Organizing As A Parent: UPDATED: Brain In A Binder

UPDATED!!!

Last fall (2009) I went to a Hearts At Home conference. I did a session with Karen Ehman called "Keeping Your Ducks In A Row". She gave all types of great tips for organizing. One that I loved was Brain In A Binder. It is crazy and yes I am still getting used to. She keeps hers on the kitchen counter and I keep mine in my organizer in the back room with my desk stuff. I have pictures below so you can see mine.

The cover is the picture of my family - My Husband Shawn and my two kids, Bryson and Keelin.
The next page is my "mission statement" - the reason I do what I do
I combined my Daily Task and Weekly Task into a spreadsheet form that I hang on my bulletin board by my calendar. That way I can always see and so can Shawn. I use this so now I spread out the house cleaning through out the week plus the monthly to do's are on there as well. I really like it so far!
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4

The next several pages are my Yearly items (I am still developing these because I just started)
The next page is my Weekly Menu and Shopping List. I create several menus and rotate them so I don't have to think of new foods every week. (I am working on this still - we are changing the way we eat so I haven't got into a groove yet.)

The next section is folders - there are 5 folders - Family, Shawn, Salena, Bryson and Keelin
This is where I file all the papers that pertain to whomever. Invites, calendars, schedules. My calendar doesn't have enough room to put all the details so I write the basic and then put the details in the appropriate folder and refer to it when needed.

This has been helpful so far and I look forward to using it more as Bryson enters school and has more things to be a part of.

Another thing she does is a Today Clipboard. You get a clipboard that opens up where you can store stuff. On the clipboard is a "Todays Sheet". You write things for that day on it. The items inside are those that need to be taken care of that night before bed. Example: A permission slip for school. When you kid comes home and gives you the permission slip you place it in your clipboard and before you go to bed you fill it out and place it in his bag.
This is great because you can keep the papers all in one place. I am sure as your kids get older they will know to put important papers in your clipboard. I can email the sheets too so you can see what I have and start with that. I am still forming mine but I love it so far! (salbegs@gmail.com)

Here's a link to Karen's page too : http://karenehman.com/home/2008/03/18/moms-brain-in-a-binder-ready-to-order/

Here is a link to the teaching from Hearts At Home that you can purchase (CD or MP3): http://www.catapes.com/viewresults.cfm?cid=134
Keeping Your Ducks In A Row would be for this concept.

Below are pictures.