Although much of our organizational and logistical systems can be paperless these days, actual hard copies are necessary when it comes to emergency contact information and other important instructions or lists. This is especially important for those times when you — and your smart phone — are not around for the others at home to access this needed information. I am a list person. But I am also someone who doesn't like visual clutter (no photos or magnets adorn my fridge). How do I keep contact information and other lists clearly displayed without sacrificing my love for clear, uncluttered surfaces?
As a mother of two accident-prone kids, we have a steady stream of babysitters in our home, some of whom are more experienced than others (to put it lightly). So I have typed up a simple list of critical contact numbers, including friends, neighbors, doctors and local emergency services. The font is small on a tiny square of paper. But it stands out because it is the only thing affixed to the fridge. On the inside of our food cabinet I have taped a rather large fold-out instruction manual on what to do in case of choking and how to administer CPR (Image 1).
For the
On the inside door of the spice cabinet above the stove I have stuck two pieces of paper (Images 2 and 3). One is a guide on how to put out various types of kitchen fires and the other (and this is where I get serious dork points) is a typed list of all the spices currently stocked in the cabinet. You see, I don't cook a lot so when I do I can never remember whether I have a certain spice required for a given recipe. So instead of having to search through all the spices I can refer to my list (which gets updated by pencil whenever I add to the inventory). I typed the list because I have atrocious handwriting and knew I would just get more confused trying to decipher my scrawl at the 11th hour of meal planning.
So, those are the lists and guides in my home. What paper-based information is really necessary to display in a home? What "hard copies" do you have affixed to your walls or fridge?
Images: 1-3: Catrin Morris; 4: Child Safety Experts
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What's wrong with the old fashioned baby-sitter binder? You can put a heck of a lot more info in there without having to resort to tiny fonts, and while I don't know the layout of your kitchen, I think it would be a better plan to put emergency procedures there than on the inside of a cupboard - the only time I had a kitchen emergency in someone else's kitchen I did not start opening the cupboards. Mind you, I wouldn't have started flipping through a notebook either, I recall that I was too busy dealing with the stuff on fire. (The kitchen was fine. Designer oven - didn't realize that it had industrial settings.) One small, useful binder is not a lot of clutter.
I don't have kids, so the info is a little different, but I'm currently putting together a reference binder with important info like contact numbers, insurance info, travel info, takeout menus, flyers for events, and stuff like that that just ends up in random piles around my house.
We have a small, framed white/bulletin board in our open kitchen/dining room with info for our babysitters. (It's an informal room, so it fits in OK and is very functional above all.) On the white board, we have our cell #s, our street address (babysitters might not know our street number for an ambulance, esp. in a panic), the height, weight, and birthday of our child, and the pediatrician's number. On the fridge, we have the requisite magnets--the Poison Control one, one from our pediatric dentist, and one from DC with important city numbers.
hah, I love that you have a list of spices! I do the same thing with a list of my current fresh produce, which I am always forgetting on the counter or in the back of the fridge. List makers unite!
Our emergency information is taped inside the cabinet door closest to the telephone. You never see it unless you open that particular cabinet, and you never have to go digging for information in a crisis. Vet hospital # has been used several times that way.
We have a Household Binder with things like emergency contacts, insurance info, etc. Then taped to the inside of a kitchen cabinet I have ideas on what to feed the kids (I remember when I was babysitting, I never knew what little kids ate!) and activities to do with the kids (so they're not constantly in front of the TV). It's great for babysitters, but I've referred to it occasionally when I've run out of inspiration.
The only think on my fridge is a weekly calendar and a dry erase board listing leftovers in the fridge that need to be consumed. I like to keep that as tidy as possible.
As for CPR instructions, those are taped to the inside of the linen closet door where our first aid kit is located. All part of the effort to keep papers out of sight, but not out of mind.
omg... this leads me back to days where i was still doing social-working and had to print 'em numbers on huge A3 size papers for the Elderly... "emergency numbers" - *shudder