My Bible and Planner Basket

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I need to make a confession.  I have an addiction.  I love books!  We have them everywhere!  It was a side effect of homeschooling (I think!).  Okay,  I think it’s really a side effect of the fact that I love learning and reading.   We don’t even go to the library anymore.  Really!  I decided it was too much trouble to wrangle  three kids around the library, keep them quiet, and then keep up all those books.  Not to mention remembering to get them back on time!  Whew! I’m tired already.

Instead of checking out books, I have stocked up cheap books from thrift stores, yard sales, and online from Amazon and Thriftbooks.com.  But this did create a problem.  We had books everywhere!  My little stash of quiet time books and devotionals got lost in all the books.   I would sit down to pray and have my quiet time, but then I would have to find my Bible and books!  Oh my, I didn’t have time for that.  I had to do something!

I began looking at planners and calendars  and I came across the idea of a Bible and quiet time basket.  What a great idea!  And so simple, why hadn’t I thought of it.  Collect all your quiet time necessities and give them a home in a cute basket or bin so they are together, easily accessible, and a daily reminder to stay in the Word.  And that’s just what I did.  I even added my planner to my basket so I could easily plan out my day, and see the week ahead first thing in the morning.

All my studying and planning needs in my Bible and planner basket-right within reach!

This has been such a simple yet effective strategy at faithfully having a quiet time.  I see my Bible, journal and all the things I use for my quiet time neatly sitting, waiting, for me to come dig into Scripture.  I don’t have to go hunting my Bible or wondering where I left my journal.  I know it’s all right there in the Bible basket, sitting under the table next to my chair.  Since it’s always there in it’s home, I realized how much time I now have to actually study and how much time I used to waste looking for stuff.

Here’s a list of all the things I’ve put in my Bible and planner basket.

• My Bible (ok so that’s no brainer)
• My prayer journal and notebook (I use this for keeping up with prayer requests and answered prayer and for taking notes at church-so the smaller size is great.)
• My current devotional book I’m using (as of now that’s my teacher book for the ladies class I’m teaching)
• Notebook for all my notes as I’m studying
• Any other devotionals or studies I may be reading through
• The LifeGiving Home (Since I’m reading through this throughout the year and we’re incorporating ideas into our women’s ministry it’s included)
• My planner (I made this one myself and hope to show it off soon)
• Frixion Erasable Pens (Oh, how I love these pens! They write great, really erase and come in all kinds of colors-perfect for color coding your Bible notes or planner.)

Creating a Bible and planner basket has helped keep our other books organized and decluttered too.  Since I added my planner to my Bible basket, I decided to also have a blogging basket with my Inspired Blogger’s Planner, my laptop, and all my blogging stuff.   I then set up another basket where I have other books we’re currently reading or need often under another table in our den.  All other books got put away on bookshelves where they belong.  And our den is no longer overrun with books and magazines.  Oh, it’s the simple things in life! 🙂

 

Oh how neat those baskets keep all my books and planning stuff.  And I have no excuse now not to dive into Scripture and plan my days.  Yes, I need to work on the top of the table, but I thought I’d just be real.  Sometimes (often, most of the time) things still get cluttered, but at least things have a home now.  I’ve found that it’s all the homeless stuff that gets left out, but if I can find a home for it, that does encourage me to but it back up where it belongs when I’m finished with it.

How about you?  Do you have a Bible and planning basket?  What do you use to organize your quiet time or planning items?  I’d love to hear your tips on staying organized or what helps you stay focused and faithful at studying the Word.

Keep Herbing and Organizing It Up!

Brigett