Home Management: Your Week-at-a-Glance

The basic structure of good household management begins with a good plan.

There is no better way to plan than with a calendar.

Yesterday, I told you what I look for in a functional calendar. Some of you shared with me what you look for in a calendar and how you plan. Thank you for the great input!

Let's discuss using the month-at-a-glance feature in our calendars. We want this section of our calendars to be just that, an at-a-glance, or an overview. This is the area that you are going to write down appointments, birthdays, when to return library books, and anything else you need to keep track of.

The trick is to keep it abbreviated! For example today was Gym and Swim at the YMCA, so on my monthly calendar it looks like this:

January 26 G&S 11-12:30

If anyone had asked me two weeks ago what I was doing on the 26th, I could flip to my monthly page and see Gym and Swim 11-12:30. I didn't need to flip page after page.

Also, I know that lunch needs to be made quickly that day to feed my boys after exercising. When I make my menu for the week, I'm going to think along the lines of Peanut Butter and Honey sandwiches, or make something ahead that can be reheated in the microwave.

Any additional information can be written on the daily page, which I will look at later.

Home Management: Finding a Functional Calendar

What makes the structure of home management? How do you get it? Well, my friend it’s just like with any project you have to be able to plan.

The most essential tool for any planning session is a good quality calendar. Notice, I didn’t say calendars. I said one, singular good calendar.

I’ve tried several types of calendars out, but I find I return to the same type over and over. It’s nothing fancy.

Here are my tips for finding a great calendar:

*Find one that runs July to June. Normally these are student calendars, or even student planners. Most of us are moms and have children in school. What happens in the beginning of a school year when notes are sent home outlining the fund raiser that occurs in April and our calendar runs out in December? We have to hang onto that note until we get a new calendar to write down the information, or try to keep that information in our heads. Can we even find that note when we get a new calendar? Can we trust our brains to remember?
Why have a calendar run out in the middle of the school year? Pick up a student calendar!

*Make sure your calendar has both monthly and weekly calendars.
Both of these features are important to how the calendar functions.
It is important that the daily section is large enough to jot down more in-depth notes and create a plan in.

*Make sure that it is well made. I like spiral bound calendars with a plastic cover that protects the calendar from being ripped.
These are features that I think are important in a calendar.

Later in this series, we are going to look at the best way to organize our calendars.
Is there a particular style or brand of calendars you like? Share with me in the comments.

Prayer for Christian Marriage

A PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

O God of love. You have established marriage for the welfare and happiness of humankind. Yours was the plan and only with You can we work it out with joy. You have said, "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a help-mate for him." Now our joys are doubled, since the happiness of the one becomes the happiness of the other. Our burdens are now halved, since when we share then, we divide the load.

Bless this couple. Bless them as providers of food, clothing, and all the other necessities of life. Sustain them in all the exactions and pressures of their life's vocation. In their labor may they provide for each other but never let them work so hard that they forget to give each other love and attention.

Give them tenderness that will make them great, a deep sense of understanding, and a strong faith in You. Give each of them that inner beauty that never fades, that eternal youth is found in holding fast the things that never age.

Teach them both that marriage is not living merely for each other; it is two uniting and joining hands to serve You. Give them a great spiritual purpose in life. May they seek first the Kindgom of God and His righteousness, and then other things will be given to them. May they not expect that perfection in each other that belongs alone to You. May they minimize each other's weaknesses, be sensitive to magnify each other's points of strength, and see each other through a lover's kind and patient eyes.

Give them enought tears to keep them tender, enought hurts to keep them humane, enough of failure to keep them humble, and enough of success to make them sure they walk with You.

May they never take each other's love for granted but always experience that breathless wonder that exclaims, "Out of all this world you have chosen me."

When life is done and the sun is setting, may this couple be found then as now, still hand in hand, still thanking You for each other. May they serve You happily, faithfully together, until at last one shall lay the other into Your eternal arms.

This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ who loves us and gave Himself for us.

Amen

(Adapted from a prayer by Dr. Louis H. Evans)

Family Manager's Creed

The Family Manager's Creed

I oversee the most important organization in the world--

Where hundreds of decisions are made daily

Where property and resources are managed

Where health and nutritional needs are determined

Where finances and futures are discussed and debated

Where projects are planned and events are arranged

Where transportation and scheduling are critical

Where team-building is a priority

Where careers begin and end

I am a Family Manager

--Kathy Peel