Keep Your Family Life Running Smooth With A Family Organizer

A family organizer is a great way to eliminate hassle and keep your family's information and activities organized in one control center. A household organizer can benefit your family by:

• Keeping you organized, and helping avoiding missed appointments
• Providing quick access to important phone numbers, as well as personal and home and auto repair information
• Simplifying meal planning and preparation
• Keeping other important information at your fingertips for easy access

Keeping a family organized is a tough task for many moms. Between household duties, extracurricular activities, appointments, and a variety of other commitments, it can be hard to manage all of the activities of a busy household. Fortunately, an organizer for your family is a great way to keep all of the information you need right at your fingertips. A simple household organizer is a great way to save you time and hassle, and keep all family members on the same page when it comes to important household information.

An organizer for the whole family serves as a convenient place to store all of the important information necessary for your family. It's a one-stop manual that can include schedules, calendars, planners, inventories, shopping lists, meal planners, and important contact information for coworkers, family, friends, medical offices, emergency services, and other important contacts.

A family organizer is distinct from a personal planner, because it serves as a master planner for the whole family. Since every family has a distinct routine, each family's organizer must be tailored to their own needs. A family organizer is typically a standard three ring binder with tabbed dividers to organize the information into convenient, easy-to-find categories.

There are a number of variations in how a family might use a household organizer since the information kept there will depend on the specific needs of the family. Couples with grown children may include gift lists for adult children, while homeschoolers may include a homeschool curriculum and other pertinent information. Couples with young children may include information for babysitters, whereas those with school age children will dedicate more space to school and extracurricular activities. Fortunately, a household organizer can be expanded to accommodate a variety of family scenarios.

Just like the information included in the family organizer can change according to the family's needs, the categories can also be set up in whatever way works best for your family. But, these are the suggested categories into which much of the above information falls, along with the type of information recorded there:

• Master Planner: This is a monthly calendar of events that documents all appointments, events, and activities for each family member, along with important schedules and "to-do" lists.
• Phone Numbers and Contact Information: This section is self explanatory, and includes phone numbers for medical providers, home repair providers and handymen, school, work, daycare, family and friends.

• Household Management: This section can include an inventory of your home, home maintenance schedule, and routine and seasonal chores. You can also include children's chore charts here, along with information like recycling and trash removal schedules, and car maintenance information.
• Travel and Activities: Use this section to gather materials for planning picnics, parties, camping trips, and vacations. You can also include information on house sitters, car rental, and air travel. Newsletters and rosters from organizations like girl or boy scouts, the PTA, and church also belong here.
• Family and School: Ideas for what to include in this section include a page of personal information for each member of the family, clothing and shoe sizes for the kids, a list of important occasions like anniversaries and birthdays, and other personal information like gift suggestions and party ideas. For school age kids, you may include things like the school vacation calendar, lunch schedule, school information, and information on before and after school care and summer programs.
• Money and Finance: Of course, you won't keep all of your financial details in your family organizer, but it's a great place to keep a monthly budget and expense sheet, along with pending bills, credit card statements, and online access information. You may also want to keep information on your safety deposit box, home and car insurance, and warranty information.
• Meal Planner/Grocery Lists: This section can help you organize coupons, meal plans, and menus to make meal preparation a snap. In addition to keeping you organized, this can also help you manage your coupons to save more at the grocery store.

Fortunately, a family organizer is incredibly versatile and can be tailored to whatever your family needs for its virtual control center. Creating a household organizer will simplify your family's routine, making it effortless to stay on task and find the information you need, when you need it.

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