Pagan Home Binder: Less stress, less mess, more me time

[Aeress]

Good Morning! Several years ago, the Pagan spirituality group spent their summer at "camp", where we made a home binder that reflected our spirituality as well as our need to have information at our finger tips.

If you haven't participated before, no worries, we will run threw the basics.

1. Locate or purchase a 3 ring binder

2. Locate or purchase subject dividers

3. Meditate on your life- what will the binder allow you to rid your mind of

how will having the information you need easily accessible make your life simpler?

4.As a Pagan, how can you influence your binder- what could you add? a meditation a day? maybe a list of books you would like to read?

So, spend today reflecting/meditating on how you see yourself once the binder is complete.

The binder can be as fancy as you like or as plain as you like, you can embellish the pages.

Here is the breakdown of the binder as of now:

Family

Medical

Recipes, Food and Shopping

Please post our thoughts/feelings about what you want your binder to reflect. Could you also post the areas you would like to see us develop, ie kitchen, medical, etc

On Wednesday we will begin to discuss the specifics of the binder.

Karen

[Aubergine68]

Subbing! Thanks, Aeress!  Love the thread title 

[_ktg_]

Count me in!  Thanks Aeress & love the title too!  And I get to do a bit of shopping to boot! A win for all!

[Valerie.Qc]

subbing... hoping I can keep up!

[witchygrrl]

Yes, subbing. I would love to do this!

[gun]

I am ready!!!  I missed this the first tie around and am eager to do this for sure!  TY Aeress for starting this up again!

[liza-s]

Me too.  After a many-month MDC break this is what it took to draw me back in.

[Aeress]

Ok Gals, what would make your life less messy, less stressful and allow you to have more YOU time?

I will start- I lose important documents because I work on them at various places in my home, so my goal is to create a binder that allows me to carry it around the home, so maybe this wouldn't be just a binder but also a basket of sorts that holds my stuff.

Areas I want to get organized:

Medical information- I have never done this and several events have made me realize that I need to get this done.

Recipes, and Shopping lists- I often want to try a new recipe, but have no way to organize it.

Tomorrow, I will begin compiling the areas that we want to get organized.

We will go through them one by one, adding links and ideas, and spiritual touches, influences and such

[Aubergine68]

I do not have time for much right now, but I am thinking of a garden section.  Maybe a garden/home preserving section. Maybe under the heading of "pantry" since my garden is a food garden?  I really want to plan better in this area.

[redveg]

Subbing:) I did not join in last time but am ready this time around:)  I need help in all areas:)

I am with Aubergine a garden, home preserve section would be great. 

Recipes and shopping are good too. 

I was almost done gathering my supplies but on Sunday something came up that got in the way:(  I m hoping to finish today or tomorrow.

I can't wait to get started.

[_ktg_]

So far what I've come up with feels a little like BOS stuff but I really need it more at my finger tips:

So the category title is spiritual with the following:

• Mealtime blessings
• House Blessings & Nighttime Prayers/Requests
• Print out of the phases of the moon (and DATES!) - since it always seems to catch me off guard to look up and voila - it is a full moon!

I love the idea of home preserving as I have all my recipes for that in various ball & my pressure cooker books/manuals

Recipes & the Pantry (like a stock list of items which must be kept in the pantry) since I'm the only one in the house which knows this information.  This might cut down on the number of binders I have in my kitchen for various recipes and such that I've collected through out time.  Hmmmm maybe I don't need to go shopping, but just repurposing!!!

In addition to everything which has been mentioned already:

For me I think of other things like are:

• Finances - but that would be a simple 1 page reference to where I would/could find where we keep this information or access.
• Household Maintenance which would include recipes for making all purpose cleaner, the carpet deodorizer, use of EOs, furnace cleaning/repair, fireplace cleaning etc etc etc...

[Aeress]

Food Preserving- Yes, I did a lot this year, but not enough.

What is your goal for preserving? My current goal was to make pickles, freeze peppers and sauce. I did get those done, but I missed out on strawberries and cherries this year.

In general I want to be well prepared for a harvest when it comes in, so I guess, gathering supplies and getting the correct supplies per harvest?

[DaughterOfKali]

Would it be silly to have a Decor section?

[Aeress]

Of course not.

[DaughterOfKali]

Yay!  I got my binder.  :)

[Aeress]

Ok, lets get going! First, consider how you want to organize your binder. Will you set it up in areas like work, home/decor, family, medical, finance?

Would it be easier for you to have a daily use notebook? This would include your calendar/planner, and things you use on a daily basis.

How about a binder for important information, like safety, medical, and family records like birth certificates?

If you are using a general use binder, how will you organize the areas/sections?

Areas:

Pantry/Kitchen- recipe organizing, freezer list, pantry list, shopping list

Decor/Home-

Garden-

Finance-

We will add areas as needed.

I will add links soon.

[pampered_mom]

I'm late to the game, but count me in!  I was a bit bummed to have missed it the first time around, but I'm looking forward to it this time.  I'll be buying my binder on Friday.  Until then 

[Aeress]

Now, onto posting links:

http://tipnut.com/make-a-household-organizer-notebook-buncha-links/

http://www.mommytracked.com/

Ok, check out those links for free printable forms.

Kitchen/Pantry.Freezer-

We busy Moms often need quick and simple meals that are not only nutritious but also help to feed our soul.

Ways to incorporate spirituality into your kitchen- print out blessings, candle season colors and add them to your binder.

Keep this rule in mind- if I can't cook with joy in my heart, it is wiser to not cook at all. For those days when you need a break from cooking, or having a rough day, give yourself the freedom to have cereal for dinner or take out.

Other helps- freezing double batches of your favorite meals

I saw a tip that suggested freezing meals flat (like in a cake pan) and then sliding them into plastic bags. You could then place the bags into bins marked (main dish, sides, soup etc)

Another idea I saw, having lunch creation bins. You take a bin and place all the things you need to make lunches into the bin, you could have 1 for the fridge and 1 for the pantry. For instance, I would place cheese sticks, jelly and yogurt in my fridge bin.

Now, how to incorporate this into a binder:

Pantry inventory

http://organizedhome.com/printable/household-notebook/pantry-inventory

Freezer inventory

http://organizedhome.com/printable/household-notebook/freezer-inventory

Favorite Recipes
http://organizedhome.com/printable/household-notebook/recipes

Menu Planner

http://organizedhome.com/printable/household-notebook/weekly-menu-planner-shopping-list

If you come across other docs that you found useful for the kitchen/pantry, please post the links.

[meandk0610]

i so need this! i'm joining but expect to be playing catch-up the whole time. i usually realize there was a full moon about two days after it. maybe this could help.

[bluets]

jumping in like liza_s.  thanks aeress for starting this thread!  super way to start a new year.

my problem with inventory and to-do lists is that i can never keep them current.  even posting the inventory list inside the cupboard door didn't help.  and husband has a wiki set up for to-do lists...

what i'd like is to organize it in a more BOS fashion, with mostly recipes, blessings, seasonal and inspirational poetry (that i find coz, you know, i just don't write that stuff), inspirational art bits...  but then i have this dilemma that i really don't like actually printing stuff (really?  more paper lying around the house?  more inkjet cartridges to buy?)...

i want it integrated into my datebook but then that means that i need something that is portable... and i don't like relying solely on technology...

for 2012, i picked up the looseleaf We'Moon datebook and put it into a Classic sized Franklin Covey binder i had lying around (yet another time when i had dreams of being super organized).  maybe i'll start adding sections to it...  at the very least, it has the calendar, beautiful art, the moon charts, astrology blurbs...  just need to stick in recipes and blessings and ideas for short but meaningful solitary rituals.