Creating a Homekeeping Binder or Household Planner

A couple of years ago, I made my own "homekeeping binder."  It helps me stay organized and on top of my weekly homekeeping lists, records, and reports.  Everything regarding "the keeping of my home" is in one easy place!

Though I don't always keep everything perfectly, this little binder has helped me tremendously.

The binder itself is from Target, and I think they still sell this style in their stores.  I added tabbed dividers inside, and included labels for home cleaning lists (broken down by daily tasks, with a few blank lines for filling in additional things to do), weekly menu pages, calendar pages, budgeting reports and spending plans, homeschooling misc, pantry list, price list, car maintenance, home decor ideas, Christmas info, and phone numbers. 

As I've continued to use this binder, I've noticed there are some tabs I use more than others.  For example, my menu planning and budgeting pages get lots of use, but I don't keep up with my pantry list or price list as well as I'd like.

The menu pages are a *huge* timesaver for me.  When I'm sitting down to plan the upcoming week's meals, sometimes my mind just draws a blank, or I can only think of the same few meals that I made last week.  Having the ability to browse through several past menu pages refreshes my memory and helps me get the planning done in record time.  Meal plans are laid out similarly to what I've shared here.

In the budgeting section I keep a print-out of our current spending plan, which I've printed using the reports feature in our Mvelopes program (this is an online, virtual envelope system for budgeting we've used for four years and absolutely love).  As we update our spending plan, I place the new copy over the old copy... it's motivating to be able to compare our spending plan now to what it was in months or years past, see the progress we made, refer back to a failure, and have it all at the tip of my finger.

Regarding the homeschool tab, this is not the place where I put our homeschooling records, worksheets, etc.  Rather, this is where I keep a few printed articles and statistics that help keep me inspired on our homeschooling journey, such as a copy of the article Ten Good Reasons to Homeschool by Dr. Greg Sherman (if you are a new homeschool mom, or considering homeschooling, you might want to check it out), and these encouraging statistics from the HSLDA.

Here are some additional snapshots from my homekeeping binder:

I also keep a clear plastic sleeve in the front for holding random clippings or small notes.

Do you have a similar binder or planner that you use? 

If not, I highly recommend putting forth the minimal effort that it takes to create one.  Whether you are naturally an organized person or not, this little binder can really keep you on task and minimize clutter.

   In Passionate Pursuit,

P.S.  Don't have time to create your own pages?  Here are two basic pages to get you started:

Menu Planning Printable Page
Home Cleaning List Printable Page

~ Want a sneak peek into my recipe binder, too? ~



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't miss a post! Get each new post via email for free.And, if you like what you see, please consider sharing this post with your friends.

{This post is linked up with Domestically Divine, Frugal Friday, Finer Things Friday, WFMW, Tuesday Tips, Tuesday Tip Jar, and Steady Mom's 30 Minute Challenge}