Homemaking Binder

Leah asked about my binder so I thought I would post and tell a little about my plans for it here. I like the half-size binders because they are compact so I purchased a premade one from Walmart. It is a cherry red color and already had the monthly and weekly forms as well a telephone directory. These I will use most from this planner.
Let's move on. I have looked all over the web for the type of forms that I need. So far my favorites have come from Donna Young's website. I am in love with the Excel monthly sheet and downloaded it to use for my homeschool planner. I also printed out her version of a weekly menu and grocery shopping list. I may eventually make my own but for now I am very grateful for hers.
I have looked at several homemaking binders on the web. I love them all. My needs for a binder are a little different. Instead of lots of different sections I need mine simplier. I get distracted easily and if I have to flip back and forth between sections I WILL GET DISTRACTED.
I want everything that I need to deal with in one place. I will be putting everything that I need for the month all together. For example the July section will have a monthly calendar, weekly pages ( for the to-do lists), 5 weekly routine and cleaning checklists (so I can SEE what I need to do), my zones list ( which already has the detailed cleaning list on it), 5 weekly menu planners with grocery lists on the side, homeschool monthly planner for each child, and my monthly budget sheets all together. All the other months will have the same information included.
I think I will have these catagories separate with their own tabs since I will not need each one every month:
Medical
Recipes
Birthdates
Internet
Phone numbers and addresses
Journaling
Correspondence
Children's chore lists
Christmas
Prayer journal ? I may keep this with my Bible study stuff instead.
Well these are my thoughts. I will post more about it when it is completed. Right now I am trying to learn how to work with Word and Excel so I can make my own forms. I have the budget, medical and journaling forms completed so far.
Ginger

Homemaking Binder Websites:

Life With Christ
With the Fruit of her Hands
The Sparrow's Nest
Mrs. Catherine
Home Keeping Heart
Home Works Best (several Links on her page to see the whole thing)
Keeping the Home

Homemaking 101

I am not a perfect Homemaker. I admit it. I have however learned three very important things that make a big difference in your view of yourself, your family and your home. 1) You MUST get out of bed early. 2) You Must shower, fix your hair, do your make-up (if you wear it) and dress in a way that flatters you early in the morning. 3) You MUST spend time with the Lord.
Getting out of bed early will actually make you "feel" as though you are accomplishing more...and you may. It will also make you feel good about yourself. I know that when I sleep in I "feel" as though I am being lazy.
Showering and dressing in a way that flatters you will make you "feel" good about yourself. This must be done as quickly as possible after getting out of bed. When someone just happens to come to the door early in the morning, it will be nice to know that you do not have to greet them in your bathrobe. It is also nice to let your husband actually see the lovely lady that he married so long ago dressed in a becoming way.
Spending time with our Lord is the most important thing that we can do each and every day. There are days that I put off my time with the Lord until later in the day and then get so busy that as I am climbing into bed I realize that I have neglected the MOST important relationship of all.
Honestly, these three things will make a tremendous difference in your life. They will also help you to overcome overwhelming feelings and discouragement. Once you have accomplished them you can easily tackle the others.
More later,
Ginger

Altered Composition Books

This is a fun little design that my daughter came up with so I decided to make one for myself...and a few friends. This one was for my sister in law.

Mary or Martha

I struggle with my priority list. In fact I feel overwhelmed to the point that sometimes I just find other things to fill up my time. Many of the choices are "good" things. They need to be done. There is always laundry, putting things away, cleaning something and a long list of errands. Many times I put these things ahead of necessary things such as having tea and reading books to my little boy. I was so busy last week trying to do a good thing (newsletter for my local homeschool support group) that my little one and his needs were put aside. I wanted the newsletter to be as perfect as possible because I knew that this was what was expected. So I kept working through his many requests for time with him. I completed and posted the newsletter. There was that sense of accomplisment and yet the feeling of guilt for skipping the time with my little one lingered. The next day I did have tea with my little one and we read many books. I enjoyed our special little moments. It turned out that there were some very minor mistakes with the newsletter and I spent hours fixing them (due to an major error that occured somewhere between posting the newsletter and then trying to go back in and fix the minor errors).

This morning I was reading about priorities in Lies Women Believe. The scripture reading was in the book of Luke and was addressing priority issues with Martha and Mary. Martha was focused on serving. Where was Mary? I read these verses from God's Word:

"but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from her."
Luke 10:42
So what was Mary doing?

"And she had a sister called Mary who moreover, was listening to the Lord's Word, seated at His feet."
Luke 10:39

So what should my first priority be?

To sit at His feet and listen to His words.

I know that when I look at life through God's glasses the time spent with Him and in His Word is most important. Relationships are important. The time spent loving and encouraging my little boy has an eternal significance. I want him to know and love God and to accept Jesus as his Lord and Saviour.
The time I spend loving and encouraging others and telling them about my Lord has an eternal significance. The newsletter though helpful to other homeschoolers will pass away. It is a helpful thing and I will continue to edit it but I will try to be much more aware that it is not what God has at the top of my priority list.........and it does not have to be perfect.