home management binder

One of my goals before we have kids is to get our life as organized as possible so that fitting a child in doesn't completely throw us for a loop. Don't get me wrong, I KNOW it will be a huge change, but the more organized I can be beforehand, the better!

This weekend I made a Home Management Binder. I've read about them online before, and finally decided to try and make one for myself! So, below is my adventure in my new HMB.

First, I needed the obvious: a binder. I found this great binder made out of recycled materials at Target for about $7.00.

Next, I had to figure out what all I wanted in my HMB. I got a lot of great suggestions (thank you!) and ended up deciding on a weekly calendar, meal planner, shopping list, daily chore list, weekly chore list, vacation planner, gift planner, emergency, and "other."

First, our weekly calendar. I made the calendars with a section for me, a section for Jason, and a section for what our meal will be each day. I bought different colored pens so that I could easily distinguish between the sections. I made the calendar in MS Word, and then just changed the dates to make one for each week of the year. Pretty easy!

Next, the shopping list. I made the shopping lists in MS Word as well. There are three lists to a page, with perforations (done at Kinko's), so that I can tear off one list and take it to the store. I

put the categories in the order that I typically walk through the store.

I made two chore lists, and put each in a page protector so that I could check things off with a dry erase marker, and then just reuse them the next day/week. I also left areas to add notes or other chores in if something else comes up.

Next I made a vacation preparation list--also in a page protector so that it's write-on-able and reuseable! I made a generic packing list, and also a place to put in notes about where we're going/what we're doing so that we don't forget anything. On the back is a section of things to do before leaving the house--like holding the mail, giving a spare key to a neighbor, etc...

I'm always thinking of gifts for people, and then forgetting them when it really matters. So, I made some generic excel spreadsheets to keep a record of gift ideas for people.

Lastly, I made a section for Emergency, and Other. To respect everyone's phone number on my Emergency list, I'm not going to post a picture of it. But, it has emergency numbers, including doctors and the vet, as well as things to remember in an emergency (insurance #'s, etc...)

The "other" section has blank lined paper, graph paper, and a cute recycled-paper folder for any documents that I want to keep in there.

After everything was put together, I added a few final touches like a small pencil bag for the colored pens/dry erase markers to keep in there, a plastic velcro-folder for receipts and coupons, and some cute colorful tabs to divide the sections.

I decided against putting any financial information in there, because we already have a filing box for statements and important documents like that. I figured putting it in the binder would be overkill.

So, that's my HMB! I'm hoping it functions really well for me--I imagine it will be a work in progress as I continue to think of things that would work better, or things to add or take away. The total cost was about $35.00, plus the time to make the documents. Not too bad! If you want to make your own, and want to use my templates as a jumping off point, I'd be happy to email them to you.

Yay organization!