Get the Message?

Having a husband who is a busy bishop as well as a salesman, four active teenagers, and several activities I am involved in myself, I finally had to do something about the problem in our family with lost telephone messages and mail. Who called? What time? Did you see the mail?

So we hung a corkboard in the hall by the telephone, with a ruled pad and pencil attached. On the pad are columns entitled “To Whom,” “Time,” “Day,” “Name of caller,” “Phone number,” and “Message.” (Having a space for the caller’s number encourages the family to get that important bit of information.) If a message is taken at another phone in the house, it is immediately transferred to the main message center. When the sheet is full, we file it for future reference. Believe me, there’s less stress over phone calls now.

Then we solved the mail problem by hanging a shoe bag in the hall with a pocket labelled for each family member (dad has three pockets because of his varied responsibilities). Now the mail gets through, and the pockets are a handy place for notes of appreciation and an occasional treat.—Barbara Matson, Blackfoot, Idaho