Family Notebook, Part 1

Happy Day-After Christmas! I am hoping you all had a wonderful holiday with the family, a joyous time of giving and a great memory making venture! We had a great time with my husbands side of the family. Since I spent my Thanksgiving time with my family in Georgia we were not able to see them over Christmas. I am a little sad, but thankful and content!

I have been spending a lot of time lately thinking about this year and what I want to change and do differently in this next year. There are a lot of things and a lot of areas of my life and my family's life that I see changes necessary. Basically, I need help. What do I need help with, you ask? I need help with organization and time prioritizing. I have been thinking about the kind of help I need and what decisions I am going to make, for the betterment of our family and the functioning of our everyday lives.

So, this brings me to the MAIN part of this post. A Hodges Family Notebook. Yes, you read that right. For years now, I had played with the idea of a family notebook, I have attempted to kind of put one together, and then I kind of get lazy. Well, I have been doing a lot of research about a family notebook and have seen some awesome ideas [go to my boards on pinterest if you don't believe me!] and I have decided to really, really try to implement this notebook for me and my family for this next year. What is a family notebook? Well, I am glad you asked! I want our family notebook to be our "hub" of information, our "go to" for just about everything we need, when we need it. Here are some of the things I plan to include in our family notebook:

Addresses/Phone Numbers - I can't tell you how many times I have had to call my mother in law, or sister in law, who are both wealthy with information, and it would be nice to not have to take time out to call them and ask them for information that they have already previously given me...and I bet they would appreciate it as well!

Birthdays/Anniversaries - I have a goal this year, and to meet my goal [which I am not going to reveal, because I don't want my family and friends to know if I fail!] and this is an essential tab to have in the notebook.

Emergency/Doctors/Medicinal Information - Danny and I have some health issues and we need to keep all of our information in one place so we can have fast access to give to doctors or maybe in case we have an emergency. Also, there is a lot that goes along with having a special needs child. We have lot of appointments, lots of records, and lots of info to keep up with. This section should help me with all of that info.

Menu Planning/Recipes/Groceries/Coupons -  I have proven time and time again that I can save a significant amount of money if I plan my meals for the week or month and then grocery shop based upon these plans. On average, when I meal plan, I save about $50 a week. That is a lot of money and a necessity when we are a one income family.  I want to keep my favorite recipes, tried and true ones, in this section, and also my inventories and coupon planning [I am by no means an extreme couponer, but I do use coupons when I can!

Bible Reading and Scripture Memorization - I have joined with a PB group of like minded brothers and sisters and we plan to read the Bible through in a year, and I am real excited about that. We also want to plan our devotional time with the kids a little better and this is a perfect place to keep this information for both my hubby and I to get to.

Daily/Weekly/Monthly/Yearly To do lists -  This will include a daily agenda, appointments, and things I need to get done around the house.

2013 Calendar - This will be the main place I will keep appointments and obligations

Fitness/Food Log: Self  explanatory...I hope...

Finances/Budgeting/Bills - We are starting this new year hopefully really in tune with Dave Ramsey and his methods of budgeting and paying off debt. We really need help in this area and I am really in need of a specific and organized location to keep my records.

So, this is what I am working on at the end of this year. What I want is to hear back from my friends, especially those with families, and I want to hear if you have a home management notebook or method, and if so, what is it. I would love to hear your ideas and stories, etc. so please get back with me. You can email me or message me on facebook, or leave a comment here [I know, that is not always the easiest thing to do!]. Please share your thoughts with me. If you want to know more about my research, you can follow me on pinterest and look at my pins and boards. I have pinned a ton of sites that have tons of free printables and tons of information on how to create a family notebook and the purposes of a notebook of this sort. Let me know what you think!

Reflections of 2012

Here we are at the end of the year. I usually spend a lot of time at the end of the year reflecting on what has happened this year and where I am physically, mentally and spiritually. I am usually down in the dumps about my reflections, but I am trying not to be that way this year. I want to look back on this year and truly look back and think about the good things that have happened, the bad, and the downright ugly. There are so many things to look back on and want to change or do better at. Then there are some things I feel like I did well with, but need to amp it up, so to speak. Then there are so many things that I fell so drastically short on, so many ways I failed or bombed. That's okay, though. I always try to go into a new year with a new plan, new year's resolutions, so to speak. I always seem to start out really well, but then I dwindle down to my comfort zone again. Anyway, these are just some thoughts I am having while I am reflecting. I hope in the next couple of weeks to have some realy good thoughts down in multiple areas of my life and I will share some of my plans for the upcoming year with you all. In the meantime, what are your plans for the new year? How do you come up with plans for the next year, or do you even plan at all? I really would love to hear from you all!