Table of Contents Getting Started What is the Sunday Basket? Step 1: Gather ALL Your Paper Step 2: Sort Archive Paper from Active Paper Step 3: The

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2 Table of Contents Getting Started What is the Sunday Basket? Step 1: Gather ALL Your Paper Step 2: Sort Archive Paper from Active Paper Step 3: The Sunday Basket Week 1 Step 4: Grouping Like Items Creating Systems for Common Basket Items: Mail Coupons Separating Out Cash & Bills Organized Bill Payment Receipts Projects Dates & the Family Calendar Planning Summer Vacation Travel Forms to Fill Out Errands My Weekly Planning Time Why I Use a Medium Longaberger Basket Resources

3 What is the Sunday Basket? The Sunday Basket is an idea born out of a major mommy meltdown I had when my babies were babies. Let me set the stage for you my 2 year old (later to be diagnosed with MAJOR ADD) child was in the throes of a horrible asthmatic period of his life which involved hospital trips. His baby sister was a dream but wanted mommy all the time. My business was BOOMING. I had parties, recruits, trainings to conduct, workshops and was spending well OVER 40 hours a week on work. What I didn t have was a plan. I was putting out fires left and right. I was afraid I would miss something and never know what I missed. And, to top it all off my papers were completely unorganized! My piles had piles, and I couldn t find anything to save my soul!

4 So, after the kids were in bed, I took all my papers into one room and sorted them into 40! piles. I developed a system of using slash pockets to corral all those little papers into manageable chunks. FINALLY I was able to pull one folder out and actually WORK instead of just pushing papers around! Can you relate? After a few weeks, I realized that I was still overwhelmed with the thought of leafing through 40 folders. So I created a SUNDAY basket. Luckily for me, I had a HUGE Longaberger addiction and had multiple Medium Market Baskets. That Sunday night, after all the kids were in bed, I took out all of my folders and sat on the floor with 2 baskets in front of me. One to do this week and one to hold anything I did not need to do until next Sunday. I picked up each folder and asked myself. Does this NEED to be done before next Sunday?

5 If it did, then it went in the basket to do this week. If it didn t, I put it in the SUNDAY basket to go through again next week. This allowed me to put current projects I was working on aside for one week, but not lose the project! Everything was together in the slash pocket and accessible if I needed it. Sunday is the one day I use to plan my next week. For you it may be Monday or Friday, or you might not have a day. You need a day! For me, it s Sunday. The key to the Sunday Basket is that you have to go through everything in the basket EVERY Sunday! Sanity and Beauty!! Ohhhhhh! The glory of baskets!! My husband no longer saw paper piles a mile high! I could grab an item from the To-Do basket and get it done!! Eventually, I started sorting school papers and mail right into the Sunday Basket if it could wait until Sunday. The Sunday Basket frees your mind from worrying that things will get done and allows you to focus your energy on what you need to get done.

6 Step 1: FIND Your Paper I WANT you to put EVERY. PIECE. of paper in your kitchen into a laundry basket. ALL your mail, to-dos and items you are saving to read later. EVERYTHING. Are you overwhelmed? I was, too! I know how quickly paper mountains can gobble up your energy and motivation. Not being able to find the birthday party invitation so you can take your child to the party on time is stressful and makes you feel like a failure as a mom. Look. Our lives are filled to OVERFLOWING with opportunities. You are AWESOME! I want to help you feel like the ROCKSTAR you are! Essentially, the Sunday Basket is EVERY piece of paper in your kitchen that you haven t processed yet. It s a BIG holding pile in a pretty basket. Right now your laundry basket IS your Sunday basket. Now, we are going to pull out items and create systems for each kind of paper. But until you can get to creating the system your papers are SAFE in these baskets. You can hunt and peck and find what you need. Paper is hard, but once you conquer your paper, you will feel SO much more in control of your life!

7 Step 2: Separate the Active from the Archive Papers So, now you have your laundry basket... or 2... of papers. Great! The first thing we are going to do is separate out what needs to be filed from what needs to be acted upon. Get ANOTHER laundry basket. Now, go through every piece of paper and decide if each needs to be filed away for reference or needs action. File or shred all the paper to be filed. Now you are left with everything that needs action. Now there are 2 kinds of paper. ACTIVE paper and ARCHIVE paper. In my book, 10 Steps to Organized Paper I help you organize EVERY SINGLE PAPER in your home. Chapters 1-7 are all about setting up systems for archival paper like taxes, manuals and birth certificates. Also included in this section is creating a home binder. The last 3 chapters talk about these active papers in your Sunday basket...the ones that need action, are reminders for something you signed up for or are waiting to be read, paid or filed. The active papers are the hard ones to touch once. So they pile up and cause stress. So go ahead and let them pile in a laundry basket and get ready for step 2.

8 Step 3 -The Sunday Basket: Week 1 I could not do nearly the amount of work I do if I did not have a weekly paper organization and planning system. The Sunday Basket has increased my productivity, reduced our late fees and generally created sanity in our home. If this is the first time you've heard of the term "Sunday Basket," well, that's because I made it up! I learn best by watching what works for others, so in this book, I am going to share all the random items I toss in my Sunday Basket to deal with on Sunday every week. I LOVE my Sunday evening routine. We have dinner as a family, I do a series of weekly household chores, take a nice long bubble bath and thoroughly enjoy going through my Sunday Basket and planning my week before I watch a television show while I fold laundry and fill our weekly pill dispensers. This is a PROCESS. The first few weeks will be overwhelming. Your paper pile didn t start yesterday, and it s not going to be gone tomorrow, but each week you will feel more and more in control of your paper. I use a medium Longaberger Market Basket as my Sunday Basket. I toss everything in there all week long IF it can wait until Sunday for me to look at it. A few minutes ago, I tossed in cash. Hey, it s paper!

9 Along with my basket, I have my computer close by and take a good look at the upcoming week on my Google calendar. I let hubby and the kids know what is coming up for them this week, too. Sometimes, I write it out on a weekly sheet for hubby if there is a lot going on. I also update my magnetic calendar for the fridge. If nothing else gets done on Sunday night - this does! I physically write out my week and make goals for each day. I have WAY too many ideas and dreams to actually DO them all, so I pick a few to focus on each week and each day. I love that I have my calendar available electronically now, but I still use daily physical lists to keep me on task. This is just genius. When I make out my weekly list, I put anything I can right in the car that night or the next morning. For example, our vacuum is broken. I do not know when I will be dropping it off yet, but it is going in the car tonight. Then, when I have a few minutes and I am out, I can swing by and drop it off. EVERY Sunday, I completely empty out my Sunday basket and look at every piece of paper to see IF it can wait until next Sunday to be dealt with. If it can wait, it goes back into the basket. Go ahead and go through your basket. The following chapters will help you categorize and streamline your Sunday Basket process.

10 Step 4 Grouping Like Items. Slash Pockets So, right now your basket is a sea of single papers. My basket is full of slash pockets. Slash pockets are plastic binder insert pockets. Sometimes they have tabs and sometimes they don t. They come in a variety of colors. I LOVE slash pockets because they allow me to group like papers in one pocket. Unlike files, I can still see the contents of the pile inside the slash pocket. They are very portable. It is easy to take a single slash pocket in the car to a meeting. I don t lose any papers and can drop the slash pocket back in the basket once I get home. I also find that some slash pockets like TAX pockets are used for about 10 weeks and then filed for the rest of the year. My slash pockets go in files and binders when not in active use. You can find slash pockets in the office supply section of any store. Here is a link to get them on Amazon.

11 Mail Honestly, most mail can wait a week to be opened. I have a friend who only gets her mail out of the mailbox once a week. While I don't recommend that, I can see why she does it. Mail takes a lot of time. And most of that is stupid, busy sorting time. So much of our mail is JUNK. There are a few things you can do to get your name off of some of these lists. Here is the FTC GOV website where you can opt out for 5 years (or even permanently) for some junk mail lists. You can sort all the unwanted mail into a box for one month, and then sit down and call to get your name off all those lists. Sign up to receive your bills electronically instead of in the mail. Whether you sort your mail daily or weekly, here is the process I use to sort my mail. When life gets busy -I flip through the daily mail and drop it all in the basket for Sunday. Ta Da! Counter cleaned! When I came home from vacation this summer, I snapped these pictures to walk you through how I deal with mail.

12 Step 1: Separate out the newspapers and RECYCLE THEM. Step 2: Sort the mail. Here is where I stand to open the mail. EACH piece gets opened and put in one of 4 places: TRASH LIBERALLY!! SHRED Anything with our information on it. SORT COUPONS Don t decide IF you want them; just make a pile. SORT BILLS This is ANYTHING you need to keep, act on, pay, respond to, write down

13 Step 3: Shred the pile NOW. Step 4: Go through coupons IF you have time. Step 5: Read and ACT on your bill pile.

14 Coupons Do you still use paper coupons? I am trying out a few iphone apps to curb the amount of paper coupons we use. Now that none of the stores I go to double coupons anymore, it is harder to justify all the cutting, organizing and remembering. BUT we have debt and are certainly NOT the Rockefellers, so I keep trying to use coupons. I am getting more choosy about the coupons I clip. On a GOOD week, I clip them, file them and keep them in my purse. I use the most coupons when I do my once a month BIG shopping trip. Like I said, it's so hard to throw them away - but so hard to organize and use them, too. I have made the decision to cut VERY FEW coupons. GULP. I just can't keep up. And even when I could, my savings have dwindled from a good $30-20 a week savings down to $2-5. It's just not worth the... time guilt stress and space in my brain! But, I am still getting deals. My favorite app for store coupons is Snip Snap.

15 Separating Out CASH & Bills Let s talk about MONEY!. :) For a few months now, Hubby and I have been loosely working through The Total Money Makeover, a plan by Dave Ramsey. I say loosely because we are not IN Ramsey s Financial Peace University classes, but I listened to them on CD. And we are not sitting down EVERY week and doing a budget. BUT, we are making MAJOR changes and seeing great results from our focused efforts. This is about SO much more than money. It's about how we spend it, who tracks it, and how much there is. We are working on all of those aspects, and you can check my blog for updates on our progress! One thing that IS working is our use of CASH envelopes. I have quite a few right now, and some of those that have been cash are now going back to debit cards, but Sunday night is the night the envelopes get filled. On Friday or Saturday, hubby gets the cash for the week out of the bank, and we put it in the Sunday basket. Then, on Sunday night I fill each envelope for the week. You can read all about Our Money Envelope System here. I also go through and pay our bills on Sunday night. Now for a long time, I kept all the bills in slash pockets right in the Sunday basket, but I realized that I prefer to have separate files and systems set up for my bill pay.

16 Organized Bill Payment I wish paying bills was as simple as just paying bills, but we have a lot of medical expenses. These bills I need to make sure clear with insurance and then document our out of pocket expenses for taxes. Additionally, I have business expenses to document as well. I LOVE that I now have a bookkeeper for that! As I have helped clients organize their kitchen counter paper, it seems like many of us have multiple steps to go through when working with our family finances. It's not as easy as getting a bill and writing a check. ONE bill paying file felt so overwhelming. So, I divided the files out by the processes I need to do each week with my bills/ mail / school notes into a whole bill paying file. I have the standard bills. There is a separate file for things that can wait until the next month. Also included is a file for items I need to enter on a spreadsheet for taxes, like medical, charity or work receipts. Here you ll find the aforementioned spreadsheets for taxes. Also kept here are receipts to file in the basement for tax documentation.

17 Additionally, there are any pieces of paper, school newsletters or forms that need to be added to the calendar. I place here the few coupons I am still cutting out or keeping. Summer {or whatever is coming up} information gets stuck here for safekeeping. I also include any reference items I need in my office that are home related. This is MY bill payment flow. Here are a few more I have come across in organizing others. Divorce: Bill to pay. Split bill with ex. Document bills on spreadsheet File for taxes. Estates Bill to pay. Document on ledger for estates. Copy bill for other siblings / heirs. File for estate reconciliation. Archive. Illness Bill to pay. Wait for insurance to pay their share. Document amount paid out of pocket for taxes. Disputed claims. File for taxes. Caregiver Bill to pay. Applications for assistance. Power of Attorney, Power of Healthcare & possibly a Will. Names of doctors, diagnoses, etc. Respite care information / forms / spreadsheets. Legal processes on going. Wait for insurance to pay their share. Copy for siblings/ heirs. Document amount paid for taxes. Done and ready for taxes.

18 I have made all these files except for divorce. :) As you can see, every bill file above comes with grief and denial. If you don't create a system for your papers in these situations, you will be drowning in paper in a matter of weeks. When we are debt free, I am automating all our bills. It will save us a TON of time! But maybe like you, we pay our bills each week. According to CNN money, 76% of us are living paycheck to paycheck. I list all our bills for the month by due date and then highlight them as they are paid. A few years ago, I made this monthly money form and kept it in my planner. That way, each time hubby gets paid, I know what bills HAVE to be paid. I also have a better idea of when my variable income needs to be less variable and more income :) I use a Fold N File from Thirty One Gifts for my bill pay organizer.

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20 Receipts In every house I organize, there are piles of receipts. Do we need them? And if we keep them, how do we organize receipts? Sales Receipts I have a home based business, so at a minimum I need to scan and save any receipt that I claim as a tax deduction. For a store return, MOST stores can look up your purchase by the credit card you used when you bought it. I am trying to use cash envelopes for my spending and teaching my kids to do the same, so I guess we need to keep the receipts for returns. Here's what I am trying to do. Don't buy anything you think you might return. Of course, this doesn't work with items that break, but really, I rarely return anything. For us - we toss the receipts in the basket and on Sunday reconcile them to our checkbook and throw them away. We live on the edge like that.

21 Some families save ALL their receipts. For those families I recommend using these colored boxes. They are sold in a pack of 5. Start with one box and put all your receipts for the month in that ONE box. Then next month pick a different color. These boxes are big enough to hold paper, so you can print out receipts from online purchases and put those in the box as well. You can do this for all 12 months of the year, but I suggest only using 3 boxes. When you get to month 4, empty out the receipts from box 1 and pitch or file them as needed. Medical / Tax Receipts These I enter on our tax deduction spreadsheet every 2-6 weeks, depending on my mood, time available and how many we have to enter. Then, I put them in our tax files in the basement. If I left this to do until next year, it would take at least a week. Business Receipts Until this January, I used the same system as I have for my medical / tax receipts, but it is just too much now. I hired an awesome bookkeeper. It is so hard to spend money on a new and growing business, but, honestly, there are so many opportunities I would have had to say no to without my team. So, here's how I file business receipts. I put them all in an envelope weekly, mail it to the bookkeeper and start a new envelope. This, in addition to my other bookkeeping, saves me at least 90 minutes each week! So, what about home business owners who don't have a bookkeeper? After collecting them for a week in an envelope, seal it up, write the dates on the outside, and put it in your tax files. You can deal with the receipts on your time--and you won't have a pile to go through all at once. I have a friend who had tried to do this on a monthly basis, but invariably, by the end of the month, she had misplaced or overfilled her envelope, which only made a mess. This way, she has an organized and tidy set of envelopes to deal with in small chunks.

22 Projects The hardest item for me to organize in my Sunday Basket and my LIFE are projects. But last summer, I found the key, and it is working for myself and my clients time after time! The answer? Color-coded lists. For years, I have used Post-it notes, colored legal pads and colored pens to visually divide my lists. The summer of 2014, I created my own color printable lists. Let me show you how they work. My first instinct was to color code EVERYTHING and use these sheets for ALL my to-dos. That was a mistake. Instead of dealing with a few papers, I had a rainbow mess on my hands! I put on my teacher hat and set about to created a DOable system using these colored sheets.

23 Step One Pick your colors. Some of you already have colors assigned to people and tasks in your life. Once I had 2 kiddos, I started using colors. My go-to colors were red or pink for Abby and blue for Joey. That helped with whose sippy cup was whose and a myriad of other issues involved with parenting two babies. Many of you probably already have some kind of color coding system for your calendar. AGAIN if you HAVE a color for something DON T change it!

24 Step Two Decide how to use those colors. I have TON of blog post ideas. In the past, I would make LONG lists of every thought I had. Now, I use this form in orange and brainstorm my series topics. Where to store all those post ideas plagued me for years. Being able to organize my brainstorming helped me flesh out each box. This paper and the one behind it hold over a year s worth of post ideas. Every few weeks, I check back and cross out the posts I have written and tackle a few more. I feel so much more organized. I know I won t forget something, I have a place to write down new ideas, and I feel like my blog is easier to follow and predict this way.

25 Once I have decided on my next 9 posts to write, I transfer those to a to-do list and fishtail them as I finish. Likewise, I will make lists of clients. I have outstanding bids and projects in progress. Just a quick weekly glance at these lists makes sure no one falls through the cracks. Usually, I don t have a running list for my kids but at the end of school, I did. Anytime you have a big event to prepare for, you can grab a color coordinated sheet and dump your brain out on paper. This summer, I took the first week off of work and worked around the house. Having that easyto-spot colored paper kept me working right on through my to-do list.

26 Blue is our family color. In May, I brain dumped this WHOLE list. And in August, it was done! How? Because every Sunday, I read through the list and put one or two things on my weekly todo list. Step Three Organize your weekly to-dos on a rainbow list.

27 It took me awhile to get all the lists out of my head and on the correctly colored to-do list. I played for a while and made binders. Then, one Sunday after all my lists were created, I realized that the rainbow sheet was the perfect size for my weekly to-do list! Every Sunday night, I go through my basket and decide what will get done that week. Well, since I had already made my color-coded categories it was SUPER simple to fill out my weekly list. I started with light blue and thought about my week coming up. What would the kids need? How were they getting to each event on their list? Were all of the registrations paid for this week? Do they need lunch money, clothes or something for a project? Have I planned anything FUN for the family lately? Can we fit it in this week? Since my Google Calendar is color-coded light blue for my kids, too, it was super simple to run through these questions as I looked at the week. Whatever needed to be done, I wrote in the light blue square on my rainbow weekly to-do list. Next was home projects and family activities. During the school year, this section is pretty bare, but in the summer I have a whole additional blue colored sheet of all the fun family events I have planned and house projects I want to get done!

28 Just taking 2 minutes to THINK about each role I play in life has added more to my to-do list and less to my worrying I didn t do it list. Whether you use the long skinny or box paper either way you are LIMITED by how much you can cram in there. This has proven to be the BEST thing for me. I can t do it all. So these boxes make me prioritize what I WILL do THIS week and what can wait. I try to only put 3 items in each list. Sometimes NONE! The Organize 365 in COLOR printables are available at

29 Dates and the Family Calendar Keeping our family calendar updated is a FULLtime job! It seems I am CONSTANTLY updating and adding things to the calendar. I use Google calendars, repeat events and color code everything. With each change of the season, I find myself spending a good 4 hour session one day calling to schedule appointments and getting everything on my calendar. Right now, I am booking all the summer camps and back to school doctor appointments. I also have the kids' school calendars for next year and want to get those put on the calendar, too. I HATE taking half a day to call for appointments and book the calendar, but I am always SO glad when it is done! After my marathon scheduling session, I am always left with papers I will need at the actual event. So I created The ONE clip Once you sign up for a class or get tickets for an event, what do you do with the information until the actual event happens? I use a ONE clip. ONE clip!

30 Kids school papers I use ONE magnetic clip for each of my kid s papers on the fridge. That way EVERY flyer, permission slip and money request is in ONE spot. Before adding the papers to the ONE clip, I highlight the dates on each piece of paper. I then stack the papers in order with the first one to occur on TOP. Then I clip the WHOLE stack on ONE clip on the fridge! I include tickets and all because, really where else am I going to put them AND remember? I get asked all the time what clips will hold multiple papers. I do not tend to find them in stores, so here is a link for purchasing them through Amazon: This is the clip I am currently using. The clip in the pictures I can t find from a reputable dealer.

31 Planning Summer Vacation Every year, I plan summer vacation for the kids during spring break. So, here's how I do it. First, I take a piece of paper and make a calendar that comprises the ENTIRE summer on one sheet of paper. I have been doing this for years and decided this year to make it pretty and a printable. Then, I number the days of the months using a different colored pen for each month. Having this master calendar helps me see how evenly the activities are spaced out, where our annual trip to the beach falls and where we have long stretches of non activity.

32 Planning Summer FUN! Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

33 Travel I have already started a separate basket for our annual trip to the beach in July. I keep any little freebies or catalogs I think Abby will like and magazines for me, and start to compile my "work" to sort in the car. It is quite a productive trip for me. Fourteen hours each way is a LOT of time to organize photos on my computer, update my phone, cull contacts, update our financial spreadsheets, get tax documentation up to date and um.. scrapbook. Last year, I bought Chinese Lanterns for our trip. I got the idea in January and had to remember where they were so I didn't leave them at home. I find it is so much LESS stressful to pack now that the kids are older, and I have such a great system. This basket is in a basement closet right on top of those Chinese Lanterns. :) I often have multiple baskets that I check weekly. Another popular basket for me is a work basket. This one gets checked every Monday morning.

34 Forms to Fill Out Forms. If you have kids - you have forms! This week, I had to fill out new patient papers for my daughter's allergy testing, complete a high school application form, submit 2 "out of network" claims to insurance and sign my daughter up for track. Two hours of forms. This is the stuff that eats up your time, but you don't account for it. As much as possible, I try to put any forms that need to be filled out into my Sunday basket. Then, on Sunday I fill out all the forms at once. A few time saving tricks: Have copies of your child's birth certificate handy so you don't need to go make copies when you are filling out forms. Take the time to put your local pharmacy's number in your cell phone. Add your child's social security number as a contact in your phone - but call it something else. :) Enter your insurance information as a contact. Add your doctor's address to your contacts.

35 Errands Every week, I have items that need to be returned, donated, sold, fixed or delivered. This week my counters were overflowing, so I planned an errand day. This is just genius. {If I do say so myself.} When I make out my weekly list, I put anything I can right in the car that night or the next morning. This was a BIG fill-the-car week. With the kids off of school for 18 days {YES! I was counting}, I had a bunch of errands, returns and jobs to do. So, I filled my trunk to get all the items out of my house, BUT that is only step 1. Step 2 is to make a small list of what is in the trunk and put that list in your car under the odometer where you'll SEE it. Here is a post all about how I plan and execute my errand days. THEN, when you are headed out - look over your list and see if you can drop off a thing or 2 on your way to your next appointment.

36 My Weekly Planning Time So, by now you realize that the Sunday Basket is just the holding area for the items you need for a weekly planning time. Honestly, the more I have fleshed out what the Sunday basket does for me, the more I realize that it really is a Sunday planning session that lasts about 2 hours with bill paying and planning my week. I LOVE to sit on my bed. It is such a luxury to be able to go through all the week's papers at once. I bring the Sunday basket, pills to be filled, bills to pay, calendars and more ALL on my bed.

37 I empty each basket one at a time and toss on the floor what needs to be shredded or filed. It takes time, but my week goes so much more smoothly when I set aside this planning time each week. Send me an and let me know how your Sunday planning time is going! lisa@organize365.com

38 Why I Use a Medium Market Longaberger Basket for My Sunday Basket I have used the same 2 baskets for the last 14 years. They are strong and sturdy, they hold binders easily, they sit nicely in the front seat of my car and I can carry the basket by the handles with my arm while carrying other things in and out of the car and around the house. For the last year, I ve been trying to come up with other baskets that might be more economical or better suited for you, my readers. But every time, I kept coming back to my Medium Market Longaberger Basket.

39 Now, I know that the Medium Market Longaberger Basket is not everyone s favorite design style, but it definitely is mine! And the price point is rather high at $85 for the basket alone. But when I figure that I ve used my two baskets over the last 14 years, that s less than $15 per year for both baskets. Now, before I told you that I was selling the Medium Market Longaberger Basket, I knew one of the first questions you would ask me would be how to get the fabric liners that you see on the baskets that I have. Well, Longaberger doesn t make those anymore, so I had to come up with a solution.

40 Dawn from Custom Liners By GiGi, has an Etsy store where she makes Longaberger basket liners for all different shapes and sizes. So, I contacted her and talked with her to make sure that she would be able to make Medium Market Longaberger Basket liners for anyone who is interested, and she can! So, whether you use the Medium Market Longaberger Basket, a 31 organizing utility tote, a bag or basket you have lying around your house or one that you find when out at your favorite stores, I don t care what basket you use just start using a Sunday Basket!

41 List of all products referenced in this book. Strong Magnetic Clips Colored Boxes for Kids Papers My Favorite Slash Pockets My Sunday Basket is a Medium Market Longaberger Basket My Favorite Magnetic Calendar 10 Steps to Organized Paper The wallet I use to organize our money and coupons Fold N File Bill pay organizer Organize 365 in COLOR printable Longaberger basket liners My Thirty One store