Record Keeping Journal

On the last day of 2015, I shared with you my project/goal of getting more organized and a picture of a blank page of the planner I bought to get me started. Already I've run into a problem with not record keeping last year. Does anybody know when my doe is due? See how bad it can be to not keep track? I might have wrote it down somewhere but where did somewhere go? Who knows? After some time spent going through old blog posts, text messages, and pictures, I narrowed down the breeding date to a one week window. That took a good hour of going through my phone and computer. What a waste of time! This year I'm doing better! Here's an update on the planner:

I find it a lot easier to stay on track with daily records when I do a little journaling, I guess it helps to satisfy my creative side and make the task seem less mundane.  Since I don't want to clutter up the page with random thoughts, I journal a few words about the weather every day and I write a short note about chores in the weekly section of the page. I imagine I might get more detailed when gardening season hits. Every credit item goes on the left side of each day and every debit goes on the right. Boy, is that gonna be handy next fall when I'm wondering how much hay we need!

On the big monthly page, I have a place for things that might need to be found more quickly. So far it's been good for breeding and due dates, butcher scheduling, and medical records. When summer gets here I will probably add planting dates and seed info to this page. I think I will keep a running tally of what we get from the garden in that note column on the right. 

Gosh, it feels so good to be getting organized! Before I bought the planner, I had surfed through blogs and Pinterest about homesteading record keeping and I got so discouraged. Keeping binders full of information might work for some homesteaders but I knew I would never stay committed to a task that large. This is really working for me! So, what works for you? Are you keeping track of all your need-to-know stuff?

 Don't forget to get your name in the drawing at the Pickle Pebbles Plus giveaway post. And come and visit me on Facebook, too! Bring all your friends!