Shopping Tools

Anniversary Gift Ideas - It's your brother's 10th anniversary and you know there's a traditional gift for the 10th, but what is it? Refer to your handy list for anniversaries from 1 to 100 (Yes, that's right, One Hundred! This tradition must date back to Biblical days when people lived longer.)

Back to School Shopping - This is a checklist of the things kids usually need for a new school year. Before heading to the store for those wonderful new school supplies, inventory your children's backpacks and desks (and the floor of their closets) to see what you have and check it off the list.

Errands - So simple, and yet this is one of the most valuable lists of the bunch. "Oh, here I am going right by Target on my way to my son's piano lessons. What was it I needed from there?" Easy to know! As needs have come up, you've been jotting them on this errands list, organized by store or category, as you wish. (I also keep track of oil changes on this list so I won't forget them as I am out, but you can also use the Maintenance Journal for that and all auto needs.)

Gift Wish Lists - You suddenly have a brainstorm about what to get Uncle Glen for his birthday! Don't lose that great idea. Write it in this organized Gift Wish List under Glen's name. Does Grandma want an idea of what to get the kids for Christmas? You've been keeping a list of thought-provoking, educational, useful gift ideas that won't end up at the next garage sale. This list can also help you avoid impulsive purchases that can clutter up your home. When you want something, write it down under your name and let it sit there a while. If you still can't live without it after time has passed, it may be time to get it. (But make sure you have a place to put it first!)

Grocery List - This list probably will win the "most used" prize. Included in this checklist are some most commonly needed items, but you will of course add and delete according to your own family's needs. Drag and drop whole departments to put them in better order for your favorite store. Navigating this list takes a little getting used to, but with a smidge of practice you'll be very efficient. I switch back and forth between the Meal Plan Organizer and the Grocery List as I check my kitchen supplies for the week. Here's how it works: All items are checked to begin with. As you need something, you uncheck it. Use the Collapse All/Uncollapse All feature to find the items you need more quickly. When you go to the store, use the icons at the bottom of your screen to show only the items you need, which are the ones that are not checked. As you shop, check the items you collect and they will disappear off your list (temporarily). Kids love to use your handheld to check items as they go in the cart. Just be careful they don't get TOO eager and check things off before you get them. This is one place we've had fun with the time stamp. As we get in the car to go shopping, I announce Ready! Set! Go! as I use the time stamp (cursive L, then TS, see above) to record the time we leave. When we are back home AND all the groceries are put away, I use the time stamp to mark our finish time. We try to improve our times. (And treat ourselves for improvements!) This can be incentive to help Mom and keep things moving during the shopping trip.

Grocery Price Book - Save money on food! Record the prices of items you buy regularly. You'll begin to spot trends and know when a sale is not really a sale, and when to stock up to the hilt! You'll hear yourself saying, "No, we never pay more than $2 a pound for that kind of cheese." "That's no sale! Costco has it fifty cents cheaper per pound every day!" "Wow! Load up 25 of those, kids! That's the best price we've ever seen!" This list is simply a copy of the grocery list, with examples of how to fill it out as a price list included in the produce section. As you delete the many items you don't want to track, this list becomes faster to use. While in the store, one of the children can mark down prices for you as you dictate.

New Baby Shopping List (T) - Use this list to shop for a baby shower, set up a baby gift registry, or to see what you need for your own new baby. It probably includes everything you could possibly need or want for a new baby, except things like formula, wallpaper, or paint. You definitely don't want to buy EVERYTHING on this list. Remember, a lot of baby stuff gets outgrown before it's worn out, so try to use hand-me-downs from generous friends and family as much as possible.

Size Chart - This chart allows you to have all your family members' clothing sizes at the tip of your fingers. The sizes for the first person are filled out as an example. Don't forget people you give gifts to, like Grandmas, Grandpas, cousins, etc. To add a person, click on a person that has not yet been filled out (like "Son 1") and use "Item" then "Duplicate" up in the menu bar. Drag and drop anything to where it belongs.

Reference Tools

Birthdays and Anniversaries - Keep your loved ones' special days on this month-by-month list. January is filled in as an example. This beats having to recopy birthdays into a new calendar every year. It's also better than cluttering up your handheld's calendar with birthdays and anniversaries. It definitely trumps my old way of simply forgetting everyone's birthdays.

Books, Videos, Movies and Web sites - A friend recommends a good book or video. How will you remember it? Pull out your handheld and record it for the next time you're looking for a good book or movie. Also, if your family reads a good book or sees a good video, jot it down here to be ready to share the good find with others. In addition, use this list for web site recommendations.

Borrowing and Lending - "Where's that book? Did I loan it to Marge? I can't remember!" Now you can! Share your things freely, and keep track of it here as a good steward should. Also use this to remember what you've borrowed from others. Before using this, duplicate plenty of items so you can loan out or borrow lots of stuff.

Government Numbers - Even as busy moms, we can make a big difference in the public square with just a few minutes of time, if we're prepared to make that short phone call or jot out that letter. You can be an activist with a cell phone or a pen while waiting at your child's gymnastics lesson, if you are prepared with this list. When you receive information that you want to call or write about, note it here if you don't have time to act right then. Also note when you called or wrote and on what issue of importance. Note that national e-mail addresses are not listed, simply because our representatives are deluged with e-mail. Phone calls and letters are far more effective.

Miles - Driving to the blood bank? Volunteering at your church? Adopting a child? Record the miles here (don't forget how easy it is to use the date stamp) and deduct them from your taxes at IRS rates. You can also record business miles or miles related to rental real estate. If you really have a lot of miles to record, especially with multiple vehicles, you should use Trip software at Handshigh.com. For more information and to see the tax deduction rates, go to www.handshigh.com/html/irs.html.

Vital Statistics - Keep your family's important data here, like passport numbers, blood type, insurance numbers, place of birth, and even frequent flyer account numbers. For security reasons, don't include your Social Security Numbers or credit card numbers. To record these and other very private information on your handheld, use Memo Plus from Hands High Software at Handshigh.com, which includes encryption capabilities.

Planning

Birthday Party Planner (T) - Pull up this template when you're ready to plan the next birthday bash. Plan the type of party, who to invite (copy and paste from your address book if you like), the refreshments, entertainment, shopping list, to-do list, etc., the whole shebang right here in one place. As RSVP's are called in, check the box beside who is coming. After the planning items are complete, copy or drag and drop the entertainment, games, refreshments, etc. to the bottom of the template to put together a schedule for the party. Celebrate!

Teacher/Parent Meetings - Be ready for that next parent/teacher conference armed with a list of notes and organized questions compiled over the previous weeks. You are your child's best advocate. You love him the best and you know him the best. So be kind and polite, but don't be shy to bring up any concerns with your child's teacher. Also list and share goals for your child with his teacher.

Goals Planner - The only reason to be organized is to have more time and energy to accomplish your real goals in life. Organization just sets up an environment where you and your family can best thrive and reach for the important things in life. Setting goals with each member of the family helps focus time and energy on those important things. My husband and I have a weekly planning meeting that often includes reviewing our goals.

Home Management

Clean Team Rules - These rules are from the book "Speed Cleaning" by Jeff Campbell. See www.thecleanteam.com to speed up your family's housecleaning. This list summarizes their 13 rules to get you started.

Clutter Control Rules - Step One: Go to www.thecleanteam.com and read the full explanation of the Clutter rules from the book "Clutter Control" by Jeff Campbell. Step Two: Carry this summary of the rules around your house and FREE YOURSELF from all that junk! Even if you spend only 15 minutes a day, you will make progress. All our extra stuff just gets in the way of using and enjoying our really beneficial stuff. I try to get myself to list out what I DO need on a given shelf or in a closet or drawer, and then get rid of the rest. For example, I listed how many long-sleeve shirts I needed - ten. I picked my favorite 10 shirts, plus one for painting/outside work, and gave the rest away. This idea falls under Rule 6: Pick a number and stick with it. It really works.

Freezer Contents - Not only does every food look almost the same when it's frozen, but even with meticulous labeling, we forget what we have in the way of "frozen assets". You don't need to record every single thing in the freezer, such as "24 ice cubes" or "Johnny's science experiment", but just the meals or ingredients you might possibly overlook while doing your meal plans. Maintain this list and you will avoid waste and rescue doomed meals.

Home Improvement/Odd Jobs - List all the areas/rooms in your house here, and use it to track the things you want to improve or repair in your home. Don't let any of those good ideas slip away! This can also double as a repair (or "honey-do") list.

Housecleaning Day - This shows one way to divide up the weekly cleaning work in your house. Our family (Mom and kids, that is) spends one morning (about 2 hours) a week cleaning house, and we use this list to assign and rotate jobs. Everything goes a lot smoother when everyone knows what they are supposed to do. Training them to do it well and fast is a whole different challenge! As an example on the list, I inserted alias' for my children with their real ages for the 1st week of the month. The kids do different jobs every week. On the 5th week of the month, since it only happens every 3 months, I assign them to jobs they don't usually do so that they can train to do them. We use The Clean Team Rules and the books and video by that organization for our cleaning methods. My 9-year-old son was actually anxious to clean the bathroom after watching how to do it on the video! I have to admit that enthusiasm waned quickly, but that it appeared at all is a good recommendation for those materials, available at www.thecleanteam.com, or at your public library.

Maintenance Journal for Home and Auto - There are 4 parts to this practical list:

1. Automobile maintenance. Log your trips to the mechanic and oil changers here. Is it time to change the oil yet? When were the brakes last inspected? Didn't we just replace that belt the mechanic says we need (at $60/hour for labor)?
2. Regular House Maintenance. Do you ever forget to change the air filter on your heater? We did for about a year (before Organizer for Mothers, of course), and ended up freezing up the motor on our blower and paying $1,000 for a huge repair!! This is a list of regular maintenance chores that should be done. Schedule your maintenance jobs on your calendar so that they WILL get done.
3. Repair Log. This is the place to record who fixed what when and how they performed. We want to remember to NOT call the same people who did that heater repair. (We think they overcharged us.) Can you remember that great company who fixed a broken window last year? The baseball has struck again, and you can't find that number. Next time you'll be able to with this handy list.
4. Jobs to be done next. Itemize the jobs that need to be done at the next opportunity. Schedule a maintenance day to do these.

Meal Plan Organizer - What's for dinner? Organize your family's favorite, easiest, and cheapest meals, and also meals you want to try. Put them at the bottom of the Plan Organizer. The same meal can be put in more than one category. For example, "chili" may be both a Family Favorite and Easiest to Cook. When you're ready to plan, drag and drop the meals you want to cook up into the weekly or monthly meal plan. You can even make a shopping list to go with each meal. See the Tortilla Soup example. Or what if you're at Aunt Stacie's house, and you want to remember to try her great recipe some night at home? Write it here under "Meals to Try". You can just jot down the recipe underneath!

Super Supper Service - This is just a little list of kitchen chores that need doing after a meal. Adapt it to inspire your family to work together to make dinner cleanup quick and thorough. Depending on how many family members you have, assign multiple jobs to each person, then rotate every week. Weekly rotation works so that one person is not stuck, for example, with the rinsing job on every Thursday night, our big company dinner night. This list was born out of frustration as each night people (aka everyone but Mom and Dad) would be excused from the table, then wander off and busy themselves elsewhere. I (aka Mom) would have to call them back into the kitchen from whatever they were doing and tell them not to leave until we've cleaned it all. At that point, everyone would wander around the kitchen like slow-motion bumper cars, clearing off a dish here or wiping a little there. With differing opinions on when the kitchen was clean, everyone would then wander out of the kitchen one by one. After assigning specific, detailed jobs, we clean up (almost) like a well-oiled machine, or at least, when something doesn't get done, we know what (who) needs to be "oiled".

Medical

Child Doctor Exams - Chronicle your child's growth and remember what happened at each pediatrician's appointment. Write down questions you will want to ask the doctor so you won't forget. Most doctors recommend eight exams during the first year of life (newborn, 2 to 4 days, by 1 month, and at 2, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months), and three visits during the second year (at 15, 18 and 24 months). Your child's physician will most likely want to schedule a checkup at ages 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8, and then annually from age 10. Keep in mind these are general guidelines. Your child's doctor will determine the best exam schedule. Don't forget, before you start marking up your last blank "Child" item, add a child by placing the cursor on the "Child #_" item and choosing "Duplicate Item" from the menu.You may want to compare your child to the Normal Stages of Child Development list (see below) before the next exam to see if you have any questions or concerns.

Dental History - Log your family's dental visits and always have the dentists' names and numbers handy to book an appointment. Most dentists recommend cleanings every 6 months. My dentist also recommends that we floss once a day, but only the teeth we want to keep.

Emergency and Medical Information - You have your address and phone feature, but shouldn't you have emergency numbers all in one place? All on one screen you'll have the police, doctor, poison control center, or daycare, among other important numbers. You can also record critical medical information at the bottom of the list. We need all the help we can get in an emergency!

Medications Journal - Use this and you'll always be able to remember the antibiotic that worked or didn't work last time, the pain medication Jimmy was allergic to, or when Janie had that last ear infection.

Mother's Health History - Take care of yourself, for your family's sake! This provides a place to record all your illnesses and treatments (hopefully short lists), and to jot down any questions you may have for the doctor at your next regular checkup. Speaking of regular checkups, you also have a place to note when you had your last mammogram and pap smear. There is also a place to track menstrual/ovulation cycles, especially for you who are trying to add more blessings to your family population!

Normal Stages of Child Development - This is an overview of child development from birth to 5 years of age. The time frames are averages, so some children may appear late or early in their development, but still be within the normal range. Not all children will display all of the emotional and social characteristics listed, but these are normal for children of that age. Children can be lovingly trained to limit the undesirable social and emotional characteristics. Any questions you have should be written on your Child Doctor Exams list so you won't forget to ask your pediatrician. Just for fun, you can use this as a template to record the date your child reaches a milestone.

Pet Care - Register your pet's shots and veterinarian visits, along with its medications. The furriest members of the family need to be monitored too, don't they?

Vaccination Schedule - You're registering your child for an activity, but you don't have his shots record. No longer! Keep your family's immunization records on this list. This template is based on the Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule for the U.S. as of 2002. Please check with your doctor for any updates. Enter your family's vaccinations as received. Don't forget to include adult boosters and travel shots. Use the nifty date stamp feature (described above) to enter the dates.

Travel

Car Camping Checklist - Do NOT pack ALL of the things on this list, or you won't have room for the most important things - the people in the family! Adjust this checklist to suit your family, or leave everything on as memory joggers, or call up a new template for each trip and edit it.

Packing List - This is a generic list for any non-camping travel. Using drag and drop, this list can easily be reorganized by room where things are kept. Or again, call up a new template for each trip and edit it. You could develop a catalogue of lists for all the different types of trips your family takes: summer beach, winter ski, car trip to Grandma's, plane trip to sight see. If you have ThoughtManager desktop version (windows only at present), you can print the "for each person" section out, give one to each child, and let them pack themselves.

Picnic Planner List - What could be nicer than a picnic with the family? Here's a place to record your favorite picnic spots, recommended picnic spots you want to try, and a packing list to make your outings a cinch. When the sun starts to shine, you and your family can be spontaneous and get out there in record time!

Travel Preparation List - As you plan that wonderful family vacation, reading tour books and web sites, record the places you want to visit and things you want to do so that you'll have all the information when you're on your trip. A few of the many items that might appear on a list about a trip to Washington, DC were included as an example. (By the way, our field trip to DC was awesome, and having our travel info all in one easy-to-carry place was also awesome! When we found ourselves with a couple of extra hours, my list of things to do and our map got us to some interesting places.)

Moving

House Hunting Checklist - You've seen so many houses they're beginning to all look alike! To help you find which one is right for your family, use this checklist to keep all your visits straight. You'll definitely want to use this as a template, pulling a clean one out of the Templates list every time you see a new house, and saving it as the address or description of the house. Select "New From Templates" from the ThoughtManager menu. As you wander through the house, check the items that apply to this house, and fill in the other information on the list that's important to you. We hope this makes your search for a new home more fun!

Moving Checklist - There are so many things to think about when moving! Here's a comprehensive checklist to help you stay on track. This list was adapted from the list by ABF Upack at www.upack.com/checklist.asp and other checklists on the internet.

Inspiration

31 Days of prayer for your children - This is a prayer guide that gives you a different gift to pray for your children on each day of the month. An applicable Bible verse is also quoted to help you form the words of your prayers for your precious blessings.

31 Days of prayer for your husband - A prayer guide to use to lift up our dear spouses.

Bible verses on Parenting - When you think about it, the entire Bible is about parenting, because God is an example of a loving Father, but here are some verses specifically about parents and children.