This Little Notebook of Mine...

Here is my brain...or part of it anyway!    It is a simple 7" x 9 1/2" notebook - much like my brain?!  - that has become a very key tool for me and helps keep me organized.  It is a simplified version of my Household Notebook (see left side module for links to making your own Household Notebook) that can fit neatly into my purse.  I love having my House Book handy but it is far too big and bulky to be carrying around with me - as a busy momma, do we not have enough to carry around with us?!.  I need something smaller and much lighter to have with me as I go about my day here, there and everywhere!

I try to find fun/pretty notebooks and this one above happen to catch my eye.  I believe I found it at Target but you can find notebooks like this or the same size at any local drugstore or Mart type stores.  Maybe you are more of a practical sort of person and wish to choose a basic red, blue, green, etc. and that is fine but my reasoning behind finding one that is fun or pretty is because it changes ones perspective on our daily tasks.  It is a small change but it works!  The same thing applies to finding a pretty pen or a pen that you love how it writes.  When love what you have, no matter how small or simple it is, it brings the joy into what you are doing.  Try it!  You will be amazed at how effective this little trick is!

I try to find notebooks that have dividers especially ones with pockets.  I use the dividers for my daily to dos, different lists, thoughts or ideas - each having their own compartment if you will with the back being reserved for my grocery/shopping lists.  The pockets are wonderful to keep your receipts instead of having them crumpled inside of your purse.  Have you ever seen someone try to pull something out of their purse, usually searching for a pen, only to have a handful of receipts and papers and such come flying out at the same time?!  This little pocket keeps my purse looking neat and organized - I can keep the receipts for the 30 day time period needed in case of returns, I know where they are and the receipts stay in a readable condition!

Have you ever been out somewhere and thought of an idea but you didn't have any paper in which to write your idea(s) on?  You could use the crumpled up receipt found in the bottom of your purse or you can keep all your thoughts in one place and organized so that you can actually find them later on and hopefully...use them and put them into action!  Above I not only had some ideas I think for a blog entry but what would Mrs. Cat's notebook be without a few drawings of what else?!  Cats!    I find that when I put my thoughts down on paper that I am more likely to bring them into action.  Ideas about this or that have taken a further step into reality.  They become a matter of importance when you place them in a notebook instead of placing them on a crumpled piece of paper that you are not really concerned with.  Your idea becomes either the fresh clean page on a notebook to be seen and visualized or it becomes the crumpled up old receipt that ends up in the trash.  Your thoughts and ideas matter!  So make them what they should be...beautiful thoughts and ideas in a beautiful notebook written with a beautiful pen.  Do you see where this is going?!

Decorating ideas that become reality.  Above are some ideas I had about decorating our downstairs bathroom and laundry room - all of which were not only written down but became reality shortly there after.  I posted pictures not too long ago on redoing our bathroom and this is where it all begin.  As an idea and dream of how I pictured it to be or could be.  Now some of the things I thought of did not come to be but other things did as the process began.  It is amazing how doing this can spur the imagination into other ideas!  I love how that happens.  The other great thing about having this notebook is I can always refer back to the sections I need when I am out and about shopping.  Should I see something in the store that might go into a room, I have the measurements, sizes and colors jotted down just for that purpose.  Color and material swatches are kept in the pockets, preceding the section, so that I can check to make sure that the something something will go perfectly in the room.

I take my notebook with me to meetings to keep notes on what was discussed and what needs to be done.  All of this is transferred into the different sections needed.  If I am at a home schooling co-op meeting, I make the notes necessary and if we have items that need to be purchased or calls I need to make they all get placed in that area so that I don't forget.  When you find yourself busy with so many different things - it is easy to let things fall through the crack so to speak. 

The main portion of my notebook would be my daily To Do Lists.  Each page is dated (see above) and has sections of it's own with my To Do list on the upper left hand side and Calls on the upper right hand side.  Below that I have a section for Dinner and anything else I need to be thinking about for the day.  As I complete a task, I cross out the item and if I was not able to get to the task I wanted to do, it is circled and written on the next day's To Do list.  In the evening, before going to bed, I go through and write out the next day's items.  This helps me prepare for the day ahead and gives me a restful nights sleep without worrying about whether I will remember to do this or that the following day.  It is all written down.

Some of you may be saying, "That is not enough room for me to write down all the things I need to do in a day!"  May I give some advice on the whole list making, To Do Listing, too much on one's plate filling idealogy?  Pick only 3 main things you truly need to accomplish in a day...things that will make you feel better and give you a sense of accomplishment.  The one thing I found when I came home to stay home was having a sense of completion in my day and actually seeing it.  That is hard to do when you have little ones and you are juggling several little schedules that feel as if they have no rhyme or reason.  I didn't have a boss who said to me, "Great job!" or "Job well done!" or even a pat on the back at the end of a tiring day.  There was no paycheck to follow that showed me that I did provide something of value and was given something in return.  It felt to me as the same old thing day in and day out with feeling of value.  It is not easy being a stay at home momma!  Please make things easier on yourself and allow room for days that may not have a sense of completion in them. 

Having this little notebook...you can see that yes indeed you did do something and it has been marked off to prove it!  Again, a simple little small thing but it works!

I try to plan one day in the week where I run errands.  Having that one day helps me plan for any other running around I need to do (library, grocery, bill paying, banking, etc.).   Above I have a page for grocery shopping with not only my main grocery store (the list is made according to the layout of the store - this helps me find what I need and quickly without spending more time which usually results in spending more money on items we really didn't need to begin with!) but I also have sections on that page with certain stores that I made to find a particular item that the grocery store may not have.  When I am out on my errand day and at the grocery store, I can open up to the page here and mark off the items as I go through the store and pick up what I need.  If I was unable to find the item I needed or it was not on sale - this too is circled and moved over to the next grocery list/shopping page.

Also in this section is a page for library books and videos.  I am not sure if you can see my notes above but the book listed was a dream, thought, idea on starting a consignment shop.  If there is something I want to know about, I try to learn as much as I can about that something.  Sometimes I find that it is not what I thought and that's okay - I move on.  But in this case I started something that puts my dreams into action.  I researched several books and links online on having a shop - a dream of mine - and jotted down ideas on what I could do, what I wanted...details that otherwise would have gotten lost in the million other things I have to do in a day.  Instead I have them here in my little notebook.  I can also see how things have progressed in making things become reality

Because I didn't just write this down on a scrap piece of paper found in the bottom of my purse - it gave importance to the idea I had!  Dreams are important to have even when what you originally thought of never becomes a reality - it is what happens in the process that leads to so many other wonderful thoughts and who knows...opportunities for you in the future.  It is finding out about yourself and who you are and what you want to be when you grow up!    I'm 40 years old and still excited about what I can become in the next years ahead!  I have a lot of growing up to do and lots of discovering left yet to find out about myself.  I have discovered that there are certain things that I love to do and then there are things I don't love to do.  It is about finding what it is you are passionate about and then finding ways to make it happen! 

This little notebook of mine becomes like a diary of sorts.  It is filled with not only some of the things I do in a day but things I want to do in the future too!  I love looking back through some of my older notebooks and reading through my lists that I made way back when.  Sometimes there are things I had thought I had forgotten and when reading back through - it stirs new thoughts and ideas and dreams and hopes for the future that can be expanded into who knows what God has planned for me!

Love and God's Blessings to You All,

  Catherine