2. Articles
3. Ideas
8. Personal
1. Inspiring quotes, scriptures
2. Prayer requests
3. Devotionals
4. Answered prayers

FINANCES

I started with financial worksheets because this is my main focus right now. The worksheets in my notebook right now include:

• Debt Release Plan (based on Dave Ramsey's Snowball Method) - Lists all our debts, from smallest to largest, in compliance with the snowball method. I plan on updating it with new sheets as I pay off each debt. (This worksheet alone motivated me. I was very apprehensive about sitting down and completing it. But the fear of the unknown is always worse than the truth. Once I finally finished filling out this worksheet, I was very excited and hopeful.)
• Monthly Budget (Pear Budget is a nice alternative, if you'd rather do it online instead of on paper. They offer a free trial and the monthly expense for using their program is extremely affordable. If you are barely squeaking by, though, do your monthly budget on paper for now. I also recommend Simple Mom's Zero-Based Budgets for the Home: A Primer)
• Savings worksheet - This worksheet is for specific things we would like to purchase. First the goal is listed, followed by the target amount needed to purchase it. Then I can set a dated goal of when I want to purchase the item, which in turn leads to a monthly savings goal. If we're serious about the purchase, this monthly savings goal goes into its own savings envelope for future purchase.
• Rainy Day Fund - This is just a simple worksheet to keep track of our RDF. Our beginning balance goes at the top of the page, followed by dated entries of debits or credits, with a running tally. It operates very much like a checkbook register. Simple and easy.
• Vacation Fund - This works the same as above. We have a family goal right now to go on a vacation to Disney next year once Robert's deployment is finished. I've broken down the dollar amount needed for this trip to create a monthly savings plan. This worksheet helps us keep a running total on how much we have saved towards our vacation. (More to come on this later.)
• Entertainment Fund - This one is specifically to track our "extra" spending because I know this is where we are sinking way too much money that could be used to pay down our debt. This one will be used with the envelope system, too. If we can get this category under control, I believe it will be a huge factor in accelerating our debt-free plan.

Managing My Home & Finances

After a pretty rough month last month and a well-deserved break, I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get back to work. I've been letting things "go" just to maintain my own sanity, but enough is enough. Now it's time to get back to the land of the living.

I am starting April with a new outlook on my personal life. My sister has encouraged and motivated me to step up and fill my own shoes. I've been using the excuse for way too long that, "I don't know how" but that excuse just won't cut it anymore. I'm teaching myself how to manage my life, my home, my family. Because the truth is, that is exactly what my job is right now. So I need to become the best at it that I can be.

First things first.

There are two main areas I am concentrating on right now: organizing my home and my finances. I personally believe these are two very important factors of a home and they go hand-in-hand. When the house is a wreck and relationships falter, more than likely if you dig a little deeper there's financial problems lurking, too. I don't want either of these to happen to my family, so I'm going to be much more proactive about safeguarding both.

How I'm doing it.

After I decided this, I knew I needed a game plan. I need to become totally focused to accomplish the following things (in no particular order):

• Becoming debt-free
• Organize my schedule
• Organize my family's schedule
• Organize our homeschool routine
• Organize our household chores and routines
• Implement new house rules, chore charts, rewards & consequences system, & allowance plan for kids

Now that I know exactly what areas I want to concentrate on first, I can create my plan of execution. Doesn't that sound SERIOUS?! :) I want it to. ;) I started by creating a few financial worksheets, based on Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover book. I built them in Word and tweaked them to fit my own needs.

Next, I went hunting online for more printables to stock my notebook. I needed a simple planner system for myself and another to create a homeschool schedule for my daughter. I also dug around until I found more printables for chore charts, financial goal setting worksheets, etc. (I discovered a FANTASTIC website for printables that is VERY affordable--check my resources at the end of this post.)

Little by little.

I'm currently still putting together my Household Notebook. I started with my financial worksheets because that was the most important thing at the top of my list. Once I got all those together, I came back to my computer and printed out more sheets for the rest of my notebook. I'll most likely just build on it over the weeks to come, printing out sheets as I see need for them. (I don't want to waste ink or paper on pages I "might" use. I want to be sure they are essential to my system.)

Interested in hearing more?

I will share my experiences as I revamp my home and finances. I'm excited and hopeful. The only way to change something is to stop talking about it, stop dreaming about it, stop wishing it would happen, and get up and DO SOMETHING to start making those changes today. You can't change everything overnight, but every tiny little step forward adds up to a journey of a thousand miles. :)

 

Resources:

• Zero-based budgets for the home
• Envelope system @ SimpleMom
• DaveRamsey.com
• Budget Book (to use w/ envelope system, receipts, etc.)
• List Plan It (tons of very useful printables for creating your own Household Notebook)

Finding My Footing

I haven’t blogged in a few weeks because I’ve been trying to find my footing. I also don’t find it as easy to blog about personal matters any more. I used to blog about everything from screwing up my weight loss to missing my husband while he was in Iraq. Now I find it difficult to open up and share very much, for fear it will be somehow used against me. I’ll set aside those apprehensions for now to give a brief update.

I’ve been on a break from school. I’ve actually changed schools and my major as well and feel so much better since. I finally realized the biggest reason why I’ve been struggling to make it through every class was largely due to me chasing a dead dream. Once I realized this, making the decision to change my major became incredibly simple and easy.

There are many things going on right now that pulls at me from every direction. Some days I feel like I’ll break. Of course, everybody insists that I’m strong so somehow I manage to pull through despite the pressure.

For now, I’m learning—yet again—how to create balance and maintain my sanity. Going through a repeat of what we went through a few short years ago isn’t any easier now than it was back then.

I’m also working on improving certain areas of my life, some of which I might decide to share about here for posterity sake. One thing I know for sure is life is anything but boring. :)

Longing

I feel like the last three months of my life have been a whirlwind that I was swept up in. So many changes, so many things happening. And when I feel like I just might have a handle on things, something else happens to trip me yet again. Somehow I manage to get back up, though.

The last few weeks have been particularly challenging for me. Without going into great detail, I have questioned many aspects of my life. I’ve questioned myself. I’ve questioned my own motives, thoughts, abilities, actions, etc. And there has been a deep, almost painful longing within me for something more. More from my relationships. More from my friendships. More from my family. More from me. Most of all, more of God.

I have drifted again. It’s almost as if the rocky waves of my life push me in the wrong direction spiritually. As it has been quoted so often, “The more I want to do good, I do bad.” I don’t intentionally push God away. And it isn’t even that I’ve done that. I’ve just become very slack in reading the Bible, praying, meditating. I’ve allowed “stuff” to consume my thoughts and time, rather than turning to the One who holds all the answers.

I’m turning this around. I have to. I need God, more now than ever before. I need His guidance, direction, strength, and encouragement. I need my Father. And I think He needs me, too.

Pay It Forward

If you have a few extra dollars and want to do something nice for someone else, click here to read Jenn’s post. It’s a good cause for a little boy that will be positively affected by your generosity. No amount is ever too small.