So on Monday I blogged about how things are always changing so you can never truly plan everything out! Absolute truth! I hit publish and the school called me saying my son had puked! Shopping tripped delayed till later in the day since I had to go pick him up and bring him back home. Luckily it seemed to be a one time deal and my husband was home for the day so baby girl and I still got to go run around and treasure hunt! I'll share those deals soon!
Today I'm going to share about My Family Binder!
This little binder here is the brains of my organization! It's where I keep all sorts of important day to day things and it's my quick reference playbook as well as my idea generator!
It's just a simple three ring binder that I customized with a printout of our family names at www.wordle.com. Use what ever words you feel like, pick your colors and click go until you find a design you like best.
Inside my binder I have several different sections. They include but aren't limited to the following.
To make your binder work for you, you'd have to figure out what you need the most. Not everyone needs a work or Girl Scout section but I could probably use a cleaning section! I've been thinking of adding that for a while now. Maybe soon!
Here's the breakdown of what I keep in each section of my binder.
Front Pocket: Random Stuff that needs filed or sorted in to sections later
Then blank paper on the top of my binder section. I'm a pen and paper type of girl! I need that loose leaf paper to let my mind run and get all my thoughts down sometimes. I can steal from this front pile of paper for the other sections too.
Calendar:
I've printed off the year 2014 monthly calendars from TheTomKatStudio.com Three whole punched those and stuck them in. I can write all the important things I need to on the calendar pages. Then I have some loose leaf paper to keep notes on. Things like I need to get some birthday cards for October/November since I have a have 4 family birthdays in those two months.
In the back of each section I also have these page holders.
These allow me to tuck in things for each section. In my Calendar section it holds doctor referrals I need to take with me to appointments and other things that might be time sensitive that I need to take care of.
Menu Plan: When I'm on top of my game I menu plan for the week. This section is where I keep that info. I also jot down recipes I see on
Pinterest that I want to remember or I clip and keep recipes in the page holder at the back. I also use this section to write down things I need from the store so while I'm meal planning I can also keep a grocery list going.
Budget & Bills: I used some loose leaf paper and a pen to make a "really fancy" spreadsheet of our bills every month. I organized them by what comes out on the 1st paycheck and what comes out during the 15th paycheck. I check them off and keep confirmation numbers in this section. On the loose leaf paper in between the divider and the page holder I keep a running balance of our checking account. In the page holder I keep bills that need to be paid until their paid then I file them away else where.
Work: I was working at home more but now I'm back to going in to the store so this section doesn't get used as often any more. I just write down random ideas I get so I can share them with my boss.
Kids: I keep the school calendar here so I know when there are days off. I have their teacher contact info. I used this section more during the summer when I had much more of their day planned out. Now that they are in school, their school papers get trashed or put in to their yearly folders of papers to save, which is kept in a different area of my office.
Contacts: Addresses, stamps, return mailing labels. This is my section of quick reference when I can't remember which zip code belongs to who when I need to send a card out. It's also very helpful when sending Christmas cards. I've tucked new address announcements in this section to so when I go to send holiday cards this year I can flip through and see what addresses need updated.
Our Home: I printed out
Iheartorganizing.com's Family Home Projects printable. This section is where I keep my never ending list of things I want to do to this house. I draw up pictures, take down measurements and in the page holder I keep a few magazine clipping of things I really like and paint chip cards I always seem to pick up every time we are in a home improvement store.
Girl Scouts: Has what my troop is doing planned out for most of the year and any ideas I see what we should recreate! Also where I plan my meetings at and make supply lists to make sure I show up to meetings with everything I might need.
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| Always Changing! =) |
Future Planning: I haven't officially labeled this section yet cause I'm not sold on that name but I've started to plan a pinterest party and this is where I keep all that info. It also has a page with wish lists for Christmas ideas for the kids and a list of things I've already started to buy them so I can attempt to stay on a budget and don't forget what I've already bought this early in the year.
Workout: All those printable workouts you see on
Pinterest, I try to keep them here instead of all over the house. When I'm motivated I also track how much water I drink in a day, food intake and track my weight and measurements I take.
WHEW! Longest post ever!!!! But that's just a quick overview of what works for me. This binder isn't something I carry around everyday. If there's something I have that I need I quickly take out the page holder and then put it back in when I get home. I also tend to carry a smaller calendar with me when I'm out and about or I put things in my calendar app on my phone then copy them to the binder later. Really this binder is what I tend to look at or plan with every evening when I need to get prepare for the next day. I can sit down on the couch flip though it and make sure everything is up to date and there's nothing I have forgotten.
Do you have a binder? What sections am I totally missing out on?
Hope this inspires some new ideas!!
Labels: Family Binder, Organization
