Do you have a home manager binder - Page 7

[GypsyMary]

Originally Posted by sabrinat

Oh cool. I love your illustrations for each section, especially the housecleaning one, lol!

Thanks!

[DandeCobb]

I started the new year with a HMB and it has REALLY made a difference in how i do things!

these are my sections:

Schedules - this is not really fleshed out yet, i have a calendar for 2008 in it
Address/phone #'s
Jackson (ds) - schedules for the public library/pool and class schedules for both
new baby - right now just a list of stuff i need
cleaning schedule - my cleaning schedules for the year by week/month/quarterly
meal planning - master grocery list/weekly meal plans/lists of favorites
finances - bill pay info
coupons
emergency info - a blurb about each of us, blood type/meds/allergies/doctors
internet info - login names and passwords

[creektownmama]

GypsyMary you're a goddess! very impressed!
I'm totally inspired...gonna start mine right now!

[mykdsmomy]

bump because I'm just reading through this thread and LOVING it......

[sabrinat]

Originally Posted by mykdsmomy

bump because I'm just reading through this thread and LOVING it......

It's been an invaluable thread for me too. I've tweaked my HMB after reading through others post and seeing some great suggestions. I plan to post a picture of mine on my blog as soon as I get time to take some pictures. It's not very pretty as I use a very utilitarian zippered notebook, but I'm loving having all this info at my finger tips. My next project is to organize my recipes...yowza.

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by sabrinat

It's been an invaluable thread for me too. I've tweaked my HMB after reading through others post and seeing some great suggestions. I plan to post a picture of mine on my blog as soon as I get time to take some pictures. It's not very pretty as I use a very utilitarian zippered notebook, but I'm loving having all this info at my finger tips. My next project is to organize my recipes...yowza.

I have tweaked mine since last fall when I posted. I'm so excited about it now. I'll have to take pictures and post them.

And, yea, I need to go through my recipes, find the ones we like, type them into Word, and then put them in my binder. My goal is to have about 10-15 recipe/dinner ideas in there at least, so menu planning for the week is easier.

[mcmrymoon]

i am subbing b/c i JUST made one for my family and then i found this thread....figures LOL

anyway - i am looking forward to reading everyone's posts :

[sabrinat]

Oh GyspyMary you just gave another great idea of something I need to put in my HMB. I forgot to type out my goals for 2008. I blogged about them, but that's the only place I have them typed out. I should put them in the me section of my book.

[CommonSenseMother]

Been reading this thread. This is something I really would like to do.

[mykdsmomy]

I have a question for all you HMB gurus I am so organizationally challenged but I want to start a HMB. The one that that's hard for me is that our foster daughter has her own binder (from the county) where we need to keep all the prudent information. We also have two special needs kids that have tons of reports, medical reports, etc that I have accumulated. Do I keep all of that info in a separate file box? What about birth cert., ss cards, report cards, etc? Is the HMB more for the day to day and all the "file" type stuff should be separate? I'm a little confused. I've read LTK's tutorial and I love it but my family is different and I dont keep the same type of info....I have more medical/developmental type stuff. We also have 5 children so it makes it more complicated....help?

[sabrinat]

Originally Posted by mykdsmomy

I have a question for all you HMB gurus I am so organizationally challenged but I want to start a HMB. The one that that's hard for me is that our foster daughter has her own binder (from the county) where we need to keep all the prudent information. We also have two special needs kids that have tons of reports, medical reports, etc that I have accumulated. Do I keep all of that info in a separate file box? What about birth cert., ss cards, report cards, etc? Is the HMB more for the day to day and all the "file" type stuff should be separate? I'm a little confused. I've read LTK's tutorial and I love it but my family is different and I dont keep the same type of info....I have more medical/developmental type stuff. We also have 5 children so it makes it more complicated....help?

Things like the kids birth cert., SSN cards I keep seperate in a safe place, but for general info I have a pocketed divider in my HMB for each child and I keep pertinent info in there. You could easily set up a seperate binder just for the kids or incorporate it into the master HMB.
As you're setting up your binder you will find out what works adn doesn't work for you.

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by mykdsmomy

I have a question for all you HMB gurus I am so organizationally challenged but I want to start a HMB. The one that that's hard for me is that our foster daughter has her own binder (from the county) where we need to keep all the prudent information. We also have two special needs kids that have tons of reports, medical reports, etc that I have accumulated. Do I keep all of that info in a separate file box? What about birth cert., ss cards, report cards, etc? Is the HMB more for the day to day and all the "file" type stuff should be separate? I'm a little confused. I've read LTK's tutorial and I love it but my family is different and I dont keep the same type of info....I have more medical/developmental type stuff. We also have 5 children so it makes it more complicated....help?

I can show you mine; our family needs are different, but mine serves as our main day-to-day "Grand Central Station" type of stuff. I have our master cleaning lists in it, our master calendar (I printed 2 months to a page, so it's just for small notes like "appointment 4pm" - I would keep a more detailed calendar if I needed, maybe on the wall where everyone could see. I have a section for budget in it (right now it's housing our remodel budget). I have our daily routine for hs'ing in one section. I have our vital information in one section (mainly phone numbers - cell phones, grandparent phone numbers, our address, etc.). I have a section for kids, but to keep things like upcoming classes they are taking - for yours in school, it could be where you put that month's cafeteria menu, fieldtrip reminders for the month, etc. and then clean it out at the end of the month.

We also have an accordian file for each member of the family (well, for us, it's one for dh, one for me, one for the home, and eventually I'll probably have one labeled "boys" - there isn't much individual stuff for them that we deal with). I put all of dh's stuff that comes in the mail for him in there; right now his stuff he is "studying" for his interview is in his file.

Our vital records - SSN, birth cert's, marriage cert, my father's death cert - are kept in a separate file, not in the HMB. Eventually they will be kept in a fire-proof safe along with our passports, title on the cars/house, etc.

I didn't want my HMB to become too cluttered nor did I want it to have too much personal/private info in it so I feel comfortable taking it with me places (for instance, when we meet with the contractor ... for you, you might want it "safe" to take to parent conferences and the such).

From what you said, I would keep your separate binder for your dfd ... I wouldn't get that confused with your regular house running stuff. I would also keep big things like SSN, birth certs, and the such separate just for safety reasons. You could have one page-protector per child in your binder with their specific information on it, and use a dry-erase market to make notes on a personalized "to do" list for each child. (For instance, you would have one "vital info" sheet per child facing one way in the page protector and on the other side, you could have a "So-and-so's To Do List" that can be written on and wiped off as needed.) You could do the same for you and dh. And the more specific things like IEP's could be kept in an individual folder/binder as needed.

For me, I wanted a binder that helped me with the bigger picture and I wanted a system that helped organize the specifics, but I didn't want the two to be in the same place.

I agree with Sabrina that you will probably find a system that works as you make it. One thing you can do is take Peter Walsh's idea and ask yourself first:

What is the goal of my HMB? How do I want it to function? What am I wanting to accomplish with it? Do you want it to be something that is "safe" to take with you? Do you want it to be the keeper of "all" information? I think if you can narrow down *what* you want to do with it, then you'll have a better idea what to do with things like SSN, birth certs, IEPs, and the such. And, you are welcome to come see my attempt at a system and you know I am more than happy to come over and help you (Friday is the earliest ... this week got nuts!).

[mykdsmomy]

Thanks for the suggestions I think I definitely need to figure out what I want my hmb to function as. (bad grammar, sorry). Since I'm not much of a schedule person, I might skip the routine pages and recipe pages. I think the first thing is to go through my stacks and stacks of papers on my desks, in my closet, etc...and sort everything out and then see what type of categories I need

It's quite overwhelming

[zeldabee]

Originally Posted by MyLittleWonders

What is the goal of my HMB? How do I want it to function? What am I wanting to accomplish with it? Do you want it to be something that is "safe" to take with you? Do you want it to be the keeper of "all" information? I think if you can narrow down *what* you want to do with it, then you'll have a better idea what to do with things like SSN, birth certs, IEPs, and the such. And, you are welcome to come see my attempt at a system and you know I am more than happy to come over and help you (Friday is the earliest ... this week got nuts!).

I wish I could come over and look at your system. You don't live in Oregon, do you?

See, I have a vague idea what I want to do with a binder, but when I actually sit down and try to put one together, I don't even know where to start. I've been reading David Allen's Getting Things Done, and I'm still paralyzed about getting started, categorizing, pulling it together. I'm reading all sorts of productivity blogs, Lifehacker, etc. (this would be meta-organizing, I believe), and keep seeing great ideas, and meanwhile my stuff is all scattered, and I'm lucky my bills get paid. And I used to be so organized, before I had a kid. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking, I'm forgetting something! I'm forgetting something! Aaaagh! I need all this out of my head.

Thanks for letting me vent.

[sabrinat]

Originally Posted by zeldabee

I wish I could come over and look at your system. You don't live in Oregon, do you?

See, I have a vague idea what I want to do with a binder, but when I actually sit down and try to put one together, I don't even know where to start. I've been reading David Allen's Getting Things Done, and I'm still paralyzed about getting started, categorizing, pulling it together. I'm reading all sorts of productivity blogs, Lifehacker, etc. (this would be meta-organizing, I believe), and keep seeing great ideas, and meanwhile my stuff is all scattered, and I'm lucky my bills get paid. And I used to be so organized, before I had a kid. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking, I'm forgetting something! I'm forgetting something! Aaaagh! I need all this out of my head.

Thanks for letting me vent.

I think on the first couple pages there's a link to a collection of HMB's (I'll try and find it later). I found it super helpful to look at them and kind of get an idea of what I thought I needed. I also referenced the flylady's control journal for hints too. I've tweaked it several times so that it really is personalized to my needs now, but to start I took suggestions from btdt mama's and their HMB.

[MyLittleWonders]

Keep in mind, most all my binder is lifted from Theresa's tutorial on her blog found here. I took her categories and her Brain Files (the best things in the world!), and made them fit my house. I also Peter Walsh and his advice in his book It's All Too Much has stuck with me ... when decluttering/organizing a room, he asks you to decide on it's function and then organize it accordingly. So, doing that with my HMB made sense ... what is my purpose for the binder and what do I need in it to accomplish that purpose?

And, keep in mind I'm only in week 2 of the whole thing. But, I am loving the daily routines/chores, feel like I can get a lot accomplished in my house in a short period of time because I have a total focus instead of just running room to room overwhelmed by it all, and feel that because of this, I'll be able to stick with it long term.

I can take pictures of what I did later today or tomorrow and post them. But, if you through Theresa's blog above, you'll get a good idea of what mine is like. I even plan on getting a nice basket for my HMB and our family folders to sit either on the kitchen counter or on a shelf in the bookcase around the corner. I also have my homeschooling binder and my "spirituality" binder where I put monthly newsletters (basically they are family-geared and homeschooling-geared Pagan newsletters that I download each month, and I like them printed out so I can reference them easily; I divided them according to sabbats). My goal is to be organized before we move, so I already have the routine down and can easily pick it back up when we move next month.

[Miss Information]

I have one carefully and dutifully constructed from flylady.net that I made ummm, 3 years ago, and it's arranged ever so carefully on my bookshelf. I haven't touched it since I created it. Even though I'm very organized minded when I have to be (I was in the science field for 12 years and organized at work), I just don't like scheduling my tasks at home.

I do have a fairly simple morning and evening routine. But only as far as what absolutely needs to get done, to make the day go smoother. As far as other tasks, like washing floors, doing laundry, dusting...so far it's been on an "as needed" basis. I just can't have a piece of paper telling me I have to wash the floor because it's Tuesday. I dunno, I guess it's the rebel in me.

But...I realize from looking at some of the HMB I've seen (like on Theresa's blog pp mentioned), that my binder is pretty boring and drab. I think I need to get creative and decorate it, maybe it will come off the shelf and actually be used.

[mykdsmomy]

Originally Posted by Miss Information

I have one carefully and dutifully constructed from flylady.net that I made ummm, 3 years ago, and it's arranged ever so carefully on my bookshelf. I haven't touched it since I created it. Even though I'm very organized minded when I have to be (I was in the science field for 12 years and organized at work), I just don't like scheduling my tasks at home.

I do have a fairly simple morning and evening routine. But only as far as what absolutely needs to get done, to make the day go smoother. As far as other tasks, like washing floors, doing laundry, dusting...so far it's been on an "as needed" basis. I just can't have a piece of paper telling me I have to wash the floor because it's Tuesday. I dunno, I guess it's the rebel in me.

But...I realize from looking at some of the HMB I've seen (like on Theresa's blog pp mentioned), that my binder is pretty boring and drab. I think I need to get creative and decorate it, maybe it will come off the shelf and actually be used.

This is me too. I dont do schedules. I will however use my hmb for things like to do lists or grocery lists and contact info, scheduled appts, etc. I'm hoping it will help me keep everything in one central location instead of scattered about.

[mrsalf97]

just subbing so I can get started on mine

[Miss Information]

This is my home manager binder

I was inspired by Theresa/KnittinIntheShade, and it's still a work in progress, but I wanted to get started on it.

Oh, and I also liked some of the forms from that delightinreallife website. Whoever suggested that, thanks a bunch.