Help You, Help Me.

Well, it seems like summer just started (we had, I'd say, one week of really nice, summery weather) and now it is winding to a close. The house was below 70 when I got up again today, I had to wear jeans while I was taking the baby out for her walk, and the start back to school is looming heavily in the air.

Since I can't go to Staples and buy myself a cool new pencil case and lots of new pencil crayons and markers and pens (from what I've been reading...all us Bloggy Moms are addicted to that stuff), I start obsessing about my "Game Plan", instead.

Last year (I am ashamed to admit) I cannot tell you how many times I misplaced this or that form, this or that library book, or forgot this or that event. Brutal! There are just so many pieces of paper to keep track of. I tried to have a system (which was a shelf for each of my girls in the cupboard to be their "launching pad", and a white board for writing memos, which has a small swatch of cork beneath it for hanging forms). Well, the cupboard turn into a huge mess in no time (all the girls' artwork, and homework, and papers got thrown in there along with their school work so it was a disaster in no time). The white board was okay, but it didn't provide enough space to write everything down, and the little swatch of cork at the bottom was a joke! I bought a nice big, huge, and necessarily ginormous cork board to put up this year, but Davey doesn't want me to put it in the kitchen. He says it's too ugly. But...I need it! It's not his responsibility (for some reason) to take care of all this stuff...if I can't see it, I'll loose it or forget it! {sigh}.

So, that board is up in the girls' room, instead. I think I'm sneaking it out of there tomorrow.

We need to know what is going on this year and I refuse to misplace any more forms! My girls will not go without pizza on pizza day again!!

Now, having said I'll that...

I'm looking to you for help.

What tools do you use to help keep you on top of things? Any systems that have been shockingly good at keeping you organized? Any websites, blogs, forums I simply must check out? Any downloadable forms (grocery lists, chore charts, household cleaning plans) that you've been keeping to yourself?

I need all the help I can get. I've got big plans for this little family of mine this school year {which I'll blog more about soon}, but the first step I need to take is

OR-GAN-I-ZAY-TION!!!

And, if you have any ideas for how to make my great, big cork board look pretty, too, that would be great.

Thanks!