Revamped Household Binder

There were a couple of you who asked to see inside my revamped household binder, and I would love to share with you the pages I've added, and how I use it.

This time around I decided that time is money in this case and went ahead and purchased the "Personalized Household Binder" from iHeartOrganizing's Etsy shop.  She had a lot of pintables that I loved and worked for what I wanted in our household binder.
You can check it out HERE. 

Also check out this link HERE, which she shares on her Etsy shop at the bottom of the Household Binder page, which shows a complete image gallery of the pages offered in her binder.  You can refer to this link when I talk about her pages that I use in my Household Binder.

Everyone runs their household differently.  So everyone's household binder would likely look a little different.  There are a lot of options out there for household binders and many people offer their pintables for free as well.  Check out Pinterest!

Anyways, I debated making all my own pages.  I've done it before for my Daily Planner, but the amount of pages I wanted for our binder would have taken more time than I wanted to spend.  So when I found iHeartOrganizing's binder I fell in love with it.  It's beautiful!  And I love things to match and look pretty.  It inspires me to actually use it as well.  I'm just weird like that. So I went ahead and purchased it.

There was one more purchase I made and that one is for our Homeschool Section.  I wanted a Homeschool Planner and Confessions of a Homeschooler has a couple of awesome planners!  I know she also has one right now that you can download for free!

These pintables that I purchased are downloadable PDF files and what is so fabulous about that is you pay for it once and have the pintables forever.  So you can constantly reuse and reprint the pages you need.  I won't ever need to get another homeschool planner because this one is reusable and I would just have to print out a new one for each following years. 

So enough talking, let me get on to showing you all the added pages that I personally made to add to my binder!

I have 10 Sections in my binder.  They are: Schedules, Homeschool, Home Maintenance, Menu Planning, Kiddos, Ministry, Travel, Important Info, Finance/ Medical, and Projects/ Holidays.

In the first section, Schedules, opens up my binder with my Daily Goals sheet that I made.  I also chose to laminate this page so I didn't have to constantly reprint it for each week.  I use this page as a weekly form but it could easily work to be filled out for each day.  My days are much the same right now and pretty simple with all little ones around so it works well for a weekly page for me.

I have it as an open spread with our "Family Schedule" page that I also made, which is a schedule of our basic Monday through Friday week.  I originally read the book "Managers of Their Homes" by Steven and Teri Maxwell, and that is where I learned how to make a family schedule and use it.  Now that I know how to put one together for our family it's a synch to change it when our family routine changes.  Which is pretty often with the addition of babies who grow into toddlers quickly.  Now this is by no means a 'law' in our home, and to be honest a lot of days don't necessarily look like this.  It's a goal.  Something to fall back on if things start to get out of hand.  It's definitely helpful to have a bit of a routine, but there can be much freedom with one as well.  We only have 24 hours in a day.  And if we are not purposeful with our time, it will slip away and we will likely not do what is most important. A friend recently shared with me a worksheet entitled "Twenty-Four Hours Is All You Get" by Susan Bradrick.  I would highly encourage any mom looking to be wise with her time to go through this 5 page worksheet.  It's A-mazing!  It makes you really think about what is most important and how to manage your time accordingly.  (there is a provided link to download the worksheets for free under the 'Description' section.)

Right behind my Family Schedule page I have a "Family Routines" Page.  You will notice on our Family Schedule that I have listed 'Morning Routines' or 'Morning Chores' and this page spells out what those routines are.

This next page I have used in the past and look forward to when I get back into this routine.  Right now things are not normal by any means.  We're in the process of trying to sell our house and packing and hoping to move soon so it just isn't worth trying to keep this routine right now.  A personal choice.  But I made this schedule with the use of "Managers of Their Homes and "Large Family Logistics" by Kim Brenneman  which can I say I would highly recommend buying or borrowing this book and reading it!  It's a fabulous book with a totally different outlook on how to manage your days!  In a nutshell you manage your major tasks into days.  A Laundry Day,  a Kitchen Day, a Town Day, etc.  This page is also laminated to easily re-use each week.  Another idea would be to put it in a picture frame and use a dry erase marker to mark off what you've done.

Then the final pages in this section are the 'Monthly Calendar Pages' from iHeartOrganizing's Household Binder. 
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The next Section is our "Homeschool Section".  The only personal added page to this section is my Scope and Sequence.  I've decided to mix and match our homeschool to put together what we feel is best for our kiddos, so I made my own Scope and Sequence page that I can fill in as time goes on and we decide which curriculum to use for each subject in each grade.  Every other page comes from Confessions of a Homeschooler Colorful Lesson Planner.  I didn't use all of the pages she offers, just the ones that applied to us right now.  But I just love this cute, fun and colorful planner that will work for years to come.  I also keep any Book Lists or any other homeschool related papers in this section.

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The 3rd section is our "Home Maintenance Section".  Again I only added one page to this section of my own, the rest are pintables from the iHeartOrganizing Pintables.  I made up a Laundry Protocol sheet, in case someone comes to help out after a baby is born or for some reason Nathan needs to fill in on laundry help or whatever the case may be.  The rest of the pages are yet to be seen how I will use.  I really like iHeartOrganizing's 'home maintenance checklist' as a go to for making sure you stay up on your major home appliances etc.  And I'll have to see if/ how I will use her 'cleaning checklist'.  I like the idea, I just need to figure out how to fill it out with what works best for our family routine right now.  I might revisit this page once we are moved and settled again (whenever that might be) since everything is crazy on the home front.  With the constant cleaning of the house for being able to show it on a whim and packing up much of the rest of the house I'm just not in a spot to use this right now. 

 

 

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The 4th section is the "Menu Planning" section.   There are some pretty complex menu planning pintables and options out there.  I'm not very complex in this area.  I just need a shopping list and a Meal Planning Calendar.  So I'm just using iHeartOrganizing Pintables here.  And I laminated her Meal Planning Calendar to avoid having to constantly reprint this page.  Also I chose to only use her Freezer Inventory page since we have a deep freeze and things tend to get lost in there.  And it's helpful to know when we are running out of meat or a stock item that we keep in there.  I did add a "Favorite Recipes" page of my own.  We all have our favorite meals that we like, so this is where I keep a list to go back to.  Sometimes you come across a meal that everyone loves so it will go on that list.  Other times we get stuck in a rut and need to be reminded of other ideas, or I may just need a quick meal idea for the night, I can check this sheet for that purpose. 

 

 

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The 5th section in my revamped Household Binder is my "Kiddos Section"! This section is totally my own.  And I am so happy to have this place two keep ideas Nathan and I have in ways we want to grow as parents and ways we want to serve our kids and grow as a family.  We want to pour into our children, they are precious gifts from the Lord and we want to make the most of the time we have with them, we are entrusted with their care for a short amount of time, we need to be seeking the Lord for His help and wisdom and we train and instruct our kiddos.  Here are a few pages I have in this section: 

A Family Rules page, qualities and things we want to remember are important in our family life. 

 

Also a list of positive character qualities and personality traits we see right now in each of our kids.  We want to be aware of their God-given gifts and strengths and encourage them in who they are in the Lord.

 

Then there is our "Hope List for our Children".  As parents we often say, we should do this with our kids.  Lets try this idea in training them, etc.  This is a place we can list those ideas to help us make it happen.  Some ideas right now are personal 'dates' with each of our older kids so we can have one-on-one time with them.  Also this Christmas we want to get a couple gifts for Gospel for Asia, so we want to earn money as a family to provide these gifts to people in need.  Things like this get written on thing list.

 

I have a list of Character Qualities that I downloaded and printed from the Duggar Family website.  You can check it our HERE.  I also have a few other lists (I'm not sure where I got them) of Character Qualities with definitions and Bible verses for each quality.  This is an area we want to strive to grow and nurture in our kids.  Speaking the qualities and encourage our children, and ourselves for that matter, to grow in these areas.

 

I Heart Organizing has a few Free Printables on her website that I've used as well.  One of those is her "Size Detail" page for keeping track of what size clothes and shoes my kids and in.  This is a totally awesome chart because there are times I just can't remember where each of my 4 kids are at, and when my mom calls to double check their currents sizes I can simply flip open to this page and let her know.

 

We also keep an "If / Then chart to reference for consequences so we stay consistent as parents when it comes to that part of training.

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Section 6 is our "Ministry Section", another section I constructed on my own.  This is along the same lines as our Kiddos section.  Sometimes life can get the best of you and hospitality can get thrown to the wind.  It's times when we say," It's been awhile since we've had such-and-such family over for dinner, or "I need to get our neighbor who just had a baby a new mother care package", etc.  This "Hospitality List" is the place it gets written down and not forgotten! 

We also have a "Hope List" for our family, a list of things we want to do, maybe as a family or as a couple or whatever might fit to be written down so it's not forgotten and planned to be accomplished. 

I also put the "Our Commitments Worksheet" from Confessions of a Homeschooler's Homeschool Planner here.  It's a list of our family commitments and it asks the question 'does this benefit our family?'.  It's a good way to evaluate what we are doing with our time.

I also keep a "Prayer Journal" pages here, to write down prayer requests we are praying for as a family, for others, to remember to continue to pray.  And a way to look back and see how the Lord answered prayer requests. 

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This 7th section is a real time saver to our family.  This is the "Travel Section".  There are a few key pages in this section that are awesome to pull out when our family is about to head out on a vacation or a babysitter is coming over for the evening. 
First is iHeartOrganizing's "Outing Ideas" page, a great place to write down places you want to visit or things you want to do as a family, or even date night ideas!
Then her "Babysitter Notes" page is next, and I totally love this page, great just to pull out and fill in for the evening when you are headed out on a date and couple's weekend getaway.
She also offers a "Travel Checklist" which works great for our day trips when I just need to write down some items we'll need for that day. 
But I made two "Packing Lists" for our family a while back.  One for a regular trip and one for when we go camping.  I just grab out these pages and check off the items as they get packed and ready for our trip.  Absolutely love these and it saves me so much time when getting ready for a vacation as I don't have to re-write a packing list each time!
Our Camping Packing List:

Our Regular Vacation Packing List:

I Heart Organizing also has a super cute "Our Family Funcation" Kids Travel Pack as free downloadable pintables for the kids while you travel in the car.  I keep these handy as well to grab if we head off on a long car ride!
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This next section of "Important Information" are all from iHeartOrganizing's Household Binder Pack.  I thought a lot were a good idea to have and fill out.  There is an "Important Home Info", "Important Auto Info" etc. Also a page for "Important Dates" by month, where I write down birthdays, anniversaries and special holidays to remember on a yearly basis.  She has a form for "Contacts" which I chose not to use since we have another system in place for keeping that info. But another awesome page she offers is a "Checkout System" form for if you loan out a book or item you can write down who you loaned it to and when so you can track it back down.  And the final page is a "Password Log" to remember all those passwords and usernames for all those sites we log onto. :)
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The 9th section is for "Finance and Medical" info.  Right now Nathan is in charge of keeping our finances in order and he has his own system, but I like the pages she offers.  We'll see if we incorporate them eventually.  And I also put our "Medical" info here since our medical provider will be changing soon and we will have more responsibility in keeping track of everything.  So that will evolve to fit our new way as time goes on. 
My only added addition is a "Doctors Log" to keep track of our doctors visits since, like I already mentioned, it will be more our responsibility in this area.

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The final section is our "Projects/ Holiday Section" This section also contains all  pintables from iHeartOrganizing.  Some come from her purchased Household Binder Set and a few she offers for free from her website under Free Pintables tab..  When we move I'll have a whole new set of projects lined up to make our new house a home.  These pintables are awesome to keep everything in order.  She also offers a Paint Project Reference Sheet to keep track of all your used paint colors.  Awesome! 


So there you have it.  My Updated Household Binder!  I hope this helps.  It's a great system and helps keep track of some important info.  But by no means does anyone need one to have a well run home.  I just like organization and work best with tools like this to help me.  Not every mom is the same, nor do any of us run our household in the same manner.  And how awesome is that, there should be no comparison of each other, just encouragement that we are each loving our husbands and our children and serving the Lord in running our home.  I hope this is only encouraging to any of you who read this post.  If this system in no way would benefit you, don't feel like you need it.  Just thought I'd share in case it might be helpful to some. 

You all are doing a great job, mom's!  Keep on serving the Lord in all you do! 

A Home Management Binder

This project was a huge one to accomplish!  And a great benefit now that we're slowly starting to implement it.  Have you ever used a Home Management Binder?  I really wasn't even familiar with the idea of them until recently.

A few years back I purchased the book Managers Of Their Homes from Steven and Teri Maxwell over at Titus2.com.  It was a great book that broke down the method on how to make a family schedule in a simple way.  Since I have learned the whole concept and method I can now re-create a family schedule in a matter of minutes to fit our family lifestyle at the moment.  It is a great book and tool that I would highly recommend. 

This was the start in my process of making a home management binder.  The second book I read was Large Family Logistics.  Wow!  What an awesome book!  Another one I would highly recommend!  It really lays out a good foundation for running your home. 

Another great resource came from a dear friend of mine who is uber organized and a mother of 5.  She has many great ideas on organization and running a household and has been a great encouragement to me as well. 

So here I was with all this information but I needed a way to put it all together, and that's when I ran across Home Management Binders through Pinterest.  That was the key.

Now I know there are women out there who just don't function as well with organization while others, like me, thrive with organization and schedules.  That's okay, we're all made differently and we are all unique in the way we chose to live our lives and run our homes.  Do I think some organization and schedules are helpful?  Yes.  But to what extent I think depends on each individual. 

These are all great tools, not a how-to-live-your-life-perfectly or if-you-aren't-doing-it-this-way-you're-doing-it-wrong books.  And I think if you are a person who loves organization and schedules you have to protect yourself from feeling that way or living that way.  Schedules are a great guideline, not a I-have-to-live-by-this-or-else-my-world-falls-apart. 

I heard it put well, serve the Lord and your family not your schedule!

It's a tool, a guideline, a help.  Not your master.

So, that being said, I am excited for this new tool that we've been implementing into our daily routines.  Considering that I have 3 little ones and I will begin the journey of homeschooling this year and the continued roles of Wife, Mother, Homemaker, Teacher, Friend and the list goes on, a little help is appreciated. 

There are lots of examples out there, from simple to complex.  You could make a Home Management Binder and make it fit your family and lifestyle, your need, and it can look like however you want it to.  There's no right or wrong way to put one together.  I took my time and searched others home management binders to see what they had in them, and tweaked ours to fit us.  There are also tons of free printable sheets out there for different sections of your home management binder.  I used some provided by others and I made some of my own.  I'm sure it will always be changing and molding as a family is always changing and growing.  We'll find what works for us and what doesn't.  But for now this is what I've come up with.

And like I said, a lot of this is new, so we are implementing each step slowly.  There's no point in trying to make it all happen at once, that would probably resort to me feeling totally overwhelmed and never use any of it.  So bit by bit it's becoming part of our daily life and routine and has been a great blessing.

Here it is, our Home Management Binder.  I found this cute binder at Target.

I got the dividers from Office Max, the dividers have pockets which I think will really come in handy.

I have 7 categories as of now: Schedules, Home Management, Kids, Homeschool, Ministry, Exercise/Travel/Doc., Projects/Blog.

The first category, Schedules, has all our main schedules to do lists, daily routines, and a calendar.

These are the first pages that I see when I open my binder.

I have multiple pages printed out, this sheet has my goals for the week and it's my to do list.

This is our families daily schedule.  I learned how to do this from Managers of their Homes and I can now type one of these up in minutes when things change.

This is my personal assistant and monthly calendar.  I keep the calendar of the month up front. 

I have another copy of this page printed out and put in a picture frame so I can mark off each item with a dry erase marker throughout the week.  You can find the printout of this page here.  I customized it to what works for me and our house.

I also used here customizable calendar, which I love.  You can find it here under calendar.

One aspect that I love about it is that it is broken down into weeks which is helpful for my cleaning schedule and for homeschooling.

I made my own 'Year At A Glance' page with the names and dates of birthday and anniversaries and special dates that are important for me to remember.  I can see it all in one glance of the sheet.

The second category is Home Management which includes my home roles such as cleaning and cooking and, well, managing our home.

My weekly cleaning routine is found under the schedules tab in my 'daily assistant', and here is more of a deep cleaning list.  I made this one on Word and used others' examples to find what worked best for me.

But I did love her list for Home Maintenance.  I felt like most of it was geared for my husband so I printed it out and will laminate it and have it in the garage as well as having a copy in my binder.  You can find her home maintenance lists here.

I wrote up a Laundry Protocol Chart to hang up in the laundry room for a quick reference on how to wash each load of laundry, thanks to Large Family Logistics for the idea. 

Recipes to Try, you can find this printout here, if you run across a recipe in a magazine or on the internet that you could like to try sometime, add it to this list to remember where to find it.

I wrote up this on my own in a Word document, to help remember our favorite meals whether for dinner, breakfast, lunch or snacks.  Then when I'm having a busy week or a hard time thinking of what to make I can check this list.

This section is for the Kids.  Anything that involves them goes here, such as their schedules.

I have their daily routines and chores written out on this chart so I can see it at one glance.  This correlates with our Family Schedule but I can see more specifics on this sheet.

I have loved this list of Character Qualities that I originally found from the Duggars website, you can find it here under Homeschool Resources: Character Qualities.

This is a handy chart to help with consistency on how you as parents chose to discipline and train your children.  We bought a copy when the Maxwell Family came to town but I you can find it here for purchase.

This section is for Homeschooling, and at the moment I have yet to get all that ready for this coming year.  It's a work is progress at the moment but the main info for myself with most likely go in this section.

Ministry is the 5th section in my home management binder.



I love this list, we've needed to have one for a long time, when you have someone you would like to invite over for dinner or someone you would like to take meals to you can write it down on this list to remember to make it happen.

This one is similar to the list before, if we want to take the kids out on a date or a special project it can be written down on this list to make sure it happens.  You can find this printout here.

I really appreciate having a prayer journal, to continue to pray for others and to look back and see how the Lord has answered prayers.  Click here for the prayer journal printout.

A Bible reading log if you're wanting to read through the Bible.  The printout is available here.

The next section has a few things compiled together, exercise, doctors logs and travel info.

This Exercise Log I made on Word to keep track of my workouts, especially if I've set a goal that I want to complete.

This is another one that I made and we'll see if I use it, I used to write them on their Doc file in our filing cabinet but I wasn't being consistent.  Maybe this will be the better option to keep track, not that we go to the doctors very often.

I love this, I have multiple copies already printed out so whenever we're getting ready for a trip I grab out the premade list and get to work gathering everything we'll need.  I started with this list here and then modified it to fit our family.  It saves so much time in that I don't have to make a packing list each time we're going on vacation.

This is similar to the list above but made for our camping trips.  I compiled this list the last time we went camping, which also includes meal ideas that work well for tent camping.

This last section is for Projects and things concerning my Blog.

 I made this list for when I have ideas for blog posts I can write them down and make sure I share them on the blog.

At this moment in our life our Project List could fill up a whole book just with our house but there are always projects I want to do (especially thanks to Pinterest) so I can write them on this list so I don't forget what I want to do and I can prioritize that projects.  You can find this printout here.

The last page I have in my binder are more specific information for each project.  This is a great resource to write out specific instructions and items you'll need for each project.  You can find this printout here.

So there you have it, that's what you can find in our Home Management Binder.  I always keep a few extra sheet protectors in the back in case things change with our binder.  Every paper is in a sheet protector to keep it nice and easy to use.  Like I said, as we begin to slowly implement everything we'll see what works and what doesn't, but you have to start somewhere.

This project can take some time to assemble but is well worth your time and effort in the end to help you keep and manage your home.  There are lots of other resources and ideas out there Home Management Binders, I would highly encourage you to check them out!