::a new notebook::

I am really into composition books. You know the old school ones with the marbled covers.
I love that these books are really sturdy and have a lot of room in them.  Many people use them for art journaling because they hold up really well. In the public schools around here, they are used instead of spiral notebooks. At back-to-school sales, I stock up on them, they are incredibly inexpensive. I love that composition books don't take up much room and they sit neatly on my bookshelf. That makes the minimalist/organizer/simplifier in me so happy.

I have several that I use here at home. I have 4 basic notebooks. A bible study book, a Christmas planner, a finance/budget notebook, and a home & garden notebook. I would love to add a design/inspiration notebook next. I have tried so many different binders, notebook, planners, etc. and I am so happy to have found a system that works for me.

I just started my home & garden notebook. For a long time I just jotted down notes and collected pictures here and there. Now I have a place to put it all down. I will add tabs like I did with my Christmas planner. I like designating a good number of pages to each section, this makes the notebook more flexible and useful for many years. I figure that my Christmas planner will last until my kids are grown. I left enough pages in the kids and gift sections to get me through for a very long time. I like being able to refer back to past year's gift giving. Closer to the holidays, I will post more specifically about how I use my Christmas planner.

In my home & garden book I hope to include things like household tips, a gardening schedule and journal area, ideas for zero waste and green living, photos and scans for inspiration, a section for keeping chickens, my bulk shopping list, cost-per-meal calculations, grocery budgeting, notes from seminars and articles, and so on. This will be a great resource for me and will allow me to simplify my information.

I have decorated my notebooks with magazine cutouts and printable quotes. I like making them pretty to look at, somehow it gives me more incentive to use them. It invests me in the process of getting organized.
I am off now to work on my notebook. I love January for getting organized.

Blessings, Tami