Every summer, our family takes a vacation to a lakeside cottage in Maine.  Usually it’s my family of four plus my parents, who love to join us as we leave the world behind.  There’s no stress here.  No worries about work, schedules or deadlines.  And beyond the breathtaking landscape, what really makes the trip so enjoyable is the care we take in preparing during the weeks prior.  The little bit of time we take to plan and pack, lets us relax and enjoy ourselves rather than running back and forth to a store that is not so close by.

About two weeks before our trip, I pull out my file labeled “Maine”, located within the vacation category of my file drawer.  Stored in this Maine file are the rental agreements, local directories, maps, menus and the folder with last year’s packing lists.  The two lists housed in this folder, Household and Menu, are the paper copies we had taken with us last year.  At the end of our vacation, we make notes in the margins with additions, deletions and changes.  So all I have to do now is go into the electronic version, make the appropriate updates to the list and print.  Voila, we’re ready to go.