Losing track of the projects you want to get done around the house? As homeowners and even as renters, we are constantly adding to a very long list of home projects and things we would like to get done around the house and yard. The list can become overwhelming, the piles hard to manage, and some of the focus can get lost. So why not create a system for your ideas and many todo’s?
For the Paper and File Driven Among Us:
In an existing hanging file drawer system or a small container type hanging file start your “Home Projects” file that will store all of the great ideas and inspirations for around your home. This will give you a place to stick all those pictures, helpful articles and the research you collect related to one project or another, help keep the piles under control and makes it easy to sort and track all of our ideas.
You can have the file made up of folders; one for each room or area of the house – living room, bathroom, landscaping and so on. Tucked inside each of these folders is a main list of project ideas for the named area, followed by pictures, articles and research for those projects.
As you finish one project, flip through the folder and select the next one to tackle and move it to the front. Having a system like this can help keep you from losing track of priorities and creates a routine for maintaining the seemingly endless list of things you need (or want) to do to make your house your home.
If you would like to create this kind of file system for your household projects, here are some tips:
1. Start by collecting all of your ideas, articles and picture clippings into one pile.
2. Sort the pictures and articles by room/area of the home.
3. Weed through your collection of pictures and articles and make sure you are keeping only the ones that you either love or are possible.
4. Label each folder with the area and put related clippings inside. Use a small binder clip to hold multiple pieces related to one project together.
5. Create a separate list of the main ideas for each area and tuck the list inside the appropriate folder.
6. Label the outer folder “Home Projects” or the title that works best for you.
7. Set a time or date, maybe quarterly, to maintain the file. Go through the folder and weed again, making sure projects and suggestions are relevant.
Perhaps Electronic is more your style …
If you lean more towards the Electronic way of housing and maintaining files, give Evernote a try.
Evernote gives you the ability to create folders, save images, research, resources and articles directly to your folders either by upload, dragging or saving directly from the web or email and you can create checklists as well.
If more than one person is involved in your project, you can share your files and notes with them.
Some of the other great features of using a tool like Evernote is having everything in one place, takes up no additional space, you will have direct, clickable links to websites that you want or need for reference, can continue your research without having to save 15 links to your browser or printout countless pages. You can make purchases or even compare color and decorating ideas with the click of a button directly from your notes.
Images and existing documents can be uploaded or scanned into Evernote and it gives you a sweet little way of keeping all your receipts, before and after photos, and checklists all in one place.
Want more options? Ritika Tiwari over at Cloudwards reminds us that “the right note-taking app for you will depend a lot on your requirements and the devices you use.” Here’s her post that gives a great overview guide for some of the best Apps available.
There ya have it, the Home Projects file is born!
Image: Jørgen Håland
*Content updated and re-published on 9/29/16. Original blog post written by Karen Mansur, Living Peace alum.
