June Goal // Organize My Home & Sell Lesson Plans

This past month has been one for the books. It hasn't necessarily been busy or chaotic, but it's been ridiculous. We've had unexpected, huge medical bills. A city park tree fell on our old car and totaled it, so now we're going through all the red tape for claims, etc, to get our money from them. It has rained continually most of the month with cooler temperatures (and my mental and physical health has both been affected by that). I've had a low dip, a reprise of my mild PPD. Numerous Pepsi's have been downed in an effort to stay patient with my 7th graders. Baby illnesses, teething, and minor sleep regressions have occurred. So, I guess it was a busy and chaotic month, just full of minor things.

I decided that this year, my word would be motivation, but there was absolutely no motivation. It was hard enough just to survive, and we didn't even do that very well...

May's goal was to Sell My Lesson Plans.

Sub Goals:

- Organize my classroom binders to make sure they have full copies before I leave

- Redo all my unit plans and format them into PDF's

- Upload and update my shop

I didn't do any of those. But, what I did do was grab all my school unit binders and take them home so I can start...then I'll return them during summer office hours.

I'm certainly hoping that being done with school on Thursday at 10AM and then having the rest of the weekend will help me have the motivation to begin June's goals next week...that and the fact that I won't be working anymore!! I'm still unsure of how I feel...

June--Organize My Home

It will have been almost a year since we've moved in. Rhys will almost be a year old. Seasons will have come and gone. I scrub every Saturday, but it needs a good deep scrub. I'll also need to reorganize a bit and pack away some now unneeded baby stuff. If I do this, I will feel less stressed as a SAHM, and ready to dive into that role head on and totally ROCK it!

Sub Goals:

- Deep scrub the entire house

- Organize all cupboards, dressers, closets

- Organize the household files

- Do a Deseret Industries (like Goodwill) run

- Reevaluate budget

Also, I will be completing May's goal as well.

What are you going to work on this month? What is your motivation for that?

Practical Tips for Busy Moms

I live off to-do lists and calendars. When the iTouch came out, I was starting college and I was so excited to use both my class agenda book and the Calendar app that could connect to my Google Calendars. I grew up with a mom who worked part-time and had 4 very busy, active children. She used Google Calendars to organize our life. Each member of the family had a different color representing them and everything was on it!

So, now as a mom, myself, (and a teacher), I know the importance of having an all-in-one calendar. However, I much prefer paper to electronics, so I have an actual planner, but the same ideas could be used for an electronic calendar.

First of all, you'll need these materials:
- A good planner (I use the Passion Planner)
- Highlighters
- Colored pens
- Sticky notes (skinny ones)

For the rest of the post, visit Living in the Season!

Organizing Files, Important Documents, and Keepsakes

As a new adult, I have a ton of important papers and documents now: housing payments, paystubs, bills, records, etc.. Thankfully, I have a filing box and I love to organize things! So, here are a few tips to help you organize your files!

1) College Work

If you are still a young adult and have gone to college, or other training/technical schools, it is important to keep a few of your projects, tests, and essays. These are good to keep as you are searching for jobs or applying for graduate programs because it shows your capability in your subject and are a good example of your work. Although I have all of my projects and essays saved on my computer and have a steady job, I still have a few hard copy for keepsakes.

2) Job Contracts, Paystubs, etc.

If you receive a copy of your jobs contract, keep it, as well as a copy of any other paperwork you have to fill out for your job. Keep this for the entirety that you hold the job. Any certificates or other important documents you receive from your job go into this file as well. If you get paper copies of your paystubs, even if you also have direct deposit, I would keep those copies--a friend of mine actually had an issue with a paycheck (she was paid less than she earned, and that helped her to prove it). Keep those until you file taxes each year. You can keep retirement documents here, too, or in their own file.

3) Housing 

Keep a copy of your housing contract for as long as you rent/own that house. Keep housing payments for a year.

4) Checks, Receipts, Payments, Bills

If you have extra checkbooks, keep them in this file. Now, some people keep every single receipt from every single purchase (like my mom) and some people never want a receipt (like my husband). I feel that if you purchased something huge, or are considering returning something, keep the receipt for at least a month. If you purchase something that you have to do numerous payments for, keep each statement until it is completely paid off. Same goes for monthly bills.

5) Taxes

Keep W-2s and other tax information and documents for a minimum of 2 years (you might need information from the previous fiscal year). Though, the IRS suggests keeping these documents for 7 years on the off-chance of being audited by them.....

6) Health Insurance and Bills

Each member of the family should have their own file for health, dental, eye, and life insurance. Keep bills for a year--make a note on the bill when you paid for them, how you paid for them, etc. Keep other important health information in these folders. In my folder, I have my prescription for my eyesight. In Justin's, we have info about the medication he uses. In Rhys's, we still have his birth packet and his immunizations records. 

7) Important Documents

In this file, I have birth records, marriage licenses, etc. I also have my teacher's license and my college degree in this folder. Keep these forever! But, do not keep your social security cards here!!!!! Find a different, secret place for those!

8) Wedding

If you are planning on getting married, or have recently gotten married and still have a lot of keepsakes, keep them in this folder. If you are planning a wedding, all payments and contracts with wedding cake, caterers, venue, etc., can go in here. After the wedding, your guest list and book, pictures, and sentimental cards can go in here.

9) Keepsakes

This is kind of an amalgamation of a file. Sentimental letters, cards, memories. Things you want to keep and remember go in here. Keep these as long as you want.

My other folders

Creative--Different poems or short stories I've written are in here.

Playbills--I collect playbills from concerts, plays, and musicals I go to.

Posters--I used to have a subscription to The National Geographic and they would send posters, so I kept those in here, too.

As a family of two years, with only an infant, no debt, newly graduated, just starting jobs, and renting a house, we don't have a lot documents, so we are able to keep everything in small file box. My parents have a few filing shelves. It just depends. But, hopefully, these tips will help keep you more organized and less cluttered. Just remember to update your files about every month!

How do you organize your important documents?

A House of Order--Important Papers, Bills, Etc.

Visit Femiology.com for the second installment on my new series, A House of Order. 

This week I'll be helping you to organize all your papers, records, bills, etc.

Click on the picture for the link!