White board saves the day!

I don't know why it is, but this little white board hanging on our refrigerator has been the best thing for our family. Things go so much smoother and the hubs and I end up working so well together if I keep it up daily. I've always kept daily to-do lists but they have always been on paper, in my circa, in my home management binder, etc. Is it because this is so easy to see? Is it because it's so easy to change? Probably some of both and more.

Here's a quick overview of how we do this:

Every evening, after Carter is in bed, Jon and I sit down in front of the TV and work on projects or just veg - it's our little quiet time. At some point, I'll grab my home management binder which includes a calendar on which I write pretty much anything going on and my daily to-do list. I transfer all the information for the next day onto the white board and add anything else we need to do including all the little things that I don't normally write in my binder - like unload the dishwasher or a detailed list of the trash needing to be taken out, just so Jon is aware of EVERYTHING needing to be done, even the little things in my head and can help if I get behind.

We start the next day by trying to get everything done on the list, starting with the most urgent. Usually by lunch / nap time I can see where we are at and how the day is going and can start prioritizing by what I think we can reasonably get done by the end of the day. I put an "E" for evening next to the items we can do after Carter goes to bed, an "A" for things to finish in the afternoon and an "N" for things that are not necessary and can be moved to the next day. The little spot in the lower right corner is for items we run out of that I need to transfer to my grocery list. As you can see, we don't get everything done in a day. But that's ok, moving forward is still progress!

For whatever reasons it works, we'll keep it up. I like seeing all those little red checks at the end of the day!