Household Binder

I live by binders! I have a binder for everything! I was introduced to the system of a home management binder (I call it our household binder) about 3 years ago. I have been using this system but tweaking it from time to time to fit my needs. Recently, with us moving, I stopped using my binder. Life was crazy with the move,and we were so off schedule. Now that we are settled in our new home and life is returning to more of a schedule/routine life I knew I needed to get back on track with my household binder. 

Supplies: 

1 inch binder

forms (links below)

cardstock

pocket folder

tab inserts

computer/printer

colorful markers

label maker

My previous binders contained many forms made by me and some I found on the internet. With Pinterest there are oodles of forms out there. I found Jamie from DIY Home Sweet Home on Pinterest and she has amazing forms. I just loved the bright colors (and those of you who know me, know I love color). I used a majority of her forms and with some help from Photoshop I customized them for my family needs. 

My binder tabs are as follows: calendar, to do, menu, cleaning, thoughts, projects, kids school, my school, dates, and tabs for each family member. 

The calendar I found at Anders Ruff (love their goodies). Here is were I keep track of important events for our family. I love color so every family member has a color - I am pink, kids are orange and blue, hubby is green and I use purple for our family events. 

Next is my to do list section. I have used a daily to do list but found myself transferring tasks to the next day over and over again when I could not get to them. I have been using an on-going to do list that I just keep adding to for awhile now, and that is what works for me.

On Sunday evening I sit down and plan. This is an important step to a household binder. You have to plan! I plan our menu, write down my to do list, review my project list, update my calendar, jot down ideas and more every Sunday night.

Next tab is my menu. This is a new tab for me. In my previous post on my wall unit that organizes my paper work, I hung my menu for the week. I've been using laminated weekly menus that I made. I decided to switch and keep my menu in my household binder. The reason for this is when I would sit down to plan on Sunday I was grabbing too many things to plan. Now I just need to grab my household binder and recipe binder. Also I have only one place to go for everything I need....my household binder!

Menu tab is next. I use several different forms one is from Jamie (link above) the others are from Ginny over at Organizing Homelife. I used to just plan our dinners but my eating habits really need to change. I skip or just have a granola bar for breakfast, turkey sandwich for lunch, and a few snacks here and there. My dinners are usually healthy but the rest of my day is not. I believe my dinners are healthy because I plan them. So Jamie had a menu planner that includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. I also grabbed Ginny's forms so I can jot down our favorite recipes, recipes for entertaining, and recipes I would like to try. When I am planning I can easily browse these 3 forms and jot them into the weekly menu instead of searching through my recipe binder for that "OMG that recipe was so good I just have to make that when our friends come over this weekend!"

The cleaning tab is next! Love this form as it is broke down by daily, days of the week, monthly, quarterly and annually sections. Nicer weather is right around the corner so I hate to waste a whole day cleaning so I break my cleaning up into just a few small tasks a day. For example on Mondays I wash the darks, and dust the whole house. Tuesdays I wash the lights/whites, vacuum the first floor and clean the powder bathroom. Wednesday I wash cleaning towels, vacuum the basement and clean the basement bathroom.....and so on. By Saturday everything in the house has been cleaned. The tasks are minimal in time so I get them done in the morning and I am outside with the kids by the afternoon. This also helps the kids as they know on  Tuesday night they have to clean up all their toys because Mommy has to vacuum the next day. My kids love to build trains but they take over the floor so this helps them to breakdown their sets. My house is also for the most part company ready (I may just have to do a quick wipe down of bathrooms - I have boys!). The biggest benefit is I am happy when my house is neat and clean! What's that saying...."Happy wife, happy life." 

When I saw this form in Jamie's group my heart screamed. I constantly have thoughts and ideas running through my head. So many times I thought..."what was that idea I thought of, what was that website, what did I run out of?" I now have a spot to jot down these random thoughts down. I used to jot them down on a post it, notebook, dry erase board and just ended up with lots of thoughts on lots of types of paper and all were unorganized. I titled this tab in my binder "thoughts" :)

Next is my project tab. I added this form as we have just moved into a new house and there is a lot to be done. After the house to do list I have project that I am working on - organizing project, pictures of projects I want to do, information on projects, kids projects to do in the summer and more. 

After the project tab I have a school tab where I keep all the kids important school information, calendars, field trip forms, hot lunch menus, registration info,and more. Right now I keep both elementary school and preschool info in one tab as my youngest will be in the same elementary school in the

 fall so I did not want to make two separate tabs.

Then I have a tab for my school (I am currently getting my Bachelors) where I keep all my important paper work on my grades, scholarships I have applied for, loan paperwork, and any other school paperwork 

that I need to keep track of. 

Dates is the next tab. All my family and friends birthdays, and anniversaries go in here. I take a look at this at the end of every month to make sure I have cards made or on hand for the next month!

My last 4 tabs are for each family member. My tab have the above forms and I also keep anything the pertains to me only. In my husband's tab I keep his travel itinerary when he has to travel for work so I have it at my fingertips. In my kids I keep doctor info that I need from time to time, their sizes, and birthday plans for them, gift ideas and more.

I have some extra tabs in case I find I need to add a tab and I also keep a pocket folder at the back of my binder to stick paperwork in that needs to find a home in a tab when I sit down to plan on Sunday. I also printed several forms on cardstock. I am hard on this binder and I need some of my pages to stand up to the test of time. I print my calendar, to do list, cleaning list, project list, dates to remember, and my personal lists on cardstock. 

I hope you enjoyed a peek into my household binder! Head on over to the sights list above to grab their free printables. I would love to see your binders so leave me a comment with a link to yours! 

Happy Organizing!