If you’re just stumbling across this, please click here for the other posts in the series.

What is “Family Member Information”?

As we’ve worked our way through this series, we began with the premise that every type of information you have to organize needs to have a “place,” or something will throw off your organization.  “Family Member Information” is one of those necessary categories — but what is that?  Well, it’s any general information you need to hang onto in relation to your individual family members.  (Not health records, though; we’ll address that separately, next week.)

For me, this includes a handful of things.  Sizes and/or measurements for clothing are a biggie.  If there’s anything else you would need, in order to shop for each family member, include that, as well.  For instance, I may want a note of my family members’ best color palettes (or core wardrobe colors), and/or whether they have particular style preferences or favorite brands.

I also like to keep a page — that looks a little like the “personal information” page you’ll find in the front of most day planners — of basic information for each family member.  This includes some very basic health information (like blood type and allergies), social security number, identifying information (height, weight, hair/eye color, etc.), and employment/school information.  It also includes some spaces for things like hobbies and favorites.  Essentially, it’s just an overview of the family member at a glance.

Having this information can be useful when looking for gifts or shopping for clothing, etc., and is helpful when I need to know some bit of essential information (like a social security number or someone’s height) that I’m not so great at remembering off the top of my head.

STEP 1: Decide what information to keep for each family member.

STEP 2: Decide where to keep this information.

(Does it need to be portable?  If so, you might want it in your planner.  If not, you might want it in your household notebook.)

STEP 3: Gather this information and write it down.

If you’re just stumbling across this, please click here for the other posts in the series.

Updated Sep. 22, 2019.  Originally published Mar. 5, 2013.