With a forgetful husband and two teenagers, I was never getting phone messages. I put a spiral notebook next to the phone, and everything gets written in there - phone messages, appointments, to-do lists, contact information, reminders, EVERYTHING.
If someone called a few days ago, you can go back and find their phone number again. When things get done, they get crossed off the list. When I have time, I go through the notebook and put the appointments on the calendar, put the contact information in the phone book, and pull the pages that I don't need anymore out and throw them away. But there is no sifting through scraps of paper, no forgetting where you wrote it down, etc.. The key is not letting anyone move it from the phone, EVER!
We had the same problem at our house not only with phone messages but with other stuff I needed to remember. I purchased a set of notebook dividers and labeled them according to what was useful to my home. The list includes PHONE MESSAGES, "TO DO" LIST, "NEED" LIST, AUTO LOG. FARM LOG, APPOINTMENTS, NOTES, and a few others. We have a much more organized life now and when my husband asks, "When did I change the oil on the truck?" I have it right there. When I go shopping I check the "Need" section and jot items down in my purse notebook. We now know when we cut hay in the northwest field and when we had the first frost of the year. Sure has made MY life easier!
Eileen, you mentioned that when you're finished with the pages of the notebook you use, you just throw them out.....does your neighbourhood in Chicago, recycle? Just curious. :)
I love this idea! I am one who is forever writing on scraps of paper and then the notes get moved from place to place or lost. I like the idea of it stays in one spot and doesn't get moved. It wouldn't have to be by the phone, it could be at a desk or on an end table but just a central location.
Spiral notebooks come in different sizes too so if you don't want the big full size kind, you can get a smaller one.
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