Life in 2011: In a nutshell

A few weeks ago, Zazzle had a sale on custom Avery binders.  And the Type A freak in me was IN LOVE.  So I designed 3 binders: two for Finian Road (one for 2011 income/expenses and a second for 2011 client files) and a master Ski family binder to keep everything in one place.

As my two little words for this year are simplify and encourage, this definitely fits under the "simplify" category.

They arrived last night, and it was like Christmas all over again.  I had been mentally organizing everything since late December, wanting to bring order to things that felt all over the place: projects, deadlines, meals, and work/family/house balance. And into my sweet new binder everything went...and I LOVE IT.

Clearly, I'm in a major post-Christmas, pre-birth nesting phase.

Anyway, I divided the inside of the binder into 8 sections:

1. Current projects  |  more below
   For January, 31 projects in 31 days.  Mainly small projects that we need to get done, but don't have a set timeline for.  Larger projects are broken down into smaller ones, and one project a day is manageable. And it's been a great motivator to want to check something off each day.
2. Daily Routines  |  bringing order to every day
   From the FlyLady.  Those are a work in progress right now. 
3. Weekly Routines  |  bringing order to each week
   Cleaning schedules, laundry, groceries, etc.
4. Recipes  |  prints
   Printed copies of recipes that get the Ski Family Seal of Approval.  Also saving random recipes that I'm finding to try (like a diabetic-friendly lasagna from last Sunday's USA Weekend) and ideas for lunches for Jonathan.  Current recipes inside?  Brown Sugar Meatloaf, Three Bean Turkey Chili and To Die For Blueberry Muffins (which I tweaked yesterday and made into lemon blueberry muffins). 
5. Relay For Life  |  mainly, family Relay stuff
   To keep all of our family-related Relay info, mainly specific to the Thurston Relay.  That way, Jonathan and I can both stash stuff in there and access as needed.  It can sprawl like no other once Relay season is in full swing, especially with a new wee Relayer arriving 2 months before the event.  More organization now = sanity later.
6. Upcoming  |  random items
   For upcoming project ideas, coupons, monthly projects to come, etc.
7. Finances  |  especially to track health care
   After this year's disaster of small business health care coverage (seriously, writing a check for $965 post-insurance-payment for lab work IN DECEMBER?!?), to help manage all the details and ensure that everything we need to deduct gets deducted.  I've never been more thrilled than when my new insurance coverage approval letter came on 12/31/10 for 1/1/11, all thanks to my proactive husband. 
8. Finian Road  |  ideas/brainstorming
   I keep my Finian Road files in my office, but this is the perfect 'staging spot' for ideas/details as they come up and get moved to my office. 

In the current project section, there's the "31 projects in 31 days" checklist.  Jonathan and I both work really well with checklists, and it's fabulously satisfying to be able to work through projects and check them off as they are completed.  It also gives us a good overview of what still needs to happen by the end of the month.

And per usual, it matches our binder.  Because I'm a nerd like that.

And that's how we're getting a jump start on simplifying our Ski family household into the new year. 

And the feeling is heavenly.