Organizing That Darn Notebook

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Lolwlias

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Oct 14, 2007
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I am trying to get my notebook in some kind of order. I save EVERYTHING. Jeepers.
My floating Christmas day was approved yesterday to have Tuesday off, so I now have a three-day weekend.
Last year my notebook suffered a lot.
I love paper. I love lists. One would think this would be easy for me, right? Nope. I have spent way too much time sitting in front of the tv which I am planning to change. Focus. I need to focus.
 

Lori K

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I hear you! I've used the same notebook since I started the HGP. Back then, I printed off everything and organized it by week, for the cleaning tasks, and then put the other "lists" in separate tabs. Some of the narrative print-outs go back to 2007, if not earlier. No sense to re-print, if the narrative is the same (or very close).

I tend to keep the weekly project lists from year to year, and weed them out after 5 years. Looking back gives me a sense of where my priorities may need to be this year -- what I passed over the previous year, what I may have spent loads of time doing (all my baseboards last year), and where my focus needs to be this year. And, I tend to print out multiple blank lists for each week, as I tend to re-organize my tasks and re-write them in a more productive order. And, for those rooms I don't have, I can remind myself what my time was spent on that week.

Good luck, and know you're not alone!
 

sweetpumkinpye

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Apr 23, 2008
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My HGP notebook is not too bad because I just organised it, the rest of my household binder is a mess and I really need to get to it. I need to pull out some warranties for things we no longer have and I need to u date lists for out emergency totes. Thanks for the reminder.
 

Holiday_Mom

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I updated my book last year. My binder was falling apart after 20 years. I still use the printed papers I originally printed many moons ago. I keep my yearly lists on loose leaf paper in the binder.
 

Lolwlias

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I have an oversized binder that houses ALL years past. This is menus, gifts I gave, values worksheet, etc. (Not the whole HGP or it would be too massive.) Then, the current year is in a separate binder. Parts of it will be moved to the big binder later. Looking through the past stuff is heartbreaking & heartwarming at the same time. My words, my thoughts at the time....oh my.
 

Holiday_Mom

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Sep 12, 2009
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I have an oversized binder that houses ALL years past. This is menus, gifts I gave, values worksheet, etc. (Not the whole HGP or it would be too massive.) Then, the current year is in a separate binder. Parts of it will be moved to the big binder later. Looking through the past stuff is heartbreaking & heartwarming at the same time. My words, my thoughts at the time....oh my.
Ok, this is the family historian coming out in me, but that is precisely the kind of everyday, boring, ordinary thing that I find fascinating in history but for most people, it doesn't seem fascinating. I do hope you keep them. I have been trying to do so for myself. It's that kind of stuff that makes a person real. Ok, stepping down from my box....
 

halimer

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Aug 30, 2008
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Ok, this is the family historian coming out in me, but that is precisely the kind of everyday, boring, ordinary thing that I find fascinating in history but for most people, it doesn't seem fascinating. I do hope you keep them. I have been trying to do so for myself. It's that kind of stuff that makes a person real. Ok, stepping down from my box....
I'm 100% with you Mary.

I, too, have a historical bent although I haven't been able to save as much as I should have.

One thing I do have is a 10 year + list of all the gifts I have given, mainly so I don't repeat them. However they are a record of familial and friendship changes - additions and subtractions.