The Listmaker's Best Friend!

I am a listing and notebook making fiend! Let that be known. I think I am this way because really my mind is a blur of chaotic disarray and lists and notebooks are my only chance at accomplishing anything out side of my own head.

About a year ago I started a notebook I call my Household Manager and it's sidekick Z Family Cookbook. I spend hours organizing the HM and planning out my week: Menus, grocery lists, Cleaning Schedules and Daily To-Dos which rarely ever get accomplished because what looks great on paper has not interacted with life. The cookbook is a list of all our favorite recipes but getting them into that notebook is another matter entirely.

This weekend when I was about to sit down and write out my Thanksgiving plans (saved from last year with notes to improve upon it this year) I notice a weird box on my computer screen. I start hollering for the kiddo who knows they are NOT to touch my computer, as I try to figure out what this box is exactly.

It is at this point that I learn about one of the greatest bits of software Microsoft has ever created. OneNote. And I own it! Who knew?

This baby allows me to make side by side notes, in any format my little heart desires, and I don't have to deal with the annoying format issues of traditional wordprosessing programs to do so. It also makes reorganizing a list as smooth as buttah! My menu to shopping list to final list now takes minutes and not an hour as it does when I hand write it 3 times or try to use Word.

I was able to transfer all my HM and Cookbook stuff into OneNote, and actually get my recipes in too (thanks to a lovely web feature), in about an hour! Something which in that past could take weeks due to all the tweaking to make the system perfect.

I am in list making bliss I tell you! And it's all in one nice neat paperless spot on my desktop. My life is now 50 times easier. Thank you Microsoft! Wow, I never thought I'd say those words ;o)