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Thankful Homemaker

Gospel-Driven Encouragement for Homemakers

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Three Simple {Free} Tools To Keep You Organized

by Marci Ferrell
Homemaking Homemaking 101 Series Menu Planning Organization Printables Time Management

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I’d love to help you simplify your meal planning. Check out my new menu planning course here.

These are the three tools that I've used for many years to help keep my days organized and running a bit more smoothly. @mferrell

These are the three tools that I've used for many years to help keep my days organized and running a bit more smoothly. It's nothing earth-shaking here I'm sharing but just the simplicity of a calendar, to-do list, and a weekly menu plan.

These are the three tools that I've used for many years to help keep my days organized and running a bit more smoothly.Click to Tweet

I always think these are probably tools our grandmothers used back in the day.  Every business seemed to give away free calendars, and most meals seemed to be eaten at home.

My grandmother always had a list going on what task she was going to get to each day, and I had a dear aunt who kept a notebook with all the things she needed to accomplish. In it, she kept gift lists and menus for various events along with her daily to-do list. She was probably my first example as a young girl of how to keep my days organized.

I'm thankful for examples because as I always share it can be overwhelming learning how to care for our homes and families. Anything that makes my job easier I'm all for! I'm just going to walk through how I use these three tools.

Calendar:

Before cell phones, I just used a wall calendar. I may have a purchased one now, but in our early years, we always used whatever free one we got from a store or business. Now I utilize Google Calendar, and I'm so thankful for the shared calendar feature. Our family keeps a shared calendar and then we each have our own personal calendar that we still share with one another.

I love knowing what my husband has going on, and he appreciates being able to see my schedule too. You can use this tool well by putting your cleaning schedule in it, and you can skip my paper menu planner I'm sharing about below and even put your meals in it if you like. I just still have a personal preference for paper.

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Related Post: How I Plan My Days

I love the ease of Google Calendar for recurring events and especially birthdays and anniversaries so you can set up reminders ahead of time. I utilize the notes feature well in it for various appointments and make sure I put addresses in it if I'm heading somewhere new.

I use the Google Calendar app for my phone, I've tried others but keep coming back to the ease of how it works. I do appreciate the reminder feature and use it quite frequently for appointments that I may tend to forget.

Related Podcast: Planning Our Days as Homemakers

I just need to stay in the habit of checking it at night before bed and again in the morning, so I don't miss things. I still utilize a wall calendar, but it's not as detailed as my Google Calendar.

I have a separate calendar set-up in it for my blog scheduling too.

To-Do List:

For my regular readers, you know how much I love my to-do list. I have a post on ten things I love about it. It's probably going to come up on a podcast soon lol.

Related Post: 10 Things I Love About My To-Do List

I said “free” in the title of the post, and I'm sticking to it. I know technically you had to purchase paper or notecards, but I'm just saying you can use whatever you already have on hand. If you're like a paper junkie and like me, you already have tons of notecards and notebooks in your arsenal. Notecards have been a favorite of mine, but in the past, before I had a physical planner, I just used a notebook as my aunt did. She took it everywhere with her, and it was a smaller 5″ x 8″ one.

But you can also write your list on a whiteboard or chalkboard at home too.

I usually write my to-do list for the next day at night before bed. It just takes so much off my mind, and I wake up with a plan ready to go. I carry over what didn't get done that day for the next day. I like to pick at least three items as my top to get accomplished if possible.

This is the Daily Docket that has been a help in keeping my days on task. You can grab a free downoad here or just click on the image below:

Daily Docket Free PDF Printable @mferrell

I utilize my calendar app to check appointments, and I do keep my cleaning schedule and morning and evening routine printed out inside a cupboard so I can see at a glance what I like to get accomplished each day. It rarely all gets accomplished each day, but it keeps me focused and productive.

Without a list, I just don't function well. I get easily distracted so for me having a plan for the day is a huge help. I'm not naturally organized or motivated, so I've learned tools to help me work through my day.

Menu Plan:

My family modeled this one for me as a young girl, so it just became a habit for me. Flylady drilled this one in my head too. As a new bride, I used to menu plan monthly and still grocery shop weekly. Now I just plan my menus weekly, and I do save old menu plan sheets to work from for quick ideas.

FREE PDF Weekly Menu Planning Schedule

I still love my lists I've made one of our favorite breakfast, lunch, dinners, and snacks to draw from. This is a handy list to have on hand and one I encourage you to sit with your family and put together. Mine is just typed up in Word documents and printed out and kept in my Homemaking Binder. That way everyone gets their favorites in there, and you have easy ideas.

Related Post: Menu Planning 101

I calendar and menu plan on Sunday afternoon or evenings, so I just sit with my weekly menu planning sheet and start plugging meals in working on leftovers too.

Related Podcast: Simple Menu Planning Tips

I always keep an emergency dinner on hand for those nights when things don't go well. Ours tends to be rice, beans, and salsa.

Related Posts: Favorite Breakfasts Ideas, Favorite Lunch Ideas, 31 Favorite Dinner Ideas, and Snack Ideas

My menu plan has not just saved me time but money too. We do a better job of getting rid of leftovers, and we are also more intentional in getting others over for dinners during the week. I keep my schedule up on the fridge so everyone can see it and I give it a quick glance in the morning to see if there are things I need to prep ahead of time for dinner. It's good to check the day before too in case you have to set out meat in the fridge to thaw.

Keeping Organized:

There is no way around it to be organized with your days you're going to have to take some time to plan. I do know the time you take will be well worth it. Remind yourself always that we can plan all we want but the Lord ordains our days. This doesn't mean we don't ‘t take the time to plan though and be good stewards of the time He has given us.

Your family appreciates you more than you can imagine and I know that as I now have grown children who realize what it takes to care for a home and family. It is work. I know we don't do it for their appreciation, but the hope is that we always have hearts that desire to do all our work as unto the Lord.

One last thought to leave you with and it's from Elisabeth Elliot on reminding us only a few things are important and what is on our to-do list. I don't know where this quote is from but it's been a keeper and a good reminder for me:

“I have been thinking of something that stifles thanksgiving. It is the spirit of greed—the greed of doing, being, having. When Satan came to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, his bait was intended to inspire the lust to do more than the Father meant for Him to do—to go farther, demonstrate more power, act more dramatically. So the enemy comes to us in these days of frantic doing. We are ceaselessly summoned to activities: social, political, educational, athletic, and yes—spiritual. Our ‘self image’ [deplorable word!] is dependent not on the quiet and hidden ‘Do this for My sake,’ but on the list the world hands us of what is ‘important.’ It is a long list, and it is both foolish and impossible. If we fall for it, we neglect the short list. Only a few things are really important, and for those we have the promise of divine help: sitting in silence with the Master in order to hear His word and obey it in the ordinary line of duty—for example, in being a good husband, wife, mother, son, daughter, or spiritual father or mother to those nearby who need protection and care—humble work which is never on the world’s list because it leads to nothing impressive on one’s resume. As Washington Gladden wrote in 1879, ‘O Master, let me walk with Thee/In lowly paths of service free…'”

~Elisabeth Elliot (emphasis above mine)

 

Related posts:

  1. Podcast EP 77: Simple Summertime Meal Planning Tips
  2. Real Food Free Online Menu Plans – Baby Steps to Healthy Living Series
  3. EP 14: Simple Tips for a Clutter-Free Home
  4. FREE Weekly Menu Planning PDF


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Welcome to Thankful Homemaker

So thankful you’ve stopped by for a visit. Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and sit a bit. I hope to remind you that contentment in our role as homemakers begins with finding our satisfaction in Christ.

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thankfulhomemaker

Marci Ferrell
I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wi I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wives, and mothers.  How many times do we focus on our needs that aren’t met?  Unfair situations or circumstances?  Self-pity is a selfish tendency that takes our eyes off Christ and puts them on ourselves.  We forget that “God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” Are we able to give God “thanks in all things”?⁣
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Come take a listen to EP 105: Practical Steps to Overcome Self-Pity at the link in my profile (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"Your household is the most important schoolroom y "Your household is the most important schoolroom your children will ever know. And the lessons they learn don't begin and end when you crack open the family Bible. They are always watching and learning from your example—often without even realizing it. That's a tremendous responsibility and opportunity for Christian parents—one that we must make the most of, for God's glory and our children's good."⁣
 ~ John MacArthur⁣
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Come listen to EP 20: The Blessings of Loving Our Children at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"The visible church is where you will find Christ' "The visible church is where you will find Christ's kingdom on earth, and to disregard the kingdom is to disregard its King."⁣
~ Michael Horton⁣
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Read - Building Loving Relationships In Your Church Family at the link in my bio @thankfuhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
Isaiah 48:10:Behold, I have refined you, but not a Isaiah 48:10:Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;  I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.⁣
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Israel is being refined for the honor and glory of the Lord. I need the reminder that everything the Lord allows in my life is for my good and His glory. All that He does and allows is to further His eternal purposes. ⁣
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He continues to remove the dross from my life in the furnace of affliction, and through each trial and circumstance of my life, the hope is I'm becoming more and more molded and shaped into the image of Christ. ⁣
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Susan Huntington shared on this passage:⁣
"...if our blessed God sees that the disciple, like his Master, must be made perfect through sufferings, ought we not to welcome every means which will conduce to this blessed end? Can we desire to be babes in Christ all our days? If it is a proof of sonship to be chastised, may it not prove a special favor to be greatly chastised? ⁣
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If we were asked what the greatest good is, should we not answer that it is conformity to God? If we were asked what the best circumstances are for the Christian to be placed in, should we not answer that they are those that will, most constantly and most effectually, promote his conformity to God? Shall we then pray for afflictions? By no means. We are weak, and are crushed before the moth. We should not pray for what we do not know that we could bear. ⁣
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We should habitually pray for conformity to God, and quietly leave it to Him to determine by what means He will effect this blessed end."⁣
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-Excerpt taken from my favorite devotional - Seasons of the Heart: A Year of Devotions from One Generation of Women to Another by Donna Kelderman (link to the book is in my profile @thankfulhomemaker - click on the link under the blue arrows, and then this image).
Preaching the gospel to yourself. It's a phrase we Preaching the gospel to yourself. It's a phrase we've all heard, and we all agree with, but deep down, we're like, okay, what does that look like? Or how do I make that practical in my day-to-day life when my marriage is hard? Or the kids are out of control? Or there's an illness in my family, or I'm just stuck in a sinful pattern? Or the house is in chaos, and I don't know where to begin? ⁣
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The reality is we're always saying something to ourselves in our minds, especially in those moments of chaos or difficulty. ⁣
Is what we're speaking to ourselves centered on the truths of God's Word, or are we buying into the lies of the world? ⁣
We need to be talking to ourselves and not just listening to ourselves. But what do we need to be talking to ourselves about? ⁣
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This is what we're going to work through together in EP 69: Preaching the Gospel to Yourself - link in my bio @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"Your worst days are never so bad that you are bey "Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."⁣
~ Jerry Bridges⁣
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Read more at God's Blessing Does Not Depend On Our Performance at the link in my bio @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
How many times at church do you find yourself disc How many times at church do you find yourself discussing non-spiritual things? As believers, our relationships with others in the body of Christ are unlike anything non-believers will ever experience. It is such a joy when you come across another Christian that you haven't met before, and because of the common bond of Christ, it is as if you have known them forever.⁣
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I have a favorite book that gets used quite often by Donald S. Whitney called Simplify Your Spiritual Life. In the section, Simplifying our Spiritual Life with Others, he guides us to drive the conversations into the spiritual. Wouldn't we all as believers like our conversations with other believers to be directed towards things related to knowing God, Bible reading and application, theology, evangelism, and prayer, to name a few.⁣
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Mr. Whitney shares some questions that are a natural help in directing your conversations with your brothers and sisters in the faith to the spiritual.  This is a handy list to keep in your Bible, planner, or purse.⁣
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The link to the questions is in my bio @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"If there is one maverick molecule in all the univ "If there is one maverick molecule in all the universe, then God is not sovereign. And if God is not sovereign, He is not God."⁣
~R. C. Sproul
Thoughts to ponder on the resurrection from John M Thoughts to ponder on the resurrection from John MacArthur:⁣
The basic truth of the resurrection undergirds a number of other truths.⁣
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1. It gives evidence that the Word of God is totally true and reliable. Jesus arose precisely when and in the way He had predicted (see Mt. 12:40; 16:21; 17:9, 23).⁣
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2. The resurrection means that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, as He claimed to be, and that He has power over life and death.⁣
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3. The resurrection proves that salvation is complete, that on the cross Christ conquered sin, death, and hell and rose victorious.⁣
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4. The resurrection proves that the church has been established. Jesus had declared, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (Mt. 16:8)… His resurrection proved that death itself could not prevent Christ from establishing His church.⁣
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5. The resurrection proves that judgment is coming. Jesus declared that the heavenly Father “has given all judgment to the Son” (Jn. 5:22), and since the Son is now risen and alive, His judgment is certain.⁣
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6. The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that heaven is waiting. Jesus promised, “In My house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you” (Jn. 14:2). Because Christ is alive by the resurrection, believers have the assurance that He is now preparing a heavenly dwelling for them.⁣
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~Above via John MacArthur - Matthew Commentary 24-28, Moody, 1989, p. 314-315.
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