My Home Management Binder

Hello again!

I'm excited to share my Home Management Binder with you today!

I feel like I've been into writing series lately. Certainly not because I enjoy creating cliff-hangers for my readers, haha, but more because I fear I will compose too long of posts that could potentially bore you. Since I really don't wish to bore you, I've broken up my Home Management Binder tour into two parts.

I hope you all are ok with that! :):)

I believe it is an honor and a privilege to be able to work at home, and my binder really helps me stay motivated and on task.

I did not come up with this idea on my own. Many years ago, when blogs were kind of new, one of my favorite bloggers wrote a post about her Home Management Binder. I really hate paper clutter and loved her brilliant way of solving the problem, so I used her binder as sort of my template and made my own.

(She took her blog down several years ago, otherwise I'd post a link.)

Her legacy lives on, because even though I made it long ago, I've been using my binder everyday since.

I'd be lost without it!

The cover looks like this:

The verse on the cover is Titus 2:5, "To be discreet, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."

It is a 2" white binder that is filled with nine categories. They are:

Schedules 

Home/Garden 

Projects 

Menu 

Budget

Medical 

Compassion 

Homeschool 

Other

Each section is tabbed, as you can see...

I made mine using card stock, magazine clippings, and bible verses. If you'd like to make a Home Management Binder of your own, all other materials I used for it came from the office supply aisle at Walmart.

What I have found is that my home is not cluttered with junky looking papers. I do not keep papers on any of my kitchen surfaces or refrigerator. Everything has a place in my binder.

Someday I would love to have a little office area with a desk of my own, but for now I always keep my binder on my dining room table. It's out of the way of cooking messes and all other kitchen messes. 

Would you like a tour of my Home Management Binder?

Upon opening the binder, you see a "Cover Page" which looks like this:

I do not believe that just because we as homemakers have left our careers in exchange for a home life, that we can't still apply an organized and somewhat professional attitude towards our work at home.

When you put forth the effort as you would in an actual work place, you can preserve the dignity of the home.

Flipping over the cover page, I have a little zippered pocket where I keep a calculator, post-it notes, paper clips, extra pens and pencils...etc...

I made a title page to start each of the nine categories and slipped them into plastic protectors.  Because I tend to think that everything in life should be pretty, I made each title page colorful and with pictures that inspire me. Each title page also includes a corresponding quote or bible verse.

First up... Schedules:

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1

This is where I keep my calendar.

I always make sure to buy the planners that are three-hole punched. If you were to make a binder, I would strongly suggest that kind. I personally don't want to have to deal with an inserted planner that keeps sliding out.

I keep the current month paper clipped so that I can easily open to the correct page.

My binder is almost always open to this page. This is what I come back to as I work around the house. This is what guides my day. It's this month's calendar filled out, and my daily to-do list. In the far right column I keep a list of things like, future blog post ideas, projects I'd like to accomplish, or items that need to be purchased before the end of the month. 

Whenever I'm given an invitation to something, (for example, you can see a bridal shower invitation in the picture) I write it on the calendar, but I also clip it to the page. The reason for this is in case I need a phone number or something before the event. Once the event is over, I pitch it.

(I have placed a folded napkin over it to conceal their personal information.)

Here's a close-up of my daily to-do list:

Every night before bed I sit down and write out my to-do list for the next day. I think about whether we're staying home or need to go somewhere, and what my priorities are for the next day. I write down the main things that need to be accomplished.

Next... Home/Garden:

"Some things offer so great a resistance to our gardening intentions that it is better not to struggle against them." -Grace Tabor (1934)

One thing I should tell you, if you're going to make a Home Management Binder, is that I purchased a few cheap paper folders and split them in half. I put one half of each folder in each section. It's great for containing papers that can tend to clutter up a home. 

In my Home/Garden section I have...

A list that I wrote down from an article I read years ago:

Magazine clippings of photos that give me inspiration and ideas that I wish to accomplish someday...

An envelope of my house plant tags...

I like to save my plant tags for future reference and write on them when they were purchased and where they are located in the home... But that doesn't mean that I still don't kill them!

(Why don't plants like me? I'm so like-able!!!!!)

;)

Also in this section, I keep a log of what we've planted on our property and when:

Sadly, I didn't start doing this until around 2013 and we've lived here and have been planting trees and plants since 2009. I wish I had known to begin my garden log back then. It is SO helpful, after a long winter, to be able to look up this information for the next season of planting.

We have an area in our backyard that we call our "patio", and it seems like we're always ripping things out and planting new things. Every spring it seems like we forget what grows where and we find ourselves asking each other questions like, "Can I plant a Phlox here or is this where the Black-eyed Susan's come up?" And neither of us ever knows the answer, haha.

Last year I got so sick of this that I drew up a rough sketch of what grows approximately where in our back patio. I keep that in this section as well:

The Home/Garden section is also for saving receipts from home purchases, for example:

My next section is Projects:

If you are considering making a binder for yourself, I feel like I can't stress enough the importance of making it visually pleasing. If I had a cluttered mess of junky papers strewn about, and I needed to look for something among them, I would quickly feel discouraged and even "junky" myself. Give yourself the gift of beauty! Beauty inspires! 

When my daughter asks me why I'm curling her hair I tell her, "Because it's good for you!"

When my kids ask me why I'm clearing toys off of the table and arranging a fresh vignette I tell them, "Because it's good for us!"

I feel the same way about this! It's good for me to work among beauty, even in simple things, so that I can feel motivated and inspired and happy about my life at home.

"She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27

We are project people! We have been slowly renovating our home over the 6 years we've been here, and we still have rooms to re-do. The project section is for papers that may accumulate while we're planning for or in the middle of a room renovation. 

For example, the next room in our house that we plan to tackle is our back family room. I'm not on Pinterest, (because trends are not the boss of me) so instead, I collect magazine clippings that give me ideas and keep them in this section.

I'll also keep paint swatches and receipts from the project we're in the middle of, in this section as well.

Whenever an idea pops in my head of how I want something to be or if I want Micah to build something, I'll draw a rough sketch and keep it here.

We are currently in the planning stages for our family room. Micah and I have been dreaming together of how we want it to be. A new fireplace... new furniture... fresh paint... Soon! Very Soon! I keep telling myself. But for now, our family room looks like this most of the time:

(Why did I just hear a collective GASP from all of you through my computer screen?!!!)

But, we want it to look like this:

Dear Pottery Barn,

Why must you torture me?!!!

Well, my dear readers, wish us luck!!!...haha... and join me back here in a day or so for Part Two of this riveting adventure that is MY HOME MANAGEMENT BINDER!

(I know you'll all be on pins and needles until then...)

;)

I love the comments and encouragement that you leave for me here and on Facebook. Please don't hesitate to leave a comment or say "hi". I enjoy getting to know my readers!

~Courtney