Carry Your Brain in Your Pocket

am a work-at-home mother with a toddler and a lot to keep track of. So when a friend told me about the Sidetracked Home Executives books and 3 by 5 card system, I decided to give it a try.

I found that it worked great, except for one problem: I hated all the 3 by 5 cards. Over time I have developed a way to use an inexpensive pocket planner to duplicate the card system. It fits in my pocket, it beeps to remind me of things to do, and it's just way cool. Here's how I do it.

I use a Radio Shack Electronic Organizer. The catalog # is 65-726; EC-396. It cost me about $30 on sale; I think it is normally around $35. You could use this organizer or any one of a number of different ones, ranging in price from $15 to $1500. The main point is, you don't need anything fancy. [Note: This model is long out of production; see the links at the end of the article for organizers that might work for you now.--Ed.]

First, I made a master list of all the chores that need to be done to keep my house in ship shape. (Or at least to keep it from sinking beneath the weight of unsorted rubble.) I organized that list by room and holiday.

In other words, I listed all the bedroom chores together, all the kitchen chores together, all the Christmas chores together, etc. I even included reminders to buy birthday gifts and to replenish my underwear every January. Then, I wrote down all the out-of-the-house appointments I have each week. Those fall on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Next step was to make a weekly schedule. I did follow the SHE system for this, giving myself a quiet day and a free day, one heavy cleaning day, two moderate cleaning days, and a family day. At first, I had a baking day, but have long since decided that doesn't work for me. Scheduling the baking takes all the fun out of it for me. I like to bake when the impulse strikes. I don't like to bake when I feel I have to.

My weekly schedule ended up as follows:

Monday: Moderate cleaning

Tuesday: Moderate Cleaning

Wednesday: Heavy cleaning

Thursday: Quiet day

Friday: Errands

Saturday: My free day

Sunday: Family day

Once this schedule was made, I looked at my master list of chores and determined how frequently each of them needs to be done. The tub, for instance, needs to be scrubbed weekly, but the front porch only needs sweeping about once per month. I need to buy Christmas cards once per year and a birthday present for my Dad needs to be ready for mailing in mid-August.

Then, I took my planner and entered each and every chore on the date I planned to first do it along with a notation of how frequently the chore needs to be done.

One particular Monday morning, my planner beeped to tell me that today's chores include changing all the bedding, dusting and sweeping the master bedroom, putting away all of my daughter Susie's toys, and picking up and vacuuming my husband Paul's office. I did all of these things (except for Paul's office--I wrote a note to him, asking him to do that when he gets home from work). Then, since they were marked *W* for weekly I moved them to next Monday in the planner.

My planner also told me to do my daily chores. These were marked with a *D*. I did those and moved that instruction to tomorrow's date.

Finally, the planner reminded me that this was the day to start making Christmas gifts for Paul's mother and step-mother. This is marked with a *Y* for yearly. After I went to the store to buy what I need to make their gifts, I moved that instruction to Feb 1, 2000. The supplies sitting in the middle of my craft table reminded me to get those gifts made by the end of February.

The planner also reminded me to take Susie to play group at 9:30 and to call my friend, Libby, who has just gotten out of the hospital, and to arrange a sitter for Paul's and my February date night.

All of that is included in the schedule part of my planner. There is also an address book section, a calculator, a memo section, a to do list (which I use to make lists of chores I need to do, but have no idea when I will do them). I use the memo section to record the titles of books, movies and CDs I want to borrow from the library, also to keep track of ideas I have for Christmas and birthday gifts. I'm not sure how much memory my gadget has, but I've never overloaded it and I have a lot of info in it.

Basically, my life would crumble to pieces if I lost my planner or neglected to replace batteries. So, in that sense, cards are more practical. But I find that I prefer the portability my planner allows. It goes everywhere with me.