I love organizing things and binders just work well for me, so the idea of a household binder is right up my alley.  If you are not a binder person, not to worry, because the idea behind this is just to gather household information in one place so that you don't need to go on a search every time you need a bit of info. I have friends who use files and others who keep that info on their computers. Experiment to find what works for you.

Here are some ideas for sections in a household binder.

WORK SECTIONS:

Calendar: this helps me keep track of all the goings on of my family and friends. I write in birthdays (with the birth year for kids so that I can figure out how old they are).

Important Things: This is a planning area where I write down the different things that are important to me.  I make sure that these things show up when I'm planning my time.  Ordinary things like housework show up there, but so do different projects and areas of interest.  I review and revamp this from time to time so that I am investing in the things that are really important to me.

Housework: At times it has been helpful for me to create a schedule for doing housework. At this season in my life, I have a morning and evening mini cleanup routine and then work through the house doing a heavier cleaning as I have time.

Project Sheets: I write down the steps of any project that I am working on and then work through the steps.  If I wander and need to get back to a project I have an easier time of getting back to it and breaking the project down into little steps makes it possible to work through a project even during busy times.

Holiday Section: I keep notes on things that work well. I might put in a picture of a Christmas decoration that I like or I might jot down an idea or two.

Meal Planning Section:  I hate it when I'm halfway through the afternoon and I don't have a clue what's for dinner.  Planning ahead saves my sanity and helps with the budget.

INFORMATION SECTIONS:

Emergency Info: In the craziness of an emergency it's nice to have numbers at your fingertips.  Keep numbers of people you might want to contact here too (family friends, pastor, etc.).  If you have a babysitter, you could create a page of contact info for him/her as well.

Family Info: school schedules, a copy of shot records, etc. ~ any info that you need to regularly access on behalf of your family.

Contact info for utilities, bills, etc. Basically when I need to contact someone I want it to be easy. If I don't have what I need in my binder, I add the info so that I don't have the struggle the next time around. My only caution on this section is not to write down account numbers or passwords (you don't want info here that could be used by someone else to access your accounts).

Your own "yellow pages": I keep the phone numbers and business hours of the stores we frequent. There are sheets for binders that hold business cards ~ another quick way to get the info into your binder. Punch holes in the take out sheets of your favorite restaurants to add to this section.

Section for info on people (this is great for gift ideas, what sizes do they wear, likes and dislikes, etc.)  It's also not a bad idea to write down what you have given them for gifts, so you don't duplicate.

Receipts: slip your receipts in a pocket so that returns are easier.

I tend to use my binder for planning and for information that I need at my fingertips.  Basically you want to create something that works for you and that will be unique to you.  As you have any kind of difficulty (being disorganized in an area, struggling to find info, etc.) ask yourself how you can create a section in your binder to reduce the difficulty next time.

I keep my binder at my computer desk, but often I curl up somewhere with it to do a little planning.

Lori <><