The How To!!!

Good Morning!

Well, it seems last week's post caused a stir. Listen if you aren't learning something new you aren't growing and as long as we have breath we are called to keep growing. Some of you wanted to know more about getting the most out of your calendar. So here goes with a few of the things I have learned about getting it together and making the calendar work for me.

First: Someone wanted to know where to get the calendar notebook? Target has some and so does Staples. Probably Walmart as well. Above is a picture of one and the kind of pages you will need.

Second: Take some time to write everyone's birthday, anniversary or important dates all the way through the entire year. Don't just put down this month's important celebrations. That is one of the traps we can fall into. You write things down for one month then forget to go back for the others thinking you just don't have time to do it. But in the long run this will save you more than you know right now.

Third: Get all your appointment cards and the cards for all the people you are responsible for and list them too. Write any and all important dates for get togethers, family reunions, craft fairs, or regular meetings you attend. Now I know you know about all these things but there is something about having them written down that relieves your mind of having to keep up with all of them. Imagine all the brain space you will free up. LOL.

Next turn to the current month. Go to the day by day pages that follow it and begin your plan for the week. I usually sit down on Sunday afternoon and write on each one of those days the things I have written on the calendar. Then I will add any to do's for that day. Take for instance Monday. That is house blessing day. That's what I call house cleaning. Blessing sounds a lot better doesn't it? Then I will write the zone for that week and each days activity for it. I'll explain zones in a minute. Now you may think it is silly to write down your plan for the week but I have found if it is written down 99% of the time it gets done. After all isn't that what we are after?

Then there is anti-proscrastion day which is Wednesday. All those things that you have intended to do but never got around to doing them this is the time to just do one a week on Wednesday. After a month you will have four of them done and in a year, if you have any left, you will have done fifty two. Wow!

 Wednesday is also grocery day. I go on that day because that's when the sales for the new week start and you get the senior discount too. I get my list together on Tuesday along with my coupons and hit the store running. LOL. When I leave the grocery I go right to the gas station. You all know what a pain it is to get gas and it seems you can never make the time to get it until you are running on fumes.

Every Friday is clean out your purse day. Silly... no! Because we all know the things that can accumulate in that black hole. Notes, appointment cards, receipts and of course trash. Which is one of the reasons when we are trying to pay for something we end up dumping our purse on the counter trying to find whatever it is we need. No more!

Now let me explain about zones. When I started following Flylady one of the things she did was divide her house into zones. For me it looks like this: first week of the month is the front porch, the Dining room and the hall. Second week is the Kitchen. Third week is the living room and the 1/2 bath. Fourth week is the master bedroom, bath and closet. Fourth week is the other bedrooms, laundry and bonus room. Now during the first week you will spend only fifteen minutes a day in the zone. Then each week you will move to the next zone all the way through the entire house each month. Fifteen minutes is nothing in the big scheme of things and you will be pleasantly surprised at what all you can do in that time.

The kinds of things I include in the zone are vacuum the edges of the baseboard, clean the inside of the windows, windex the picture frames, polish the furniture, clean out the magazines, dust the light fixtures or ceiling fans. Here is the deal. After you have been through the zones in your house for a couple of months things will begin to look good. No more spring or fall cleaning. You home is clean all the time. If you spend fifteen minutes before bedtime picking things up and putting them away every night there is no mess. You have solved one of womankind's biggest problems... how to have a clean house all the time.

Take it from me this works. Yes, it took some disciple to keep going and get it done every day but when I saw the results I was sold out. Flylady had me lock, stock and barrel. I've been doing this since 1999. Yeah there have been times when I fell off the wagon but it didn't take but a minute for me to get back on. When you have all your important information corralled in a notebook your life is manageable.

But to keep your calendar on it's toes you have to look at it first thing in the morning and you have to keep adding the important things to it as they come up or it won't work. It's all wrapped up in a Nike one liner......JUST DO IT.

Happy Blessed and Very Thrifty Week to You All!!