Using Microsoft One Note to Organize your Brain!

I’m participating in Works For Me Wednesdays today! Be sure to check out all the other great ideas at We Are That Family

I’m an idea person. Is anyone else out there like me? I always have a ton of ideas in my brain but if I don’t write them down then it’s a lost cause. I love projects, crafts, cooking and planning events. To keep all of that organized I used to have papers all over the place and a Microsoft Word file for  each idea. It got very unorganized, until I found Microsoft One Note!

One Note is like having a notebook on your computer. Sounds so exciting right?!? Not really. But it is. Here is a screen-shot of one of my “Notebooks” in One Note…

My Cookbook:

I’ve been using this cookbook to record all the recipes that I find online and want to try. All I do is copy the recipe off the web and past it on to a ‘page’ in one note.

Each notebook has tabs at the top and tabs down the right side. The top tabs are used as “Catergories’ or ‘Sections. I use the top tabs to divide my cookbook in to catergories like you see above (Appitizers, Breakfast, Breads, Beef Entrees, Beans, Baking, Chicken Entrees, etc.).  The side tabs are the individual ‘pages’ or recipes.

If you copy and paste something from the web or from another document on your computer a link will appear at the bottom of the page. That link will direct you back to the original. This is super helpful when you copy things off of websites and can’t remember where you found it! I love it!

Here are a few other ‘notebooks’ that I have in One Note

• Craft Notebook: I use  to copy and paste tutorials and ideas.
• Blog Notebook: I use to organize the ideas and posts for my blog and a
• Home Notebook: I use to organize ideas I find online for decorating, gift ideas, planning holidays and garden. Many of these pages will soon be printed out and into my Home Management Book – more on that soon!)

What?? You don’t have One Note?? You can read more about it at the official Microsoft website. If you don’t want to shell out so much dough I found some similar products onine that do pretty much the same thing. I’m sure there are others but this is what I could find this morning. Some of these are free so check them out!

Google Notebook, EverNote,  PersonalBrain, Circus Ponies