Getting Organized with a Home Bible Directory
My friend, Aloha Mom, asked me to write about organization, particularly on how to make things easier for working moms. That was about 6 months ago, so clearly I am not that organized. But during the last two weeks, I have been ticking off those things on my personal “To Do” list like annual medical appointments and other yearly pain-in-the-neck errands that I realized the value of the “Home Bible” I created a few years ago for myself.
This was not my idea; I got it from a magazine article, written by Carolyne Roehm, the former fashion designer turned home guru. Her article was on tips from millionaires/billionaires. The premise: they must be doing something right, so here, copy what they do.
The Home Bible is simply a 3 ring binder with business card plastic inserts — the kind you buy from Staples — in which you organize all your service providers by category. Carolyn was impressed when a Hostess-with-the-Mostess could whip up an elaborate birthday party in fifteen minutes (and so am I!). The Mostess Hostess said it was easy because everything related to a birthday was organized into her book (flowers, cake, entertainment, invites, etc.) so she just had to make half a dozen calls in swift succession, and voila! a lovely party!
So, my tabs are:
- Advisers (attorneys, accountant, etc.). I put this first in case we both die and no one knows who to call to locate our will. In fact, the attorney who does that has a handwritten note on the card which is first that says, “Has Our Will and Trust.”
- Birthday Party Ideas. Yes, I needed something fun to balance my first tab. Cards for cake bakeries (nut-free, of course), entertainers, and places that have birthday parties.
- Medical. You’d be surprised how many business cards of doctors we seem to have. But we need: nutritionist, dermatologists (3), the best pediatric orthopedic surgeon in Boston in case my son breaks his arm and requires 3 pins again, etc.
- Home Service Providers: carpet cleaning, junk removal, appliance repair, auto repair, taxi service (only one company in my town!), piano tuning, and more.
- Children’s Activities: strangely blank. I need to collect some cards to their gymnastics place, flute teacher, Spanish tutor, and more.
- Real Estate Agents and another sundry: a photographer, cards for helpful salespeople at department stores, bankers in case we need to set up a new bank account, etc.
- Restaurants: so it’s easy to make a reservation or get an idea for a place for a date night.
- Frequent Flyer Numbers: plus other cards with ID numbers for the car security.
This is what I need to keep track of. How about you? What are your organizational tips and tricks?
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BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 is a book that I created to highlight books written by authors who share the same marginalized identity as the characters in their books.