Home Management Binder

**This continues to be the second most popular post on this site, preceded only by Annika's How-To premiere! If it's your first time here, welcome! Get comfortable, click around, let's get to know one another.  I'm glad you're here. :)
Britney Nichole
---

Or whatever.  "Home Awesomeness Binder", I should say.  Basically, this is going to be a really useful tool in keeping all the goals that I shared in my recent post.  It helps combine my desire to organize my life with my love of making cutesy, crafty things.

And, as much as I do enjoy showcasing my nerdiness, I'm actually detailing this out here because I suspect it really might be helpful for other mommies out there.  (Or daddies, who knows?  We all like cutesy stuff.  I'm not judging.)

The inside has 5 sections, which for me are:

1. Weekly Planner & Schedules

This is where I keep a monthly calendar which I might design myself every month, and would post here for free download if I do.  There are also people on Etsy that sell very cool planning templates if you're interested.

I'll also stick any type of schedule that we receive in this section.  Like, my husband's calendar or church stuff, the calendar of family events at the library...  stuff like that.  Then each new month I can flip through them and write the important ones on my personal calendar.  You've got to understand, this is a very serious, high-level kind of organization that I'm talking about.  (I'm just kidding! Please don't quote me on that.  Ever.  And just expect me to still be forgetful of and late to most events.)

2. Menu

This one was a free download that I found on another website.  I like how it pairs up the weekly meal plan with a shopping list.  This way, when I sit down on Sunday evening to think through next week's dinners, I can easily note what groceries I'm going to need.  Which, I guess, makes Monday the new grocery day.

3. Cleaning

This will probably sound pretty complicated to anyone who isn't well-versed in Flylady terminology, but its actually simple and very practical.  You divide your home into "zones" (like, zone 1= kitchen, zone 2= living room, etc.) and each week focuses on a specific zone.  For each zone, make a list of the kind of "duties" that should be done at least once a month.  Like, wipe down the shelves inside the fridge or vacuum out the couch cushions.

So, everyday, you check the calendar and spend a little time doing some housework in that week's zone.  It's just an easy way to make sure all the big things are getting slowly chipped away, and that way you just keep up the small things and don't have to get overwhelmed with the deep-cleaning chores piling up or, worse, never getting done and making your house feel yuck.  I thought I was an "all-at-once" kinda girl, but Flylady taught me better.  Its nice to just do a little each day and see the house always usually clean.

4. Blogging/Ideas

This section could be anything for anybody, but for me, its mostly about blogging.  I've committed to keeping up with the blog for our family's sake, but also for myself, because I think its important to have an outlet where I can be creative and thoughtful.  But so often, when I feel like I want to sit down and write, I don't really know what to write about.  So, I thought it would be practical to keep a little brainstorming section of stuff that goes through my mind or weighs on my heart during the week.  I just have a stack of notebook paper where I can scribble down things I may want to write about soon, or just any kind of idea or project I may want to be working on.  (For example, right now its the CD of oh-so-edgy Christian songs that we sang in the downtown Seattle church.)

5. Personal

Here, I plan to store all the little lists and personal info that's usually tucked away around the house in all the "safe places" that I can never remember or find.  Addresses, emails, birthdays, passwords, etc.  (Just kidding, not passwords.  They're somewhere else.  In a safe place.)  This birthday calendar was a free download and I can easily reference it each new month to see who's facebook I should be writing on.

So, there it is.  My Home Awesomeness Binder.  And if you'd like me to email you any of those templates, just leave a comment with your email address.  I put them all on a USB, went to FedEx and printed out a couple month's worth for less than $10, and then had a geeky blast organizing my binder that night while watching Land Before Time IV with Annika.

This is just a small JPEG of the August calendar I made, I can email the full-size original if anyone wants to give it a shot. Printed out pretty nicely at FedEx!