was franklin a bin user? (spell check not working)

I love things to be in order. or perceived order...:)
I love Ikea catalogs because everything is white and 'in order' looking.
I AM the elephant on Tarzan that asks 'is that sanitarrrrrrry'?
I've never gone into the container store for fear of never coming out!!!!!!1 REALLY

At the height of my career in the late 90's i was turned onto a planning system called Franklin Covey. It essentialy is; if followed to the T, a road map to succesfully acomplishing all things important. I rember attending a class and getting my first leather planner. It actually reminded me of those bible covers that you see people carry every now and again. i wondered if maybe those weren't bibles after all.
I simply loved the act of preparing for the day/week/month. i knew that if i put all my ideas/goals/roles on paper i would somehow be a step closer to being the woman i wanted to be. I would often make the joke that my franklin was like my brain on paper just like the drug commercials that said 'this is your brain on drugs' and showed an egg frying in a pan.
I was religious with my Franklin for many years
until i became a part time employee and more a full time mom. I found myself in less meetings...less opportunities to use Project Sheets and Expense report tabs..(or as my father would call it 'creative writing')
I didn't give up carrying the planner around...it just didn't get opened as often...
So, without the need to organize my life on paper i moved to organizing the THINGS in my life - those things that seem multiply like rabbits:

christmas decorations
scrapbook supplies
toys
dirty laundry

(now i know there are those of you closest to me out there that are wondering where those bins were everytime you came to my house - they were in closets or in the atik)

trying to get all six of us comfortable in this little house has brought my organization love to a fevered pitch of late. Although i have loved having a first floor laundry....that means that the laundry is ALWAYS on the first floor!!!!!! So, Santa got me a Laundry sorter that fits perfectly in the closet just to the left of my laundry area. IT works perfectly as long as I'm the ONLY one putting laundry in it!! apparently the different shades of blue on the fabric bins are not a big enough clue for those with testoterone or under 13 years of age to tell where the whites and darks go!


the wee ones are more organized as well. Aunt M got me two hanging bin/basket thingies that have the days of the week labled. each monday morning i've been filling the bins with jammies/outfits for the week.
This has helped in so many different ways. If i find myself bathing one without having brought down jammies, i can easily send another person upstairs to retrieve that days jammies, OR in the morning if i am busy, someone can easily run in the room and grab outfits for both wee ones without having to put any thought into it. It is so worth the time on mondays!! I highly recomend it to anyone!!

This past weekend with all the wonderful company - i just had to have a Come to Jesus meeting with the toys. (uncle bruce walked around and picked up toys the ENTIRE time he was here) I decided that i would pretend to be a montessori mom and i went out and got bins to organize the toys in. I did bins for loud toys, cars, trains WITH their tracks, Chicken nugget meal toy bins and pretend toy bins. I also moved the kids table into the main living space and set the train table up on its side so that WHEN it is down it is actually used to play trains on!


books are easily grabbed from the book shelf. now of course the real trick to the bins is actually keeping up with them. i practiced yesterday when Barb came over with a couple of her children. we got out bins, put down the train table and it worked pretty good. it made clean up easier if nothing else. I have to find some way of 'temporarily' labeling the bins. I don't want to sharpe them..i need to find Post It type lables so that i can put a picture of what goes in the bin and put the word on the bin as well. (now i really sound like a 'edumucated' mom...i can hear rose laughing right now)


AND...of course i have my New Franklin planner that santa brought. For the first time in a long long time i actually sat down and re did my roles (mother, daughter,wife,friend, child of God) /goals (family vacation) and put some thoughts down for my personal mission statement(this part is the hardest).
I am pleased to say that i have done my weekly planning since Christmas.
that is probably what precipetated the bins................

hmmmmmmmmmm...............
do you think Franklin was a bin user?????????