Hellobee Boards

I am only half a month in, but what I do is to look at the folder and then pull out the papers that are actionable and take care of those. Papers and stuff I recycle right away, unless it is really special. Other stuff I actually bring to work with me if I have to take care of something. I keep a sleeve of checks in my wallet in case I need to write a check.

The only way I think staying organized works for me is to include my son. He has gym on Tuesday, for example, so we have a little calendar in his room so he can look and check. I also basically stocked up on supplies to make posters and all that stuff, so we can literally do it right now if we need to...we have one due at the end of the month. I bought a pack of poster board, washi tape, stickers, etc.

Though the kids are only 4 and 1, DS1 is in pre-K and DS2 is in daycare (thankfully at the same school). They have a calendar they put together for us that we hang on the fridge. We also have a family dry/erase calendar hanging by the pantry where we go every day. I put important things on there so one of us will see it and remember. I also do a shared family calendar with our iPhones and set reminders so that we'll both see when picture day is or when DS1 has baseball class, or even when he has a field trip. We'll put our own appointments on there as well - I travel a bit for work, so I'll have those dates on there to remind DH when he's solo with the boys.

I need several places for reminders. I like having calendars all over the place reminding us!

@regberadaisy: Yes! I get it. Maybe you could have it by the bar like you said. Looking through things can be the closing part of dinner. They say if you attach new habit to a current habit (dinner or brushing teeth) you are more likely to remember it. Don't have to be so hard on yourself. Change comes with growing pains and there is a lot to adjust to. You will have this down pat!!

@regberadaisy: We are two weeks in to preschool and it's totally an adjustment! Google Calendar on your iPhone seems like the fastest way to organize. Also if you can, you might recommend the teacher use the Remind app. Our preschool uses it to blast info to the parents and coordinate field trips and all that and you can auto add the event to your Google calendar and what not. I love it - even though we still have folders to check, the app acts as a redundancy measure. It seems like it would be easier than printing out papers and stuffing folders and would prefer they go paperless but I realize there are forms that need to be signed.

Dollar Tree has really cheap great school supplies for projects - just buy a huge stock of things and keep it at the house for that stuff. We stocked up on party supplies, disposable aluminum cake and casserole pans, and treat bags for school occasions and pot lucks. Literally dipped into that stash the first week of school twice. And they have these awesome dry erase magnetic weekly calendars that go right on our fridge. I keep one for our menu plan and one for our son's lunches but they can be used for anything.

I look at my son's folder at school and check for things that need my signature or money. I keep a checkbook and pen in my wallet and just sign and cut checks for things right then. Then we walk out of the school.

Our school uses binders. In the binder are a couple of folders that are labeled. Also her class management notebook. The notebook has to be signed every day by us.

At night when I get home, I look at the binder and take out the papers. I make note of what needs to be done today and what are future action items. Things that require me to take action (like order pictures, fund raiser, etc) go into my work bag and I usually deal with them on my work lunch. Her homework typically gets addressed immediately after dinner.

In the morning while she eats breakfast, I sign her notebook and make sure that anything that needs to go back to school with her is in her binder. I then load up her backpack with her binder and water bottle and lunch. She takes lunch about once per week. On the day library books are due back I make sure those are in there too. Or like today she needed money for a fund raiser. I showed her the money, told her which pocket of her backpack it is in and she's on her own.

I'm visual when it comes to future dates. I have calendar (three technically) that hangs next to my monitor at work. One is the daycare calendar of their monthly activities (provided by them). Another is the academic calendar from the school district for the year (provided by them) and the third is my calendar. I note dates/activities there. It's at work, but it's within my line of sight all day so it sort of gets committed to memory that way.