July has been a really good month for ideas! As I began preparing for our new homeschool year, I came across some new ideas that really captured my attention. I am very very excited about some changes I am making!

The File Crate System

Okay, so I have been sharing with women for over eight years about how to get their lives organized. I came across this idea over at Dawn’s blog. She has been apparently using this system for several years.

I have been using my Household Notebook “system” for a very long time – years! And it works great. It helps me stay on top of my chores, menus, and schedules. In fact, you can print off some pages for your own Household Notebook over on my side bar to the right. But the Household Notebook did not solve my major issue with papers, ideas, and -um- papers.

So, I plan to use a variation of Dawn’s system.

I purchased a super cute file crate for $5.00 at Wal-Mart. I love pale pink! It has to be my favorite color! Wal-Mart has these really cute crates right now for the “Back to School” season. They have several colors – pale pink, dark pink, purple, lime green, orange, and blue.

I also purchased a box of hanging file folders and labeled the tabs. Twelve of them are the months of the year. Dawn labeled hers in two month increments, using only 6 folders – January/ February, March/ April, etc.

I know, it is hard to see the labeled hanging files in the picture above. I also added some hanging files in the back for the major aspects and events of my life: Children’s Ministry, Campmeeting, A Virtuous Woman, Gardening, Camping, etc.

And in the very front, I added a hanging folder that I plan to leave in the spot for daily use – Homeschool Records. In years past these records have made their home in my Household Notebook. This year, I decided to try Daily Journaling for our homeschooling. I could have printed off pages for this and placed them in my Household Notebook, but I decided instead to purchase a pretty composition notebook and use it like a real journal. So, I put the composition notebook in the Homeschool Records folder.

In each of my monthly hanging folders I have labeled a file folder (I purchased the Fall Colors File Folders from Office Depot) for each week. Since I plan to begin my “new year” in August I began the first folder with Sunday, August 2 – August 8, 2009. So, this means I will have 52 folders – one for each week, plus extras for the different categories. For instance, in my Children’s Ministry folder, I will have a folder for VBS 2010, Sabbath School, Pathfinders, etc.

You can read more about how Dawn uses her file crate system. I am looking forward to this year!