Still having fun with my organizational progress. Continuing with last week's "mission", I have again created my weekly meal plan and I completed my grocery shopping Monday night. YEAH! I even put everything away, well, except the dog food. It's still in the back of the car. I'll get it tonight.
On to this week's Mission --
Create a Simple Address Book and Organize Contact Information
Before we go further, I need to remind you that I am following an organization program called "52 Week Organized Home Challenge." If you want to see the entire program and the author's entire comments on each section, there is a button toward the bottom of the right side of this blog. These are just my ways of completing each step in the process! Join me in the fun!
1. Decide how to store your contact information - Electronic! After all, I'm a gadget girl. I store all my contact information on my iPhone. That way, I always have it with me....unless....I leave my phone at home...... But on those days, when I am phone-less, I can access my contact list via iCloud. Which is really cool and very helpful! BTW, if you go to the Organized Home Page for this week, she offers some free pdf forms to download if you prefer a paper method.
2. Create a simple address book with Basic Contact information.
Since my phone has already done this for me, I'm good to go. I will say that if I am entering lots of names and addresses, I'll use a excel spread sheet and then import them into my phone using an app called ExcelContacts. There is a free version available but since I deal with large address lists (I work for a church) I went ahead and purchased the regular app and have been very pleased. It also allows you to create groups which is invaluable for me. You can also export your contact list as a backup. It is more reliable than other backups I have dealt with.
Since my phone **should** be in my purse, this item is done. I'll create a sheet for my household notebook...after I create a household notebook. I notice there are no specific instructions for our household notebook, but I think it should contain all the important stuff I can never find. LOL!
***See Below for Helpful Freebie***
4. Create An Emergency Contact List For Reference In Central Location In Your Home
Similarly, you should have a list of emergency contact numbers in your home for quick and easy reference if the need should arise. This includes phone numbers for poison control, emergency services, fire, police, medical and dental, veterinarian, neighbors and emergency contacts.
***See Below for Helpful Freebie***
5. Create List Of Information For Items In Wallet In Case It Gets Lost Or Stolen
I think this will be a helpful bit of information, as I have had my wallet stolen before. It think I will scan/print this information (drivers license, credit cards, medical insurance cards) and place it in my household notebook...for safe keeping. I think I will hole punch a large envelope and drop this information in there. That way it will be out of sight but still in a safe place. Of course, if you have a family safe, that would be a great option too. This also needs to be updated, especially the credit card information, on a regular basis.
6. Create A Business Contacts List Or Organized Collection Of Business Cards For Frequently Used Service Providers
I have most of this in my phone with searchable fields such as health care, maintenance, etc. So, I think I actually have this item under control. I also use a free app called CardCam to store any business cards I have (Link is for an Apple app but you can Google for an android one as well). I simply take a photo of the card and it sorts the data into my contact list. I double check all the phone numbers before I save the data because it sometimes misses the character recognition on those. But it is handy and lets me do 2 cards per week, which is more than I usually encounter and want to save.
***Helpful Freebie***
Since I am hardwired to type everything on a computer, I created the following PDF for my NEW Household Notebook! I combined all the information from items 3 and 4 into a wonderful, funky, 2-page document along with a notebook cover sheet. Since I love to share, I'm putting the link here for you!
Now, I have a "Household Notebook"!!! Or at least the beginnings of one!
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