Monday, September 17, 2007

My Home Management Binder

Updated: January 11, 2008
April 5, 2009: TO SEE "HOME MANAGEMENT IN A BOX" CLICK HERE.
Resources....Some beautiful, free pages for your own binder can be found by clicking here.


Today I want to share with you MY HOME MANAGEMENT BINDER.
The cover of my binder, which I have shared before, is one I designed myself. Everyone with a HMB or Control Journal, or whatever you want to call it, should design their own cover. It's contents are totally designed to meet your needs, so your cover should reflect that also. My binder is a 2" vinyl 3 ring binder and it has a clear slot on the front to slip a cover page into. All the pages are in page protectors. It sits on my counter on an easel, in easy reach.When you open my binder, you will find a mesh holder containing post-it notes, pens and pencils.
The first section is:
Next is my Calendar. It is a monthly calendar. I won't bore you.

Next I have a section labeled Inspiration and Key Notes. Here I have things that inspire me and pages of notes from others that I want to keep. I have the Prairie Muffin Manifesto, and A Wife's 10 Commandments. (Please...he has his own commandments too).

Next are my Routines. I rarely look at this section because...well, they are routine.

Next is the heart of my binder. My daily list. Now I am going to show you every day. Don't gasp...though I have dust and vacuum the majority of the house on 3 different days, some of those days I just use a feather duster...others it is furniture polish and a deep dusting. The list just tells me "today is the day to make sure this is done." If things are not dusty on Wednesday, I will not dust. Simple. Most days things need some attention. First under this section are the children's chores...then my daily sheets.



























Next is Menu Planning and Grocery Shopping. I forgot a pic but it looks just like the other section title pages. Here I keep a master grocery list, blank paper for planning menus, and a list of meal ideas in case my menopausal mind goes blank!



The next section is Here is a monthly plan of all those jobs which need monthly attention, listed on my daily sheets as "Zone missions". Plus a list of "project ideas" (not shown) such as Tackle It Tuesday ideas. If I need a Tackle I can look in this section. I try to take my projects from the category of that day. For example if it is appliances, I try to pick a project in the kitchen. You get the idea. This all needs to be focused around what is best for you and your schedule. Another example is the Refrigerator. On Thursday my daily sheet tells me to clean out the frig, but the Focus Cleaning chart tells me to do it on the 4th Thursday of the month. On a regular Thursday, I will sort through for old food, wipe any obvious spills, etc. On the 4th Thursday, everything comes out, the entire frig gets wiped down and stuff put back.So I don't have to flip all over the place every day, I go through on Sunday and stick a post-it with that day's focus cleaning and project (if any...not everyday has a project) on each day for that week.
Here is where I am updating this post (1-11-08). The above Focus Cleaning was just not to my liking so I have changed this part of my binder. I am leaving it incase it works for you. I have broken my monthly cleaning into sections of my home over a 5 week period. The first and fifth weeks are short weeks most of the time so those are lighter weeks. I will still use the post it's to assign rooms on different days. For example, to deep clean the Family room during the 3rd week of the month, I would schedule that on a day I am normally doing my weekly family room cleaning.

I am going to work on my Seasonal section next. I will update again when I complete it.

The next section is empty as I am still putting it together. Another section I want to add, is Seasonal Cleaning. I am still compiling that list. It will be a quarterly list so 4 pages in that section. I am kind of waiting for Copperswife.com to add her homemaking section to her website. (She has the first part up!!)

In the very back, I keep a notebook for journaling and throw take out menus in the back sleeve.










So that is my Home Management Binder and how it works for me. It is a combo of Messies Manual, Flylady, and Keeping The Home's system. I have been using this or a similar system on and off since the mid 80's. With it I am able to move through my life without chaos and in order. Without it who knows what will happen each day! I am off to plan my Tackle It Tuesday!

Blessings, Bren

20 comments:

dayz in and dayz out... said...

Wow! That is fantastic! I'm working on mine as well. I am totally inspired by yours. Good job.

momtogirls5

Unknown said...

Oh yours is so pretty. Makes me want to revamp and maybe actually use mine!

I was excited to find another quilter!! I haven't made any for a couple months, as the knitting bug bit me hard, but I did post some of my quilts on my blog last Friday! www.coffeybeanfamily.blogspot.com

Mama to 12, so far said...

Wow. It looks good. Thanks for sharing. I think I can glean some ideas from here.

Mama to 12, so far said...

I forgot to ask....what do you clean your hardwood floors with? What do you mop them with and how do you dust them?

I ask because I have hardwoods also and have never found a good thing to clean them with.

And thanks for the comment on my blog.

kcdi said...

I am in awe! Please come organize my home and family. :)
I do need to make a chore sheet for my kids and I think you just inspired me to get going on it. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Oh, THANK YOU, Bren ! I didn't dare sking you to show your detailed sheets, and now you answer my wish. How inspiring !
I really want to start one like this. Not only your sink, but your whole house must be shining with such a good organization, no doubt !

Biiig hugs & smiles to you !
(email to follow)
NADINE

Lily Mulholland said...

Wow that scares me Bren! And I like to have order in my life...I would feel like I couldn't live up to my own standards with such a rigorous system! But it obviously works for you and having your plan looking so good obviously helps...I just hope you've left enough time in there for crafting!! :)

Rose Johnston said...

Wow i dream to be that organised!!! Im really happy with myself if i actually write and remember to take my grocery list to the supermarket lol. That is very inspiring Bren, I always need extra hours in every day but i can see that by organising myself, id probably find them!!!

Lynda (Granny K) said...

I'm exhausted just reading it! LOL! I'm afraid i'm totally random these days, but then it's just DH and me. I work and he is retired and we just please ourselves what we do. Great!
(PS. We had a great time in the USA, thanks. After a while I didn't notice the webs!)

corry said...

Wow! You are so well organised. Compared to you my life is a mess! I have to read your post again how to make a home management binder. I sure need one!!

ann said...

Thanks so much for posting the details of your binder. I am determined to get a routine figured out for my house/family. I can use all the help I can get!

A belated thank you for my award! It was so sweet of you to name me for this.

Teodo said...

Fantastic your organization!!!
Thanks ciao ciao

Tanya said...

I loved taking a peek inside your binder, it looks so pretty and organized. Thanks for sharing!

Donetta said...

w that took a lot of work to do. I love the pretty papers you used. I'll have to give that some thought. Thank you for your kind comment. I was hesitant to link to two sites. I sure hope it helps folks Sis. Did you see the comment from my one non Christian reader it meant something to her that I am able to tell what happened in my childhood. Lord only knows what she may have endured.

American Muslima Writer said...

WOW! Masha'Allah! I'm trying to start my Oraganizer Notebook now too and your page was such an inspiration AND I'm homeschooling too so I look forward to browsing MORE AND MORE of your awesome blog.

Do you by any chance have a Homeschooling notebook you'd care to scan for us all. I'd be really inspired about how you manage that.

Aww you make it look so very pretty!!! I was usuing the just print it and do it so far but after seeing those rpetty colors I gotta use something NICE at least for the headings!!!

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this for us!

Kamani said...

Few months ago I visited your site & got inspired to start a home management binder. I’m really happy to say that it works very well. My life became so organized & I started enjoy doing my household chores. Now I try to add a new page every week (a check list, a chart or a planner) to my home management binder. Thanks very much for your ideas. I have included some of my ideas too.
Have daily themes for everything you do
For example I have themes for household tasks/chores like this
Sunday- Shining & Scheduling
Monday- Mending & Maintaining
Tuesday- Tidying & Tuning
Wednesday-Weeding & Wiping
Thursday-Thinking & Training
Friday-Filing & Folding
Saturday-Sorting & Storing

My Computer time is organized like this
Sunday- Scheduling & Surfing
Monday- Mailing
Tuesday-Typing
Wednesday-Weeding
Thursday-Tabulating
Friday-face book
Saturday-Sorting & Surfing

Valencia Jones-Edwards said...

Thanks so much for linking up with my blog party.

öğrenci said...

Thank you for your advices. I'm going to set up an organizer notebook.I will be better on time managing. I liked your sweety papers. I hope i will make some. Now i must take my time to organize my time. Thank you!

Christine said...

You are my hero! No kidding. I found your notebook from a link at organizedhome.com (because I DO NOT have an organized home) and printed out all of your pictures. I am putting my notebook together this week! Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this!

Christine

Tree said...

This is beautiful! It's a work of art! It would make me want to look at my home notebook, just seeing this! Thanks for sharing your ideas!