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