photo by Deannster

So, I’ve not been too shy about admitting how deficient my attention span is. There are things one should do on a regular basis that just don’t cross my mind. Things like taking the laundry out of the washer and drying it before it turns into a science project.

While I have slowed life waaaay down, there are still the inevitable appointments and outings that come when you’re raising a family. On top of that, I make commitments, like a weekly book club chat or writing for other websites, that I am always afraid I’ll forget to do. All that time spent worrying about forgetting can really clog one’s brain.

This year, I have a new strategy for staying focused and not getting sucked in by time wasters. Google Calendar to the rescue! I am able to sync my online calendar to my blackberry. So I have a little Googleberry going on. Doesn’t that sound yummy? Like snozberries.

The function that has changed my life!

The calendar itself is pretty cool, but the part that is revolutionizing my life (revolutionizing, I tell you!) is the reminder function. The beautiful little ding that alerts me to an upcoming task or appointment. Google sends me reminders from anywhere from 5 minutes before to a few days before an event. If you don’t have a Blackberry or iPhone, no worries. You can still set your calendar to send you email alerts, text alerts, and pop-ups on your home computer.

I spent a good two hours the other week on Google and I set up my schedule. I entered in general times that I wanted to be reminded of something, like “Do chores” at 3pm daily. No matter how many awesome schedules I make, you would be surprised how many times a week 3pm comes and goes and I forget to get going on chores. Not anymore! My phone dings and off I go. Totally beats post-it notes all over my house or writing on the back of my hand. Don’t judge me.

Set up: It’s easy.

Enter in an event or task and have it repeat as often as you like with one click. So every Monday, until I tell it to stop, Google will send me a text message to remind me to log onto our book club chat at 4:45pm. I’ll also get an email earlier in the day and a pop up on my phone five minutes before the chat.

Sound excessive? For someone like me, it’s not. I could get the text at 4:45pm, open my laptop, and get distracted by my inbox. Normal people, like most of you, could probably do with one reminder.

That’s what’s awesome about this calendar, you make it work for you! I appreciate it so much that I have gotten into the habit of entering appointments the second I make them, right there at the dentist’s office or whatever. My phone will then sync to Google. While I hold a special place in my heart for the reminder function, being able to glance at my calendar and plans no matter where I am is pretty cool, too.

Of course, more than once in the last two weeks I’ve gotten the ding and looked down to see “Do chores!” or “Leave for gym!” and just plain ignored it. But at least I know I intentionally skipped things, instead of just being so frazzled and distracted that I forgot to do them. And yes, there is a difference.

Any downside?

I’ve heard reports that the calendar can crash and lose your stuff. I rest easy because I know my phone has most of the info, and I write all appointments on my paper calendar. I just can’t give up paper quite yet.

If there is a downside, it would be that I have to be attached to my phone. But this is already the case, I carry it in my pocket most days, or set it on the kitchen counter where I can hear from most anywhere in our little house.

Do you have any tips for staying on task?

Related: How to get motivated to clean your house.

[Note: This is part of my series on Creating a Homekeeping Book that I posted last year.]

Getting started:

• First, decide how many meals a day you’d like to plan. I originally left out snacks, and then started over when I realized I hadn’t bought snacks at the store. My plan includes: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner. We’re big snackers.
• Once you have your meals set, decide how many days per week you’ll plan for. I did seven days, but our weekend lunches, snacks, and Sunday breakfast are TBD (To be decided). That means whatever we have left in the fridge if we’re not out, which we often are on weekends.
• If it is possible, plan leftovers one night a week. We have leftovers on Fridays.
• If you eat out regularly, plan these times as well. We eat out on Saturdays. This comes from our grocery money, and fortunately for us our favorite food comes from a burrito place and is under twenty bucks. We usually bring food home for a family night, which ends up being even less expensive.

Gathering ideas:

Decide how many weeks you will plan. If you plan 13 weeks, you’ll repeat your menus just 4 times per year. Let’s say you’ll plan 13 weeks.

Now, start a blank sheet of lined paper for each meal you have selected. Decide for each meal how many ideas you’ll need per week.

For example, for breakfast, we have hot or cold cereal 3 days during the week, a hot breakfast once, and a bread like pancakes, muffins, or waffles once. On Saturdays, I plan a big breakfast.

So for my breakfast idea sheet, I only need to come up with 13 cheap and easy hot breakfasts for school days, 13 breads, and 13 bigger breakfasts for weekends. Only I don’t actually worry about coming up with 13 because I can repeat things. In fact, in my menus I have 9 hot breakfasts and breads for during the week. I do have 18 Saturday breakfasts, though, because there are so many recipes I love.

For Snacks, we will typically have one morning and one afternoon snack all week long. It’s cheaper that way, and easy. Mornings always include a fruit and afternoons a veggie. I don’t plan which fruits and veggies, I just buy what’s in season. So I only need 26 ideas for snacks: One morning and one afternoon. Of course, snacks are easily repeated, so if you can only think of 13 ideas, no problem!

Every lunch includes a veggie and a fruit. We have sandwiches 3 days during the week and one “hot lunch” a week. On Fridays, we have a “snack lunch,” which means I cut up a protein, a grain, and some fruits and veggies and put them on a plate. It’s just more fun that way.

My idea sheet for lunch will need 13 hot lunches only. On weekends, I don’t plan out lunches, we eat whatever’s around. For our snack lunch, I use little bits of leftovers.

Planning Dinners. Every dinner has a main dish, a side if needed and at least one veggie. I lead a Bible study every Monday evening, so our dinner has to be something easy. Every Sunday, we have a family dinner that takes a little longer to prepare and encourages sitting around the table for a while longer than usual.

For dinner, I actually put my ideas into categories, such as healthy fare, quick and cheap (for Mondays!), Mexican, Italian, Chinese, etc. Think about what is important to your family and how you want to eat. This will help you later in planning menus.

So, for my idea sheet for dinner, I will plan 13 cheap and fast meals, 13 super-healthy meals, 13 ethnic meals, 13 chicken based dinners, and 13 Sunday family dinners that include a dessert and a couple yummy sides.

Where to find ideas? Get out all your cookbooks and magazines, look online, and ask your family for ideas. Especially consider family favorites! This may take a few days to complete. Finding 5 dinners a week for 13 weeks that meets your criteria is no small task.

One of my favorite sites is Kraft foods. They have lots of kid-friendly meals that take under 30 minutes. Another is Cooking Light.

Consider these things when filling in ideas:

Your budget

Your family’s likes and dislikes

Your health

The time you have for preparation

Now it’s time to spend some time gathering lots of ideas. Fill in all your blanks for each meal. Tomorrow, I will share how I plan each week out.

Read the complete series:
Homekeeping Book
Menu Planning Part 2
Shopping Lists, your Key to freedom
A Cleaning Plan for the Housekeeping challenged
Mini-Homekeeping Book for Girls