Have you noticed that all of these fifties housewives look especially cheerful? I usually don’t approach cleaning with this same level of giddiness, but using this index card system has made maintaining the home manageable.
Today we’re discussing how to put the index cards to work with the activity lists. You can find last week’s posts on developing activity lists here and here. If you’re new to the series, start here.
Sidetracked Home Executives suggests having different colored indexed cards. Each color denotes the frequency of each activity.
The Color Coded Organizational Scheme
Yellow – daily tasks
Blue – weekly tasks
White – monthly, every other month, quarterly, seasonal, yearly, twice yearly tasks
Pink – personal tasks (This is the only card which isn’t assigned to a time frame.)
Organizing Your Index Cards
- Transfer all jobs from your activity lists onto the cards. Write only one job per card. Cleaning tasks are assigned by frequency. All personal tasks are written on pink cards, regardless of frequency.
- In the upper left hand corner of the card, write the frequency of the activity. In the upper right hand corner of the card, write how long it will take to complete. If the job takes ten minutes or less write ‘Mini’ on the top line in the center of the card.
- Continue until each task from your activity lists is transferred to a card.
This part of setting up the system takes a while. Depending on your circumstances, it can be done in short bursts or you can set aside some time to complete the project in one long stretch (about an hour).
On Wednesday, we’ll talk about the ‘Mini’ jobs and how mini-jobbing (I made that word up) can keep a house in order more than you may think.
Other Posts in this Series
Sidetracked Home Executives, Part 1
Sidetracked Home Executives, Part 2
Sidetracked Home Executives, Part 3
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