Listing your Lists! AHA moment #2

I'm a crazy list maker...rather, I make lists like crazy! 

If I don't make notes and lists, my great thoughts and ideas are gone with the wind!

I have bought notebooks upon notebooks over the years, searching for the perfect notebook. It must not be too big or too small or too fat. It must be thin enough to pop in any purse and it must be able to lay flat without any coil binding (hurts my hand). It cannot be wide ruled...(waste of space) and it must be cheap. Well I found the perfect notebook for me to keep track of my great thoughts and ideas.

It is about 5x7 inches and comes two to a pack for about $3 or 4 (don't remember exactly) at Target. The best thing about them is the graph lines inside. I seem to write so much neater and smaller on graph paper but they are available in regular lined also.

I started with just one book. It's my master book of lists. Each page is titled a particular subject....like:  ideas to blog,  books to buy, decorating projects to do, freezer meals to make, things to make for grandkids,  garden to do's, gift ideas, stores in foreign countries to go to...REALLY did you know that in Italy you buy good makeup in pharmacies? and if I ever go to Florence I will go to Farmacia di Santa Maria to buy fab face creams! hey, it could happen, but if I didn't write it down it wold NEVER happen!

and I have lots of ideas for booklets I want to write (and sell here) .....

 It's my brain in a book! I love it!

After awhile, I found that I had so many ideas on certain subjects that I gave a few their own notebook..and they all fit neatly is this cheap little plastic napkin holder that fits on my desk.

Now one is just for blog ideas

one for gardening

one for scripture study

one is a hair diary...I love this one,

 I've pasted photos of my various hairstyles over the years,  ( so I know what style to never do again what products work well for me, and hair color (the formula from my stylist)

one is for travel (don't forget to pack list) that is part journal and part lists like favorite restaurants

What lists do you habitually make that you could benefit from a list book?

BE SURE TO SEE THE COMMENTS SECTION FOR MORE IDEAS!

How to Organize your Makeup Stash!

I've never seen anyone with this much makeup BUT there are some good organizing ideas here.

Genius concept for kids socks!

I've been out of the country for awhile and slowly getting back on schedule.

I have to interrupt my aha series to add this plug for a brilliant sock company that we've just had contact with.... .blindmicesocks.com   and here's the reason why I had to add this now.

My last post was about laundry and that one of the biggest pains was matching up the kids socks.  Well ...with blind mice socks, you don't have to!! They are purposely made to wear mismatched!!! AND they come 3 or 5 to a pack cuz they just know you're going to lose one.  Genius!

I love the bright colors and apparently they are made to fit perfectly with no sagging..ever. I will be getting these for my grandkids for sure.

even their packaging is cool!

#1 Buckets

As I write this I am stuck at the Vancouver BC airport. Looks like I will be able to get to Seattle and then sleep on a bench somewhere till morning, then hop a flight to Salt Lake in the morning and then on to Atlanta in a couple of days. So.....I will be blogging since I have my laptop with me.....and a ton of Canadian candy. Ya that'll be an interesting dinner.

I wish I had a photo of the colored plastic buckets or dishpans that I used when the kids were growing up.

I found this photo online that has the same idea. It's super pixelated though.

I put a tall open shelf in the laundry area  and put in one "bucket" for each child (6) and one for my husband and me and one for loose socks. They were labelled with their names but the colors were better identifiers.

The kids were responsible for getting their laundry down to me and separating into the "whites, colors and towels" hampers that I had. If they didn't bring them down their laundry didn't get done. (I was real big on natural consequences". )

When the laundry was done I folded everything and placed in their buckets. They were responsible for getting them back to their rooms. It worked well when they were little. Once they turned 12, they were given new privileges and new responsibilities and doing their own laundry was one of them.

The socks bucket was for loose socks. I would call the clothes dryer the "great Burmuda rectangle"because pairs of socks would go in but then some vanished. Every once in a while I'd put the bucket in front of someone watching tv and said "here, match these up"

I loved my Buckets system!