I haven't written a book report in many years - I feel like I'm back in school when I say the words book report.
But I mentioned a little while back that Hubby bought me Candy's Home Management Binder for Christmas. I've had time to read and ruminate, and here's a brief synopsis of what Candy has done for us as she walks each of us, section by section, through the designing of our own Home Management Binder.
First, she gives a simple plan for designing our own Master Schedule. This is your own daily plan, hour by hour. It can be just for you, or it can include each member of the house. Candy's ideas for laying it out are neat and orderly, with suggestions for prioritizing and fitting in those lower-on-the-list items that we really want to do but often don't make time for.
She also recommends a back-up plan for the days that your schedule just won't work. She has suggestions for working with your schedule, around your schedule, and outside your schedule. To put it simply, she helps you understand how your schedule works for you so you and your family don't become slaves to the schedule.
Next, Candy helps with menu planning and grocery shopping. Again, she provides examples that might inspire but also gives plenty of useful tips in building your own menus and lists so that you're not reduced to copying hers.
Although I won't be using her personal methods and schedule for cleaning the house (we have far more traffic and could never get away with vacuuming less than daily!) I thought her section on cleaning was the meatiest and most helpful. Maybe that means this is where I need the most help...hmmm.
She presents several different approaches to complete housekeeping and gives her own cleaning schedule as an example. It is inspiring, and I can't wait to begin implementing many of her ideas in this area!
Now she continues through several other sections which may or may not apply to your individual household: homeschooling, vaccination, hobbies, recipes, etc.
Sprinkled throughout are encouraging words, examples, letters from other users, recipes, suggestions, helpful links, and more. There are many blank forms to help you get started as well.
Candy has provided some great organizational help here. It looks deceptively simple, so that reading it, I found myself thinking "I can do this. I already knew most of this." But she has laid it out in such a neat and orderly fashion that it's not an overwhelming task to start doing things in a new way.
For a newer or less experienced housewife (I'm not exactly a beginner at this wife-and-mom stuff, although we're always learning) I think this would be a fantastic learning aid.
If my description just isn't doing it for you, take a look at the many examples online that other users have posted. You can find them in the left sidebar on Candy's blog.
She has built a very neat and functional wheel. If you're thinking you might need one, don't reinvent it yourself. Consider buying one from Candy.

Labels: books, misc.