Home Management Binder

As promised here is more about the home management binder we use. I love using this binder. It adds a bit of sanity to our ever crazy and un-scheduled days. We are constantly going from one project or topic to another. The flow of our days is ever changing and having a few lists of what should be accomplished each day really helps me to actually get it done. As much as our days change so does our binder. It is a work in progress and one that I think will never actually be completed. As the kids grow so do our needs and wants. I would eventually love for this to one day be the central binder that everyone uses. But for now I am content to be the main user with a few helpers now and then.

The front of the binder. Its just a 3 inch white binder from Costco. I buy these in bulk. We go through a lot of binders.


Inside front cover are the weekly menu's I tried out a few months back. I like them but prefer the monthly plan better. I may try to combine the two when I get a bit of time.

This zippered holder has pens and wet erase markers. It should also hold my scissors and a calculator. If anything goes missing in this house its scissors and calculators. Hey kids give me back my stuff!!

First page is a contact sheet. Ours needs updated as I noticed Joe's old work cell number on there. I found this sheet here. You could easily create your own or find another to fit your needs online. I have found that typing printable before what I am searching for usually brings up many different choices.

A monthly calendar. Look how wide open the month is. As I look at it I can fill in 3 different weekends all ready. Must get on that. lol

At one point I decided I wanted a daily schedule. A loose version of our day. Yeah that never was filled out. I don't even know how to begin to plan our days. 4 kids, 1 mom, 3 meals, and lots of interests that lead us down many paths. We tend to take what the day brings us. But meals yes those can be put on this sheet, those are consistent. I do feed the kids, every day even.

Look it even has half hour increments. I am just laughing at myself here. This will most likely be taken out unless I can find another use for it.

Well someone other than me must use the book. This looks like a note of the three year old kind. Must say 6:07 am wake up mom, 6:10 am yell at mom to change me, 6:11 am whine that I want to do it all by myself, 6:15 collapse on couch in exhaustion because mom just does not get that the pink diaper is not okay she must go find the long lost green diaper.

This is the first page of the household chores section. You can click on the pictures to see them bigger. First page is daily chores. On a good day (and I mean really good day) I get most of this done but not always. I'm a Stay At Home Mom not a Stay At Home Maid. The kids help out with clean up time twice a day and I ask them to pick up after themselves but its a work in progress. I'm guessing I will not be picking up their underwear at 18. Right?

Each day of the week I have weekly chores and focus cleaning that I would like to get done. Again these things may or may not get done depending on the day and what we have going on. Each day is given a room or two rooms. As you can see I have things that are done each week in these rooms. I also have (on the right side) the focus cleaning. These are larger chores that I only do one of each week for that room. So you can see that on week one on Monday I would wash the blinds in the bedrooms. The focus cleaning chores help the larger cleaning stay maintained. These are also excellent paying chores. :) As I complete chores I cross them off with a wet erase marker and leave it there until the following week. This way I can come back to it later (See the weekend) or make sure I get that item the following week.

Monday

Tuesday's list. This one has two rooms so I color coded the room names and the chores that correspond with those rooms. It looks like a lot of things to do but if I stay caught up on everything it really is not. It has just been done the week before, or 4 weeks before for the larger cleaning jobs, so it really is just maintenance after the initial 4 weeks at the beginning. It feels like it takes forever at the start but once you go through one cycle you notice a difference.

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday and Sunday are light days. No focus cleaning at all. Sometimes I will catch up on things missed during the week. These two days are also the only days I have a car during the week so I have to get any shopping and errands done these days.

A stain removal guide. You can find a lot of these online. I liked this one but find that I need another one with other kinds of items on it. I'm not drinking a lot of red wine during the day and the kids well they are not either. I like this but its not in a chart form.

This is in there just because it was neat. I can't find it anywhere but here.

Next up is the meal planning section. This consists of a pocket with all of the old meal plan calendars and a pocket with the blank calendars. I print out a few months worth every so often.

Coupons is next. I have three coupon sections. Food coupons, household coupons, and restaurant coupons.

After this there is some blank paper for note writing and list making. I want to add a section for the kids paying chores. We all talked and they are going to start getting paid once a month. Currently we write it on the marker board and try to remember to go to the bank or dig through the change jar. This way it will become part of our monthly budget and they will get something kind of like a paycheck. It will be cash but as they do chores they can write them down and at the end of the month we will add it up together. Another section I am adding is a budget section. We currently use the envelope system and need a place for those as well as the budget we write out every paycheck.

So there you have it. I hope you are excited about making yourself a home management binder. I would love to see pictures of your binders and links to the items you have chosen to put in them. Feel free to leave them below in the comments section.