Home Management Binder

[Collinsky]

If you have a home management binder ("control journal"), what's in it? How is it organized? I just got a binder and I'm really excited. (I might be a dork. I'm okay with that. )

[*Jessica*]

I love fellow MDC member Tangled Hill's blog post about her home management binder. Mine looks very similar, except that it's in a basic white binder and doesn't get used as much as it should!

[Collinsky]

Originally Posted by *Jessica*

I love fellow MDC member Tangled Hill's blog post about her home management binder. Mine looks very similar, except that it's in a basic white binder and doesn't get used as much as it should!

Checking it out now, thanks! It looks great.

[PaytonPlace]

I am really excited to put together a binder this month, so I will join in on your dorkiness. LOL

I'm wondering how far in advance everyone completes their binder for? A month, quarter, 6-months, the entire year??

[tinuviel_k]

I have a small binder with my Motivated Mom's planner. I find it is nice when I have wheat I need to do all laid out for me. I also keep my "100 push-ups in 6 weeks" schedule in there so I remember to train.

[Mymble]

We have one! We've used it for at least a year, maybe longer. It has (without actually looking to be sure I'm right, ahem):

1. calendars for the next couple months
2. daily to-do lists, one page per day with appts and phone calls we need to make as well as to-dos
3. running/long term to-dos
4. kitchen stuff (freezer inventory, that sort of thing)
5. contacts
6. references (we have trading card sleeves that hold business cards in this section)
7. blanks (here we keep stamps, deposit slips, things like that)

Each section has a pocket to hold lists, coupons, anything we may need to keep loose.

I get bad about the kitchen inventory at times, but the daily to-do list has really helped us get organized. And having contacts and so-on at hand in the kitchen has helped out more than once.

I love the binder! :

[aiccerb]

Originally Posted by *Jessica*

I love fellow MDC member Tangled Hill's blog post about her home management binder. Mine looks very similar, except that it's in a basic white binder and doesn't get used as much as it should!

Great link..thx for sharing!

[Justmee]

My parents are coming this week, but I'm wanting to start my binder so I'll be following for info / updates.

[alison_in_oh]

I'm building mine slowly, just adding pages that seem useful. I have a pencil pouch in mine. The first page has morning and evening routines, then a page with the year calendar. Then a bunch of month calendars that I use to record chores I've done. It lets me see at a glance how long it's been since I've done something, which tend to be my most productive days, etc.

After that I have a page with my cleaning routine (order of rooms, order of stuff within each room) and I've just added the Real Simple Periodic Table of Cleaning after that.

Oh, and somewhere in there is a page of meal ideas for grocery planning purposes.

I will add more pages as I think of them, I want to do a list of ingredients for those meal ideas so I don't have to cross reference them with my recipes; a rough list of chore days (Cleaning day is between Friday and Sunday; minicleaning day is on Wednesday; I also try to get an Errand day and a Paperwork/Phone calls day in during the week) and some other stuff.

[Purple Sage]

I just started building one, so it isn't complete yet (will it ever be?) but here's what's in it so far:

-- Daily routine pages.
-- Calendars for the next few months.
-- Weekly planners for chores, menus, and other To-Do lists.
-- 2009 calendar and address book pages (for my birthday card list that I haven't completed yet) and other contacts.
--Section with trading card pages for organizing coupons.


What I plan to add soon:

-- Kitchen section with price book spread sheet, pantry inventory, grocery lists, etc.
-- Section for spiritual stuff - gratitude journal, inspirational quotes, meditations, etc.
-- Craft section - ideas, supply lists, stuff like that.

[brittneyscott]

I am working on re-organizing mine for the new year now. The sections in mine are:

Calendars
Health & Emergency Info
Housekeeping
Budget
Menu Planning
Holidays & Events
Misc (for home inventories, vehicle maintence, etc)

Here are some sites that have printables for your binders:
www.donnayoung.com
www.organizedhome.com
www.delightinreallife.com
www.chartjungle.com


I'm working on expanding mine also, probably adding a craft section, garden planning, homeschooling, and bible study.

[AngelBee]

:

[MyLittleWarrior]

I just started a series of posts on mine in my blog, Homestead In My Heart. This first post is just an overview, I'll be going into more depth on my different sections this coming week. Keeping The Home has one of my favorite HMB tutorials ever. I set mine up very much like hers. Look in the left hand side bar for HMB 101 and she walks you through all of the steps of setting one up.

[mom2tristan04]

I put mine together last week, so it's a work in progress, but right now...

In the front pocket -- cards, stationery, stamps

Pencil holder -- pens, pencil, dry erase markers, calculator

Emergency information

Daily Routine, divided into morning, afternoon, and evening...I'm a list person. I love checking things off.

Daily Chores - one page for each day of the week, with different sections of the house for each day. These are the deeper cleaning chores I need to do in addition to my usual tidying each morning.

A stain removal guide

A weekly calendar

Montly calendar

A table to write a month worth of meals

[Collinsky]

You all rock ... such great ideas. It is really helpful to me to see what other people have in theirs. This one is coming together well. Thanks so much to everyone for sharing! I'm still checking out the links from earlier in the thread, and now I'm headed to the recently added ones. :


The stain removal guide is DEFINITELY a great idea. I'm all over that!