The Ultimate Home Management Binder Guide
In an attempt to get more organized this year, I have decided to revamp my current home management binder so that it functions better for our family. The first one that I made would sit, unused, on my desk for weeks because it wasn’t organized the way I needed it to be in order for it to really improve our lives.
I spent a few weeks in December deciding what I wanted in my new binder and think I have come up with a plan that will work much better for our family going forward.
What is a Home Management Binder?
A home management binder is a one-stop shop for all of your family needs. It is filled with lists, charts and calendars for managing your home, your finances and your life. It is an invaluable resource for me and without it, I would be completely lost!
How to Create a Home Management Binder: Supplies Needed
- Binder (I currently use a 1-inch binder, but you can use any size you want)
- Page Divider Tabs
- Page Protector Sheets
That is pretty much all you need to get started, however, you may also want to include a zippered pouch to hold a pen, pencil, highlighter, etc. or other items like sticky notes and baseball card holders (to hold business cards).
How to Create a Home Management Binder: Binder Categories
The number one question I am asked about my home management binder is what I keep inside of it. This is really a personal preference. Everyone’s binder is going to be different from the next person’s.
With that said, here is a list of categories you may wish to include in your binder (I have bolded the categories that I am currently using):
- Calendar (One for each month of the year)
- Miscellaneous
- Freezer Inventory
- Pantry Inventory
- Stockpile Inventory
- School Information/Schedule(s)
- Master To-Do List (weekly, monthly, seasonally & yearly)
- Monthly Budget
- Contacts
- Travel Checklist
- Daily Docket (to-do list for the day)
- Online Login Information
- Important Date
- Stock-Up Price List
- Produce Buying Guide
- In Season Produce Guide
- Yearly Goals
- Automobile Maintenance Schedule
- Shopping List
- Menu Plan
- Favourite Recipes
- Food Ideas
- Gift List (to track gifts purchased through the year)
- Mail-In Rebate Tracker
I suggest grouping things together as much as possible, to keep things organized. Here are a few examples:
Shopping > Shopping List, Stock-Up Price List, Produce Buying Guide, In Season Produce Guide
Food > Food Ideas, Menu Plan, Freezer Inventory, Pantry Inventory, Favourite Recipes
Tips For Using Your Home Management Binder
In order to get the most out of this fantastic organizing tool, it’s very important to actually use the binder that you just created. This means you will likely open it up every single day.
Here are a few tips to ensure you are getting everything accomplished that you need to:
- Make it easily accessible. You’re not going to use your binder if you don’t know where it is or it’s on the other side of the house and you don’t feel like going to get it. Keep your binder in the area of your home that you are in the most. For me, that’s my office, so my binder sits on my desk. A friend of mine keeps her binder on the kitchen counter. Wherever you decide to put it, make sure you’re able to grab it at a moment’s notice.
- Make it pretty. Okay, so this isn’t exactly necessary, but I find that the more plain and boring my binder, the more I don’t want to look at it. I added some colourful printables and cute binder cover and now I actually feel happy flipping through my home management binder.
- Re-evaluate often. Don’t create your binder thinking that it’s a one time deal and you won’t ever have to change the way that you use it. You should always go through your binder every 3 months or so and remove things that aren’t working for you (and/or add new things that you think may help). A new baby might mean a new category for tracking food intake and bowel movements (hey, some people like to track that kind of thing!). Your first family pet might require a pet sitting checklist.
My home management binder is the one thing in our home that really helps keep us organized throughout the year. If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to consider giving one a try.
We have a wide assortment of home management downloads on our free downloads page, as well as our Etsy store. You can easily print and use them in your binder.
How do you organize your home/life? Please share your tips in the comments!
Comments
I added two things to my binder, recipes and coupons. I am always on the various sites looking for new recipes and would print them off, use them once and lose them. So I gathered all my recent finds and added them to my binder, it’s great for when I do my menu planning I can refer to that for ideas.
After the last few weeks of inserts my coupon binder was getting really full again so I filtered out the coupons that I want to keep and use for myself and put them in my HH binder and leave the big binder for trading. This is really handy when I am doing my shopping lists. I also have a spreadsheet of my coupons in HH binder for reference.
Love this! Thank you 🙂
this is AWESOME!!!!! thanks sooo much, I always having trouble being organize and don’t know where to start, this is a awesome way to keep track of stuffs, more of this kinda video please!!
Ohhh Cassie, You have brought out the Monster in me. I am on a mission to get this completed this weekend.
How do we organize? I have a plastic file that has about eight different sections for warranties, receipts and manuals for items we have purchased. This way, I can toss the box and I don’t have to worry about the information or receipt. Put it in alphabetical order and voila.
Hormones have brought my need for organization to an entirely new level. Now, I just need to find a way to keep the toys in tow because we have one spoiled girl. Haha (;
When my kids were in their teens were into all their school and extra-curricular activities I had a large wipe-off calendar on the fridge door. Each of us (that is six people) had our own colour of wipe-off pens and we would record the time and date of each person’s schedule. It was easy to see at a glance who had to be where and when.
Hi Cassie, we also have a home management binder, but it wasn’t quite up to snuff. I have used your downloads (thank you) and it is functional. I have a questions though, the Stock Up Price List, can you please explain what exactly this is………Thank you Terr
Hi Cassie. I love your site, and have referred MANY,MANY people to it, as it is my favourite!
I was just reading through the titles of your organizational binder, and noticed the “Stock up Price list”, as one of your sections. I find I am slowly learning prices of items, and what is a good buy, and best with coupon, (lol), but if you have a list of items, and good prices you could post, it would be INVALUABLE to all of your fans! I know it would be another item I will be printing off for my grocery trips!
I look forward to your reply.
Thanks again so much for all of your help.
Have a great day.
Sincerely,
Patty
Thanks for the tips and tricks, everyone!
Patty: You can find the stock-up list here https://mrsjanuary.com/downloads/free-canada-stockup-price-list.pdf
Terri: It is a list of items we purchase and the most money we would spend on each item.
Thank you so much for these. I had a major epiphany last night and realized I need to get myself organized so that I can manage my time more efficiently, so I have more time for what I’d rather be doing!
Agree with you totally Cassie! After reading about your home mgmt binder last year (THANK YOU!), I started one, but but have now modified it a couple months ago so that it suits me better.
My binder is now organized with the following tabs:
ACTION ITEMS – most pressing stuff I need to get to this week (bills, forms, registrations, etc)
FINANCES – I place my monthly bills here as I receive them, as well as my cheque book (cuz I had a habit of forgetting where I put it)
RECEIPTS – Where I put printable vouchers (from daily deal sites) as well as any recent purchases that I don’t have time to file.
HEALTH – Where I keep health cards, immunization records and recent benefits statements (really handy when you have 2 young kids)
CALENDAR – monthly calendars from kids’ schools, etc – plus list of important dates (ie. birthdays)
CONTACT INFO – important numbers etc. plus business card holders with all our resources we use (ie. dentist, vet, financial planner, etc etc)
RESOURCES – All other stuff, usually kids-related like pamphlets on kid playgrounds and other activity ideas that I clip from the paper/magazine.
I have a separate binder for Menu & Meal Planning in an effort to keep things nice and tidy (and well, more managable!).
Thanks for the inspiration Cassie!!! You rock!!!
Mari
I just have to say that I LOVE YOUR SITE!!!
I have been researching about “home management binders” (and all the other titles…) for about two weeks now and yours is the BEST! LOVE, LOVE , LOVE it!
THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH for all your hard work in putting your binder together and for putting it online. Thank you for posting them as free printables!
I love the “extra” pages like: how to pick out produce and in season and out of season…. Would LOVE to have a price guide for the US. SUCH a good idea!!!!
You have given me vision and confidence that I can make this binder and use it intentionally!
THANK YOU and God bless,
-Chris