Home management binder: organizing household documents in one place

When I first heard about the idea of a home management binder, I laughed a little. What was the point of going through all that work to organize and collect all these random papers and documents? How would that make my life easier in the long run?

Well, now that I have one and use it pretty regularly, let me tell you- this home management binder is a huge time-saver! It helps me organize everything from dinner recipes to car maintenance schedules… and it’s all in one predictable place! When I need to order take-out from the local pizzeria, I don’t fish through a junk drawer for the take-out menu- I consult my trusty binder. When I need to find that recipe clipping from a cooking magazine, I don’t shuffle through the cabinets- I consult my trusty binder. When I’m wondering what home maintenance tasks are due to be completed this month, I consult my home management binder.

My home management binder has a number of sections:

• CALL section- Family Contacts page, Friend Contacts page, Medical Contacts page, Miscellaneous Contacts page
• EAT section- WebMD Healthy Eating Shopping List, Restaurant Menus & Coupons folder, Recipes & Meal Ideas folder
• MAINTAIN section- Daily Chore List page, Weekly Chore List page, Monthly Chore List page, Instruction Manuals folder
• SPEND section- Accounts List page, Wallet Contents page
• MISCELLANEOUS section- Seasonal to-do lists, general information

All of the individual pages are stored in a clear laminating pouch so they stay clean and crisp.

The Family and Friend Contacts pages simply contain the phone number, address and e-mails of all the people we regularly communicate with. Medical Contacts page lists all the family doctors’ addresses and phone numbers. Miscellaneous Contacts page lists the phone numbers (and account numbers, where applicable) of utility companies and local government offices/departments.

The EAT section contains all preparation and documents regarding food and meals. I store all my recipe clippings in a dedicated folder. All the take-out menus go in their own dedicated folder. Restaurant coupons go in their own dedicated spot.

The Chore List pages enumerates all the cleaning and maintenace chores that need to be done on a regular basis for the car and the home. I have seen other bloggers provide their own lists, but I like the ability to create my own lists that fit my needs. So I definitely suggest you create your own chore lists that are tailored to your home routines. There is a folder in this section, where I store all my major appliance instruction manuals.

The SPEND section is all about money. We have an Accounts page, which lists the account numbers, usernames, and passwords for all our financial, credit card, and banking accounts. We also have pages of Wallet Contents for each member of the family. So if a wallet is ever lost or stolen, we have a one-page source of all the phone numbers and accounts we need to call.

The contents of the MISCELLANEOUS section change regularly. Right now, I have a running to-do list of planning my daughter’s first birthday party. I use this section for stuff that doesn’t really fit into any of the other categories.

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