Tackle It Tuesday - Planner

I procrastinate.  I have been putting off updating my planner for weeks.  I have information scattered all over the place.  It definitely does not make for an efficient household!  Because of my lack of planning, I double booked my Friday and now I am stuck in the house for nearly two weeks.  Why, you ask?  I'll tell you!

When we bought our van, we got a special warranty as part of the package.  This warranty covers the engine for the life of the vehicle plus gives us free oil changes and tires as long as we own the van.  Great deal, eh?  Well, the warranty is pretty strict.  Oil changes must happen every 3000 miles.  Not 3100, and apparently not 2900.  Oil changes must be scheduled at least 2 weeks in advance since every vehicle bought from this dealership has the same warranty and the service department is quite busy.  I knew we would be close but I scheduled the van for this Friday.  I also scheduled a meeting with a mortgage broker to discuss possibly refinancing our home for Friday just a half hour later.  We are now just a few miles over the 3000 and I have to wait until NEXT Thursday to take it in since I had to reschedule.  I can't drive anywhere or else I risk having us bumped out of this program.

Well, to takcle this problem, I got started in my planner!  I don't have the usual planner.  I posted a few months back about my tip for ex-teachers to stay organized.  I use a $1 teacher's lesson plan book that I found at Target.  It just makes sense to me.

Here are all the glorious blank pages.  Part of my procrastination was the desire to not start a system that wasn't perfect. 

And now, my week is planned. The next step is to write in dates and structure for the next month so I don't get behind again!

How is it organized?  I use the Mon - Fri down the left side for the regular week.   I add Sat and Sun vertically on the last two columns on the right.  My columns are:  appointments, to do, shopping, meals/fun, Saturday, Sunday.  I love all the space I have - I can even write in shpping lists!

Join in over at 5 Minutes for Mom to see what else is being tackled!

Tackle It Tuesday

Labor Day.  Supposedly a day to rest from our labors.  Not so around here (and most everywhere else according to Facebook statuses)!  We tackled 2 smaller projects at our home.  For us, this was a big accomplishment.  Doing much in the way of housework with a near-toddler around and with all three of us having colds is pretty difficult.

Project One - Fix the Bed
We had a surprise when we moved in last year.  Our house is old.  Nearly 100 years old.  That wasn't the surprise.  We were surprised when we learned our queen size box spring would not fit up the stairs.  The mattress barely fit.  HUBBY barely fits!  The ceiling is just too low at one point.  We had to find a set of split box springs in a hurry.  New surprise - our current bed frame cannot have split box springs.  So ..... back to the furniture store for a new bed frame.

Fast forward one year.  The bed is, um, squeaky.  Even simply putting the laundry basket on the bed causes an eruption of noise.  Not good when a lightly sleeping baby has his room across the hall with no door. 

We took the mattress and box spring off.  Hubby did some magic to get the frame square.  I did some magic with the vacuum cleaner to erase all the dog fur (under the bed is her "den").  An hour later, the room has been deep cleaned and the bed is quiet!

Project Two - Tackle Lighting/Noise Issue in Baby's Room

Like I said, Baby's room has no door.  The crib has been on the wall right in line with the door.  It just looks so NICE there!  At this point, I would rather have more sleep then have the room look so NICE.  While Hubby entertained Baby, I moved some furniture around.  Now Baby's crib is in the farthest corner out of the reach of the hallway light.   He even has more floorspace now in which to scatter his toys.  The best part?  It still looks NICE!

Did you do a project this weekend?  Head over to 5 Minutes for Mom and add yours to the Tackle it Tuesday list!