Thursday, February 28, 2013

Household Management Binder

I've been MIA lately because I've been hard at work at something no housewife (and especially mother) should be without - a homemaking binder.  I'm generally an organized person.  But I don't like lists.  At all.  And that was okay for our smallish family in our smallish house.  Flying by the seat of my pants was occasionally stressful, but mostly not a big deal.  But I've finally realized that it wasn't working anymore, with our largeish family in our biggish house.  I've been stressed out for the last three years.  I'm not a neat freak.  On any given day you will probably find dust on my plant shelves and smudges on some of my windows.  That doesn't bother me much.  But I do like for things to be tidy and put-away.  And managing our schedule and the mountains of paperwork that stream into our home daily.  I get a headache just thinking about it!  So, household management binder to save the day.  I wasn't sure exactly what to include in it, and I imagine it will be a work in progress, but better to dive in and get started right away, then to try and make it look like a fancy Pinterest project.  I purchased the largest, most heavy-duty binder I could find, and colorful dividers (I like a bit of color), as well as clear sheet protectors to slide things into.  I've (so far) organized my binders into sections.



You can see the different tabs along the top.  Notice the first section is God (which is as it should be).  So far, I've included papers from the Women's Ministry, nursery and special music schedule, and prayer partner card.


Next comes Weekly Schedule.  I needed a place with lots of room to put the small details of the day into.  I found the format on the internet, and it was a free downloadable, so I printed it off - one weekly calendar on both the front and back of the paper and keep four weeks at a time on there.  I add to that calendar all the time. 


After weekly schedule, comes Monthly Schedule.  This is for the "big things" that you need to know in advance.  School breaks, recitals, vacations, birthdays, etc.  I have the monthly calendar, in seperate sheets, all the way through January 2014.


Next is my Cleaning Schedule.  I broke it down by repetitive daily chores, and then I also have a monthly schedule.  You could assign each once-a-month task to a specific day, but I need more flexibility than that, so I just highlight the tasks as they are finished so I know which ones I still need to tackle (so I print out a new cleaning schedule sheet each month).  I'm planning to work on a spring cleaning and fall cleaning worksheet as well.


I have tabs for my menu planning, shopping lists, and home maintenance/decor ideas.  Those I haven't tackled yet, but I'll be sure and update what I've put in them when I do.  Last is my kids' activities folder.  Here I store their various schedules, permission sheets, team rosters, etc.  I also keep all my stuff for the local figure club in there, since I'm the secretary. 

So, what about you?  Do you have a homemaking binder?  What is in yours?  How helpful do you find it be? 

1 comments:

Serena said...

I love lists and the idea of a household management binder gives me the tingles! I don't have one like yours, but I should probably create one. My Amy Knapp family organizer is what I can't live without. It has places for menu planning, grocery lists, and weekly reminders along with weekly and monthly calendars. (It's one of my standard Christmas gifts from my mom.) I have to admit that it is usually stuffed with other papers, bills, post it notes, etc. The binder idea would keep the counter top much more tidy. I have binders out the Wazoo for homeschooling - which I keep very organized - but not one for homemaking. Thanks for the inspiration!