Time to Get Organized

Happy Monday! Time to get organized or at least back to it!

I am all unpacked from our camping trip this weekend with our church. The weather was nice, with the exception of rain the first night. I did get in a little knitting on my shawl.

The holidays are coming upon us quickly. Although we don't celebrate Halloween, we have allowed our children to participate in their a Harvest Festival at a local church. They always enjoy the chance to dress up and participate in the games. They aren't big candy fans, so even thought we bring home lots of candy, they won't eat most of it. This year our church is hosting our own Harvest Festival with the theme shine "SHINE" at our church. We will have different booths with games and activities and of course candy and little toys. John and I will be helping with the Awana booth, Tyler will join the youth at their booth, while Lauren will get dressed up in her Snow White Costume and join her friends in all the activities.

So it will be time celebrate Lauren's birthday! This year she gets a big party because she is turing 10! Her birthday theme is Ratatouille. We have already been planning her party, and I had to call around asking about party supplies since they aren't easy to find. We were also fortunate to get some absolutely great deals at The Disney Store at our local mall, and today find all the rest of the party supplies on clearance, also at awesome prices! She has even picked out what kind of cake she wants, to look like a big wheel of cheese with the Ratatouille characters on it.

Then it will be time for Thanksgiving, and Christmas will soon follow! As of today it's only 63 days until Christmas! Yipes, it can't be that soon!

Here are a few of my favorite ways to get organized...

My Tickler File, that includes a folder for each us, files for church, school, home improvement (since we have been remodeling), and couple of others. I only keep the most important papers in it, the rest get filed in either their binders or files.

I also love my Moms Time Calendar. I first heard about it through the Flylady, but she created her own and now I get directly from the More Times Mom website. Almost time to get a new one! I like the big spaces to write everything them on them. I use a lot of stickers for it. I need to start putting in our newest appointments and time commitments. Don't let the price bother, this calendar is worth every penny!

I also use my Blessing Binder based on the Control Journal from the Flylady. I did purchase her premade one, and added a but of extras that I have gathers from other organization systems. (Organized Home, His Grace Works, and Busy Woman) I have just about everything in it, plus website information (you know all those website you have memberships to, log-in info, passwords you can't always remember!) and anything that I might need in a hurry. I also have a binder to keep our homeschool group info in. They help a lot!

Today I worked on printing new forms for my Christmas Blessing Binder. I started using one several years ago and over the years reworked it to fit best for me. I like the flyladys' idea of hers, but it just didn't contain all the info I needed. I love this website, Organized Home. com and they have a special Christmas section. Unfortunately I read on the message boards that the owner will be shutting them down soon due to health reasons, so if you are interested in it check out the message board for more information. She has a lot of free printable, lots of great ideas for preparing for the holidays and lots of other information! During the holidays it's always with me since it keeps track of everything from gift giving to food planning.

Now to go get organized!