when we bought our new house ALL of our living room furniture was destroyed by the yuckiness most people call mold. Why that pertains to the story, I don't know... Maybe I'm just still mad about it because now we have no living room.
Anyways, when we bought our house I wanted to be more organized... I had always kept a planner for meals and appointments, but I still didn't feel organized...
Thus, the FAMILY PLANNER was born. It is still a work in progress but there are four areas that are used on a daily basis. I will try and make these editable, but for now I will just upload a PDF. I wish I could make them cuter, but all in due time my loves. All in due time.
The first thing you see when you open our planner is our bill pouch.
I know it doesn't look organized, but I tried to hide as much personal information as possible. This is where we put unpaid bills until they are paid. This way we aren't wondering where they are. Even though most of our bills are paid online and we opt for paperless billing, some things are still sent. Once the bill is paid we take it out and file it in another storage bin in our closet. We also keep a list of our bills and which week of the month the bill will be paid. Sort of like a mini budget. I would upload a picture but it has too much personal information on it.
The next 'tab' in our planner is my actual calendar/planner.
Please forgive the strange markings... someone got a hold of a pen and thought she was Emily Dickinson.
For now, the blue is for my Proverbs 31 challenge. the pink is for my cleaning schedule, and the purple is obviously our meal planning. Some women might be able to keep things neatly on different calendars, but I have to have everything on one page. I have to know what my ENTIRE day is going to look like.
The next 'tab' is for our monthly budgeting. I uploaded a blank one because we are already working on September.
In the first column is all of the bills we are expected to pay for that month. The second column we put in our expected income and the expenses for the month. The third column is where we put our actual expense for the month. The fourth column is where we write down our difference. We keep track of our savings balance on here as well. This is always tallied at the end of the month.
Our next 'tab' is our checkbook register.
I chose to make my own because I have big handwriting and I hate the little registers they give you from the bank. I also color coordinate everything. Household bills are pink, gasoline is yellow, food is purple, deposits are green, transfers are red, and miscellaneous is blue. This way, when I go to balance everything for the month all I have to look at is the color and write down the amount.
The next tab is filled with loose paper where I put recipes and ideas that I get from Pinterest or the internet. Hopefully I can get started on a Croy Family Cookbook soon because they are starting to take up a lot of room.
Future Plans
I usually hand write my shopping list throughout the week and categorize by store. When I go to the store I write down the price next to the item, but by the time I'm done shopping all of the prices start to get jumbled together, so I plan on making a shopping list with a box to neatly write the price next to the item.
*Update* I have made the shopping list pdf available for download, but have not had a chance to implement it into our planner.
I also want to add an address book to our planner for party invitations, Christmas cards and what-not. This address book would also be good for birthday and anniversaries that way we can plan for gifts and cards much easier.
*Update* The birthdays and anniversaries part is available for download, but I have not had a chance to implement it into our planner
A home project to do list would be awesome, because there are a lot of things we want to renovate/decorate aound the house even though it's brand new construction. We've already forgotten a lot of the things we said we would enhance by now and it gets really frustrating.
I plan on making a small list and taping it the front bottom pocket of the notebook filled with emergency numbers like our pediatrician, dentist, and family members in case we can't be reached.
Hopefully this can be used as a good resource for you mommies out there! it's definitely helped me as CFO of this household!
