Cardfile Discussion from PWYC

Lynchpin of any organizing effort. Discuss your weekly plan.
Indiana

Cardfile Discussion from PWYC

Postby Indiana » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:07 pm

From helia:

3x5 cards question: Should I ask this somewhere else?? I'll start here. . . I've been re-reading P & P's book the last couple days. I might actually set up a box for myself; I wonder if that works better than a list which i make up each day in a notebook now? Some of you seem to use your boxes. With a box, what do you do with errands/meetings that aren't part of your regular schedule? Like this week, dd12 has an eye appt. M, Pepper had a vet appt. T, ds has a funny looking spot on his leg which might result in a Dr. visit, ds also has a dentist appt. Thursday, we have houseguests Thursday night -- I offered to house them before I remembered that half our bedding and kitchen equipment is in a box somewhere in LA right now :shock: -- and dinner guests, 1 or 2 families, Friday night? And we need to get dneighbors' yard mowed. Do you quickly make up extra cards for the appts. etc.? Or maybe I haven't gotten to that part of the book yet. I'm not completely finished.

Indiana

Re: Cardfile Discussion from PWYC

Postby Indiana » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:08 pm

helia with cards you would make a card for each person that has eye appointments and put it in the appropriate month of the appointment and then moved to the day in the current month. The same thing with dentist and doctor appointments. Also one for Pepper for the vet.

You can also put the card a month before you want to schedule as a reminder and then move to the appropriate month and then day of the current month.

Because you have houseguests often you could make a card for that. Also for dinner guests. Sleepovers is another one. How about camp, music lessons, etc.

Indiana

Re: Cardfile Discussion from PWYC

Postby Indiana » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:09 pm

From Kathryn:

Helia: this is how I see the progression of P&P's work.

Original SHE: Gets the house in order.

Happiness File (HF): expands the SHE system to lives, not just a house, recognizing that outside responsibilities (taking kids to lessons, volunteer & part-time payroll jobs, doctor's appointments) all impact on your scheduling of the housework. Basically they wrote that book because their houses were in order but their lives were a mess.

(I had never heard of this until joining the SHE boards back in 1998. HF was out of print by then but I found one in the first used book store I went to. I figure God was helping me out as much as he could! The book is an absolute gem.)

It sounds to me like Happiness File is the best resource for you at this point in your life.

I haven't read the other books or listened to their original tapes so can't comment on those.

Then, partly in an attempt to fully implement a SHE/HF system for the woman who needed to carry the system with her so she could schedule all facets of her life whether she was at home or at work or otherwise outside the house when an appointment had to be made, they created Bound to Be Organized (BTBO), available in video only, no book as far as I know.

For me it was perfect timing since I had been trying to make HF work with a Daytimer because I needed the portability and professionalism it offered. What better than to let my Gurus who had helped me all along develop the system for me.

From there, some of us went to Flylady (which is basically BTBO combined with the email reminders) and others followed CEO who encouraged the use of stand alone technologies (palm pilots, or just a computer) to implement a system.

And through it all (right from pre-web days on Prodigy) women have been getting together to provide support.

As for which system works best? I think all of them are best for different stages of life. So you have to figure out just what you are trying to master and which system fits the bill best for you at this time.

To point out how important 3x5's used to be to keeping me sane, dh actually designed a counter in this kitchen so my cards could be laid out and there was a permanent home for my box, well out of the reach of little, dumping, hands. To this day, my box still sits on the counter, along with my control journal (and a HUGE pile of other papers!) My palm pilot recharger is also on that counter, logically since so much of my system is now in my Palm. But it is a symbolic place for the charger as well because my 'card file counter' is still where I start when I move to recharge myself and my system.

Indiana

Re: Cardfile Discussion from PWYC

Postby Indiana » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:11 pm

helia wrote:

Ooh, thanks for the input, Indiana and Kathryn. Lots of food for thought. . . Yes, some of the appts. this week are regular ones which could have a card - like dd12's eye appt. and the vet appt. The dentist is an additional appt. to pull out 2 baby teeth if ds hasn't wiggled them out yet so not a regular event (I sure hope). Yes, I could make houseguest and dinner guest cards. I don't have (and hadn't heard) of the Happiness File book. I actually got into this through flylady - I guess that's where I got the idea of using a notebook. There are a couple little things I need to do this week, like return a video tomorrow and pick up photos that we left at Walgreens weeks ago. I suppose I could make cards for those events and tuck them in the correct day/week, but I kind of like keeping a running list and being able to add those items to it at will - and being able to see all the things I need to do on one page. I don't know which system would work better; OTOH, it seems like the cards would keep me more accountable for the tasks I never get to and won't put on my list regularly. Maybe a combo; I could figure something out, I bet. I don't have a pilot; dh just got me to switch from the desktop to a laptop so that was progress for me. I probably should finish the book first.

Indiana

Re: Cardfile Discussion from PWYC

Postby Indiana » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:12 pm

Cowinkie wrote:

Evening y'all...

Helia, I still have my original box from 1984 or 85. With Sidetracked I listed each chore on a separate card and the time it took to do it. Several years later I learned to use 1 card for each grouping, like cleaning the kitchen. I also had the monthly and day date dividers..1-31. When I had appointments I put them under the month, and then move things around accordingly. I found that for me, it was best to place an appointment card under the day before I had the appointment. I set up my box every Sunday night, so I would know what my week would be like. After all these years I still find myself following the same day schedule..like Monday is light cleaning, Thur. blessing the house, Friday is errand day...

In fact, the system worked so well for me, that I use my "box" to stay on top of things at school. Monday is filing day, Tue pickup, Wed/Thur lesson plans and grading, Friday make copies and socialize with other teachers. I keep all my teacher-friends birthdays set up there. The other day I actually BOUGHT cards for all my friends so I won't have to scramble to find one like I usually do. I have as many as 90 meetings a year for my special ed IEP's...not including regular as needed parent meetings. At the beginning of the year, before the kids come to school, I set up my other "box" with all my meetings. Each student has an annual date...I list all my Sept meetings,in day-date order on one card, same for Oct, and so on and so on. That way I know which month I'm gonna get slammed with meetings. It's been my life-saver. There is actually a teacher's flylady group that I belong to and have taught many of teachers to use this system.

Indiana

Re: Cardfile Discussion from PWYC

Postby Indiana » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:13 pm

Kathryn wrote:

Helia One of the things that happened when I set up HF was that I used coloured cards. So I had distinct colours for each category. Monthly and less frequent chores remained white so I could reuse my existing cards. Then there was a colour for outside the home chores (meetings, dentist, doctor, kid's activities), chores money items, kid's chores (so they knew they only had to look for cards in their colour and I knew to nag, not do!), my personal items (not many but I added a card for weekly time off.)

The outside the home cards were generic and when one would come up I'd look at the kitchen calendar and know the time and date for the activity.

The problem with the system was that the kitchen calendar wasn't mobile so when I was out I at a meeting and we were setting dates for upcoming meetings, I never knew what my weeks were like until I got home and could see if there was a conflict. That's why I morphed into a planner system, so I could carry the calendar with me.

Indiana

Re: Cardfile Discussion from PWYC

Postby Indiana » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:15 pm

Harriet wrote:

Card vs list chat - helia, you mentioned that you like to see everything at a glance. I used to, but eventually found it discouraging. I would get carried away and list myself into guilt and gloom whenever I looked at the long thing. I learned about myself that I like to know I have quick access to all the info, but prefer the immediate separation/organization of grouping tasks on humble little hard-copy. Cards are fast. Any card can be rewritten quick or tossed in a second. No hassle. There is also probably something tactile about it.

I use the concept of grouped tasks like Cowinkie, and color like Kathryn, some decoration like Nancy on ongoing ones. Colored paper clips or tiny post-its might send me messages like whether one was skipped last time. Permanent cards for ongoing chores, maybe just card-sized note pads for quick one-time reminders, that sort of thing. So for your errands today, I would probably have made out one card to group:
Monday
Pick up photos
Drop off video
Veterinarian __ o'clock
It would go in my purse in the photo-style card folder with other helpful ones, while Monday's chores and routines cards stayed home in the box.
Cardfile Central forum has ongoing chat about cards - blessedwith2 and Nancy post most often. And it also has links to resources that are interesting.
If it pleases you to see at a glance, you may be happy with your existing method. If you try cards, you may find ways they fit in, though.

Indiana

Re: Cardfile Discussion from PWYC

Postby Indiana » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:16 pm

mamapiano wrote:

I have been reading with interest the posts about using cards to organize it all. I did try that way back but the cards never worked for me. I'm not sure why. Right now I am using my own adaptation of the David Allen "Getting Things Done" which has worked better than anything else, though I am surely not "there" yet.

Indiana

Re: Cardfile Discussion from PWYC

Postby Indiana » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:17 pm

MysteryWoman wrote:

I have been trying a checklist for the past while, as I've been trying to get the girls to use one as well (I don't think they're quite up to cards yet), but I think my cards were working better for me. I forget how many I had, and I can't go upstairs and check, not being home, but it wasn't a huge amount. I use different colors for different types of tasks -- now, let's see if I can remember them: white for house cleaning/general tasks, pink for personal care, green for prayer time, yellow for meals/prep, blue for tasks involving the girls. I put about a half-hour's worth of tasks on each card -- sometimes that's one task, sometimes as many as three or four. I also have a number on each card according to the approximate order they typically fall in a day to help me reorganize them at the end of each day.

However, for now, I'm using a checklist -- finally got all the necessary things out here to use one here (very much needed to revamp the tasks and order thereof). So far, I've done nothing in the cabin today; haven't even gotten the beds made. Leaders' meeting is about to start in the room I'm in, so I'd better go.

Indiana

Re: Cardfile Discussion from PWYC

Postby Indiana » Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:19 pm

Harriet wrote:

"I also have a number on each card according to the approximate order they typically fall in a day to help me reorganize them at the end of each day." That is interesting. I wonder if that would help me. I might fret too much about whether the numbering was accurate, but that's what pencils are for.

mamapiano, under Cardfile Links in Cardfile Central is a link to “free DIY planner downloads in custom 3 x 5 size”. The DIY subset site explains itself partially this way:
“Although chiefly inspired by David Allen's Getting Things Done, an emphasis has been placed upon tweakability, multiple methodologies, and tinkering (endlessly!) with ideas.”


Return to “Basic Week Plan”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

cron