5 After 5, Favorite Organizational Tools Edition

Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means if you click on a link and purchase something, I'll receive a small affiliate commission at no cost to you. Thanks so much for supporting my efforts with this blog!

It's time for another round of 5 After 5!  In case you missed it, last week's list was 5 favorite road trip memories and if you're new to this series, you can read more about it here and catch up on all the old editions here.

Today I've got my list of 5 to share, as well as next week's topic for you to stew about over the upcoming days.

And this series is now a link party, so be sure to scroll down and join in all the fun with us this week!

List 5 of your favorite organizational tools 

Considering my attempt to stay ahead of the game on our month-long trek into the wilderness (somewhat) fell short of my goals, I figured it might be helpful to list the top tools for keeping track of all the crazy that is life nowadays.

1.  My computer

Since I was a little girl, I've always been a file cabinet girl.

It started with an old cardboard file box that my mom was getting rid of - she passed it along to me and I filled it with all sorts of important treasures like favorite coloring book pages, drawings, stories, and all the crazy plans that I would dream up (Like for a set of tunnels that would run along the ceiling of our house, so I could travel from room to room without anyone noticing.  Assuming they never looked up, of course.)

My early filing skills came in handy during my college days, when I worked at a library (Shelving books?  One giant file cabinet!) and afterwards as an administrative and executive assistant, as well as with all of the usual files full of receipts and bills that come with running a household.

However, last year, I decided I was ready to shed my file cabinet girl cape and have been steadily working on transferring all of that paper to my computer.

So much better.

My goal is to finish this little project up in the next few months.  Sure, there will always be a few things I need to hold onto in physical form, but I'm hoping to fit all of them into one simple box to set upon a closet shelf.

2.  Cozi App

I may still only have a dumb phone, but I do have a Nook, so I'm actually able to make use of a few of the different apps that are out there.

I use Cozi for our master calendar - that way, as long as I have internet access, I can check on a date, even on the go.

My favorite aspects of the app are how I can assign each member of our family a different color and also how easy it is to create a "recurring event."

3.  White Board

When we enter our house from the garage, the first thing to greet us is our control center, which is just a fancy name we call the white board hanging right there on the wall.

I have a two-week's-worth grid of calendar spaces taking up the top half of the board, so we know what's going on during the current week as well as what's coming up next.  I'm able to use the same colors for each of our appointments that I use on Cozi, so it makes everything really easy to see at a glance.

We use the bottom section of the board to jot down notes of things we need to pick up at the store, can't find, or need to remember to do.

4.  Regular old paper calendar

Despite relying on the Cozi app and our white board to keep our schedules straight, I still like to have a working paper calendar out on my desk.

This isn't anything fancy. I just print out a simple page showing the current month and another for the month that follows.  This allows me to organize my blog posts and important notes like "Gilmore Girls special on Netflix" - (11/25, btw) that I don't want to forget, but that doesn't matter to G or Gv and thus doesn't belong on our master or white board calendars.

5.  A spiral notebook

I listed this on another week of 5 After 5, but it definitely deserves a spot here, too.

I've tried digital "to-do" lists, but there's just about nothing that gives me more satisfaction than actually physically crossing something off a list that sitting right there in front of me on my desk.

I usually have several lists going at once (like for long-term goals, blog ideas, or home improvement projects), but I dedicate one page to whatever tasks I'm hoping to get done over the next few days.  

Whenever that page gets messy from too many scribble-outs or I need more room to add more things, I just rip the sheet out (such a satisfying noise!) and recopy everything still left to do onto a fresh, clean slate.

For next week:

List 5 ways you stay cool in the summer heat

The moment we returned home from our trip, we stepped out of the car into a blast of 98-degree heat.

Did I mention that we didn't get home until almost midnight?

Yup, we might have escaped to the cool mountains for a month, but we still have at least half a year of hot days ahead of us before our 3-day "winter."

I've got my five keep-cool tricks.  Can't wait to see yours!

And now, here's this week's link party!  Two other fabulous bloggers have teamed up with me to create lists of five each week and we hope that you'll join us, too!

That's right, every post will be read, pinned and tweeted!  

Every Saturday, just stop by one of our three blogs to add your own list of five, then pop over and read as many other posts as you're able to each week - treat it like a true party and really mix it up and mingle with our fun little community!

The rules are simple:  just write your own list following the prompt each week (feel free to interpret it loosely - or in a unique way!), follow each of the three hosts on the social media channel of your choice, and then get into the spirit of the party by grabbing your favorite beverage or snack and reading the lists of the other party-goers.

Your Hosts:

Lisa, at Syncopated Mama: Facebook // Twitter // Pinterest // Google+ // Bloglovin'

Samantha, at Motivated Days: Facebook // Twitter // Pinterest // Google+ 

Heather Marie at Life, Love, and Lasagna: Facebook // Twitter // Pinterest // Instagram // Bloglovin'

What's your list?  I'd love to hear!  Either leave a comment below or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

Also, if you don't want to miss a single minute of great tips like this and all the fun around here, be sure to sign up for free updates and then look forward to having each post delivered right to your inbox.

Linked up with: Just Another Linky, Favorite Things, Over the Moon, Share the Wealth Sunday, Dishing it & Digging it, Social Butterfly Sunday,What's for Dinner?, Family Joy Blog Link-Up,  Literacy Musings Monday, Practical Mondays, Homeschool Nook Link Up, Happiness is Homemade, Mom to Mom Mondays, Merry Monday, Motivation Monday, Thoughtful Spot, What'd You Do This Weekend, Everything Kids, Meet Up Monday, Totally Terrific Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Little Learning Link Up, Two Uses Tuesday, Hip Homeschool Hop, Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party Tell it to Me Tuesday,  Tuesday Talk, Wonderful Wednesday, A Little Bird Told Me, WFMW, Everything Early Childhood, The Mommy Club, Creative Muster, Party in Your PJs,What to Read,I Am Pinnable, A Little R&R Wednesdays, This Is How We Roll, Creative Ways, Hearts for Home, Creative Exchange,  100 Happy Days, Learn & Play Link Up, Shine Blog Hop, Try It Like It, No Rules Weekend Blog Party, Booknificent Thursdays, On the Edge of the Week, Thursday Favorite Things, Cozy Reading Spot, Party at My Place, I'm Lovin' It, Inspiration Spotlight, Home Matters, Pretty Pintastic Party, Weekend Potluck, Awesome Life Friday, Creative Collection, The Beautifully Creative Inspired , Bloggers Pit Stop, Weekend Traffic Jam, Pin Me Party,  From the Archives, Family Fun Friday, Friday Frivolity, Bloggers Spotlight, Make My Saturday Sweet, Weekend Wind-Down Party,Friday Features Linky, Funtastic Friday , The Pinterest Game, Best of the Weekend