Household Management Binder – With FREE Printables

As the kids get older and my life gets busier, I’ve found that it’s hard to keep it all straight – what we’re having for dinner, who needs what for school, what’s coming up on my blog and more! Plus – there’s a never ending paper trail swirling around my house that needs tamed. I used to have a stack for menus, a folder for school info, a notebook for my blog and recipes that I’ve printed out all over the place. But, now I’ve found a way that works for my family to keep it all straight!

A Household Management Binder! Yep! I have all that I need right here in my handy dandy binder!

I’ve found that having all the info I need right in one place, helps to keep things organized and not forgotten about.

Of course, I had to pretty it up and add personalized sheets and color coordinated folder/dividers. It just makes it all much more enjoyable!

I’ve set my binder up by the categories I use the most:

to-do
home
school
blog
meal planning
recipes

I used to have a finance tab in here, as well. But, I found that it cluttered up the binder and it really needed it’s own binder to keep it all organized. More on that later!

I love that I have all that I need right at my fingertips!

If I need to know what’s on my list of things to do for the week – I just flip to that page. If I’m not sure if there’s a special event at school that week – I pull open my newsletters from the kid’s classrooms. It’s all right there!

One of the most used section of my binder is my recipe section. This section includes recipes that I use the most and ones that I’d like to try. If it’s a recipe that we use again and again – like my taco soup recipe or our homemade mac n cheese recipe – it goes in the binder with a protective cover to keep it from getting all yucky while I’m cooking. If it’s a recipe I’d like to try – you know the ones you print off and don’t know what to do with? – then I’ll put in in the recipe divider pocket to reference later.

 What’s not in the recipe section are those recipes that are ones that you make every once in a while for a special occasion – those I have in cookbooks in a drawer. My household binder is for info I need daily.

I’ve found that if I keep the info I need daily in this binder, it takes the clutter out of my organization. I seem to get overwhelmed with the things I need to organize and when I try to do too much in one place – it never sticks. Things end up getting thrown in and never actually put in. So, by streamlining what goes in the binder, it helps to actually stick to the system.

Another section that is helpful is the home section.

This is where I have all our important dates, passwords to websites, projects I’d like to complete, paint colors for rooms in our house and more! It’s great to have all this info in one place for when you need it!

I also keep all my meal plans from eMeals right here. It’s a good idea to keep them to look back and get fresh ideas if I don’t feel like following along with their current plan. I also have some of my 100 Days of Real Food meal plans in here, as well. I love those, too! What’s great about each is that they come with a shopping list. It takes all the guess work and organization out of your grocery trip. Just pull out the list and go! eMeals will even give you the cost of each item if you chose a store from their list! How’s that for budgeting?!

Creating a Household Management Binder doesn’t have to be hard or expensive. Grab a 2 inch 3 ring binder from Target or the Dollar Store, fill with tabbed dividers and decide on what YOU want to access the most and start to fill it! It can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. Maybe you have 3 main sections to start – home, finance, school. Or maybe you like to break it down even more – home, each child’s info, mom, dad, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and finance. It’s up to you! Find a system that works an stick with it!

Since I love you guys so much – I’m giving you a printable of my to-do list and blog idea list! YAY! Who doesn’t need a little pretty to help keep them organized?! I find it much more enjoyable to keep on track when the things I use make me happy!

To Do List

My Blog Ideas

I hope a little look into how I stay organized helps you create your own system that works for you! If you try this, I bet before long you’ll be pulling out your binder all the time to help take a little stress off your plate!