I don’t know about you, but my planner’s page finder is a really important part of my system.  Most of the time my planner is open, on the counter or my desk, where I can see it easily.  But if it’s closed, I need to be able to get to my daily page FAST and my page finder allows me to do that.

But it’s not just a page finder!  It can be SO much more, especially if you’re using a pouch page finder by Franklin Covey.  The pouch can hold so many interesting things, including:

Menu

The Weekly Compass cards have 8 boxes on the front side.  You can use 7 for meals and 1 for dessert.  Then your meal plan right in front of you.

Inspirational Quotes

Who doesn’t love to be inspired?!  If you have quotes that motivate or inspire you, write them on a piece of paper and put them in the pouch page finder.

Memorization

If you’re trying to memorize something, type or write it on a piece of paper and put it in your page finder.  Every time you look at your planner (which hopefully is often), you can work on your memorization project.

To-Do List for the Week

If you’re using the Weekly Compass cards you can put your top 8 priorities on the front, one per box, and everything else you need (or want) to do on the back side.

Dailies

Tired of re-writing those dailies every day? Put them on a Weekly Compass card or blank piece of paper, put the paper in the pouch and use a dry erase marker to mark them off each day.

Shopping Lists & Reminders

Use post-it notes to keep track of your shopping lists and other reminders and stick the post-its directly on the page finder.  You can still keep things in the pouch, too.

Besides the awesome pouch page finder, here are some other page finder ideas:

 Colored Page Finders

You can also use different colored page finders.  Filofax has clear, brown and black.  Franklin Covey has an assortment of bright colors.

Multiple Page Finders

You can use multiple page finders.  With Franklin Covey, sometimes I put one in the correct way and the second one in upside down so the top sticks out of the bottom of the planner.  It makes it easy to grab the one I want.

Make Your Own

You can also make your own page finder.  My daughter-in-law made her own because she wanted one that was fun and unique.

Progressive Task List Page Finder

Franklin Covey sells a page finder made of heavy cardstock that you write on directly.  It’s called a progressive task list.  I’ve used it a lot, too.

Calculator Page Finder

Use your page finder as a calculator!  Filofax sells one here.

So if you’ve used your page finder as just a page finder, maybe it’s time to spread your wings and see what other uses you can find for that unused planner real estate.

Do you do anything special with your page finder?

If you’ve made Deviled Eggs before, you probably already have a recipe you like.  But if you haven’t, this one is really easy and tastes great.

Ingredients:

• 6 hard cooked eggs
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon mustard

Directions:

Halve hard-cooked eggs lengthwise; remove yolks and mash with fork (a mixer gets the eggs smoother).  Stir in mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard and 1/8 teaspoon salt (I omit).  Stuff egg whites with yolk mixture (I just use a spoon and spoon it in – you can use a pastry bag if you want the filling to look fancier).  Garnish with paprika or parsley.

Note:

I usually hard boil 7 or 8 eggs in case I mess one up when I’m peeling or cutting.

Don’t forget to throw your egg shells in the trash not in the garbage disposal.

I vacuum a lot – because of the big hairy dog, the big hairy cat and the two young grandchildren who are crumb factories.  Daily I drag out my medium-sized vacuum with the super long cord to vacuum up all the hair, crumbs and other miscellaneous floor clutter.  But sometimes I just need to do a little clean up and the regular vacuum is a bit too much trouble.

Thanks to my daughter-in-law, I recently discovered a better way to do those little clean ups.  Now, instead of dragging out the big vacuum with the super long cord, I pull out my Bissell 3-1 Vacuum.  It’s light weight and does a great job on those little clean ups.

I’ve also used it to sweep the indoor/outdoor strip of carpet in the garage, the rug in the laundry room and the rug on the screened porch.  I don’t vacuum those areas as much as I want to because the big vacuum is too much trouble.  But this small vacuum made those chores much easier and quicker.  I’ve also used the vacuum on the stairs and even on the furniture.

So if your vacuum is heavy and cumbersome and sometimes you need something smaller and easier for quick clean-ups, you might want to give this vacuum a try.  I got mine at Wal-mart for $20 and it was worth every penny.

By the way, this is not a paid endorsement.  I just like this vacuum and wanted to share it with homemakersdaily readers.

 Here’s this week’s dinner menu.  Anything sound good?

1-
Oven Fried Chicken Drumsticks (NEW)
Parmesan Pasta
Green Beans

 2-
Creamy Grilled Chicken Piccata (family favorite)
Mom’s Italian Bread
Salad

 3-
Chicken & Rice Pilaf (NEW)
Salad

 4-
Unbelievable Burrito Casserole
Mexican Rice
Salad

 5-
Best Ever Meat Loaf
Onion Roasted Potatoes
Steamed Vegetables
60 Minute Rolls

DESSERT:   Puppy Chow (for humans, not puppies)

More menu ideas are available here and
Tons of recipes are available here. 

I stumbled across this recipe a while back and finally had a chance to make it.  It was a winner!  And if you have kids (or some adults) who like foods without anything green (like chopped chilies, for example), they will LOVE this.

By the way, this recipe was created/adapted by Mandi at Home.YourWay.Net.  You should check out her site when you have a chance.

Ingredients:

• 10 soft taco shells
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2-1/2 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning
• 1 cup sour cream

Directions:

In a small saucepan, melt the butter.  Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minutes.  Whisk in the broth and cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly.  Stir in taco seasoning and sour cream.  Turn heat to low while you prepare the enchiladas.

In a small bowl, mix the chicken and 1 cup of cheese.  Spoon mixture into the center of each tortilla and roll up burrito-style.  Place a single layer in the bottom of a 9×13 pan and top with a small amount of sauce (just enough to wet the tops of the enchiladas).  Add a second layer and cover with the remaining sauce.  Top with 1 cup of cheese.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Note:

My husband served his with chopped spinach and black beans on top.

My son’s favorite desserts all consist of peanut butter and chocolate combinations.  His top three include Peanut Butter Bars, Peanut Butter Balls and Puppy Chow.  I have no clue which of the three is his favorite.  All I know is he’s coming over for dinner tonight and I’m making Puppy Chow.  He’s going to be thrilled!

Puppy Chow Printable Recipe

Ingredients & Directions:

Pour a 12-ounce box of crispix cereal into a large plastic container with a tight lid.  Set aside.

In a medium-sized saucepan, melt 2 sticks margarine, 1 cup peanut butter, and 12 oz. chocolate chips.

Pour the chocolate mixture over the cereal and stir gently so all the cereal pieces are covered with chocolate.

Pour 1 pound of powdered sugar over the cereal mixture.  Put the lid on the container and shake the container until all the cereal pieces are coated with sugar.  The pieces should be more white than brown.  If they’re still brown, you may need to add more a little more powdered sugar.

It needs a little more powdered sugar.

At this point I usually move the Puppy Chow from the messy plastic container to my glass Dutch oven.  This was my dish of choice when the kids were home.  No matter how careful they were, I could usually hear when they were trying to sneak some Puppy Chow.

By the way, when you’re moving the puppy chow to the serving dish, don’t just dump it.  There are a lot of crumbs and some extra powdered sugar at the bottom of the dish.  It’s not a big deal but I never wanted that stuff in the serving dish.

My granddaughter had her first potty training accident today…at my house…while she was taking a pretend nap in my bed.  I didn’t know it until she got up and said, “I peed in the bed.”  I confess.  I freaked out a little.  Not at her – just at the idea that there was toddler pee in my bed.

So I ripped off all the bedding before the pee could soak through to the mattress.  The pee made it all the way down to the mattress topper but not onto the mattress.  Whew!  I wiped up the mattress topper and stripped the bed.  Then I piled the whole mess into the laundry basket and headed downstairs for some serious laundry.

In case you haven’t washed all your bedding in a while, it’s a good idea to periodically wash ALL of it, and if appropriate, turn the mattress.  We have a plain old mattress and box springs and it’s helpful to flip and turn the mattress about once a year (kind of like you rotate the tires on your car).  I’m not sure you do that on the newer sleep number and memory foam mattresses, but you do on the old-fashioned models like we have.

And while you’re at it, go ahead and wash all the bedding.  My bedding laundry included:

•           Mattress Pad
•           Sheets (I wash the sheets weekly)
•           Bedspread
•           Pillowcases (I wash the pillowcases weekly)

I also took the mattress topper outside, shook it out and then put it in the dryer for a few minutes.

It’s also beneficial to vacuum the mattress while all the bedding is off.

And when you’re finished, put it all back on and enjoy a wonderful night’s sleep on completely fresh bedding.

But just in case you have ADD or laundry’s not your thing, don’t forget to finish the bedding laundry and put it back on the bed.  You definitely don’t want to walk into your bedroom at midnight, bleary eyed and exhausted, and realize you forgot to finish the bedding.  Nope.  Don’t do that.  Set a timer so you don’t forget and get it done as quickly as possible.

And finally, everyone has different ideas about how often the bedding (not including sheets) needs washed.  I do the mattress pad at least once a year (or more if needed – like when toddlers forget to use the potty).  And I wash the quilt a couple times a year.

Do you periodically wash all your bedding and turn your mattress?  How often do you do it?

Using a planner can be overwhelming.  There are so many choices!  And once you finally choose which size you want, which format you want, and which company you want to order from, you still have to set it up!

And speaking of setting it up, this is where it can get overwhelming FAST.  A planner isn’t just a calendar.  It can include things like:

• To-do lists
• Address pages
• Notes
• Information
• Goals
•  Journals
• Food Journals
• Project lists
• Party planning
• Special occasions
• Gift lists

You’re only limited by your imagination – or by the ring size of your binder.

But if you’re just getting started and that extra stuff overwhelms you, skip it.  Focus on the “guts” of the system which is the calendar and to-do list.  Keep in mind that a planner’s basic purpose is to help you manage your appointments, to-do list and any information you might need.  So start with those.

My first planning system was a 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 three ring notebook for information, a spiral bound week-at-a-glance calendar for appointments and a steno pad for my to-do list.  It worked well for a long time.

But then I discovered Franklin Covey.  As soon as I saw one of the Franklin planners, I wanted one.  ASAP.  So I squeezed money out of the budget and headed over to the Franklin store to change my life.

That was in 1993 when it was still Franklin Quest.  And when you bought a planner, it came with a cassette tape that explained exactly how to use it.  I listened to that tape so many times.

But my first planner was really simple.  I mean really simple.  It included:

•           Monthly calendar for the current year
•           2 months of two page per day inserts
•           12 tabs that were pretty much empty
•           A-Z tabs for names and addresses

I wrote everything on my daily pages.  I mean everything.  I didn’t have sections at the back for any of the categories I listed earlier.  Everything was recorded on the daily pages or the monthly pages.  At the end of each month, I filled out the Monthly Index which listed where I could find information on the daily pages.  Used pages were stored in my storage binder.  And that was pretty much it.

I didn’t use colored pens, washi tape or stickers.  I didn’t have multiple page finders or tabs that came out of the top, bottom and sides.  My system was simple to use and simple to maintain.

Eventually I started adding things – like

•           Financial information
•           Car and truck information
•           Medical information
•           User id’s and passwords
•           Goals
•           Food Journals

But it took a long time.  My system evolved as my life changed and my needs changed.  And it was still pretty simple.  In fact, it still is pretty simple.  When I start adding too many categories, I get overwhelmed.

So if you’re just starting out or thinking about getting a planner, start simple.  Start with the basics.  Live with the basics a while and then starting tweaking.  But start with the basics.  If you never progress beyond the basics, that’s okay.  If you turn your planner into a complex work of art, that’s okay, too.  That’s the beauty of a planner – you can make it anything you want.

But start simple.  A planner is an awesome tool that can help you keep your ducks in a row.  But if you make it too complicated, you might give up and then who knows where your ducks will be.

It’s been a long time since I made tostadas.  They were a little bit messy but a nice change from tacos.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup taco sauce
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 pound ground chuck
• ½ cup chopped onion
• 1 (15-ounce) can refried beans
• 1 (14-ounce) package tostadas
• 1 (8-ounce) package shredded Colby-Jack cheese
• 1 head romaine lettuce, shredded
• Toppings:  sour cream, salsa

Directions:

Combine taco sauce, cumin, garlic salt and pepper in a small bowl.  Set aside.

In a large skillet, cook ground beef and onion over medium heat until beef is browned and crumbly; drain well.  Return beef mixture to skillet.  Add taco sauce mixture; cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes or until mixture is very thick.

Heat refried beans according to can directions.  Spread beans over tostadas.  Top with meat mixture, cheese, lettuce and desired toppings.  Serve immediately.

Notes:

• If you don’t want to bother with the taco sauce, cumin, garlic salt and pepper, use a 1-ounce package of taco seasoning instead.  Cook the beef like you would for tacos.
• I put the ingredients on the table and let everyone make their own.
• I skipped the onion since some of my family doesn’t love onion.
• I served this with Skillet Mexican Corn.

from Cooking with Paula Deen Magazine, March/April 2013

Has your wallet ever been lost or stolen?  Most people have a lot of information in their wallet – information that could cause big problems in the hands of the wrong people!

But here’s the thing.  If the unthinkable happened, would you know exactly what was in your wallet?  Would you have quick access to all the phone numbers you needed to call?  I wouldn’t.  So I solved this problem by recording the contents of my wallet and my husband’s wallet.  Here are several ways you can do it:

1.       Make a copy of everything in your wallet – front and back – and put it in a file in your home filing cabinet.  You should probably make a copy of your spouse’s cards, too.

2.       If you don’t want to make copies, you could also scan the cards and keep them on your computer.

3.       If neither of those options appeal to you, you could download an app for your phone.  I did a little research and discovered there are lots of apps available for that very purpose.

4.       And one last option would be to take photos of your cards with your smart phone or digital camera.  Just be careful where you store the photos.

And to make this system pretty much flawless, put a note on your calendar to check the file every six months to be sure every card is included in your file.  But even if it gets a little out of date, it’s still going to be better than relying on your memory.

Do you have a record of the contents of your wallet?