Kids Binders

Binders are wonderful storage tools and I use them ALOT!! Here are a few of my Kid Binders.

I have a binder for each child to hold all the certificates and awards they earn. These include attendance awards, spelling awards, sports ribbons ect.

Then I have my Kids Craft Binder. This is for all those little activities I come across to try with the kids.

What was I thinking!!

I woke-up this morning with a ton of energy and motivated to get my laundry room cleaned out and organized.  For the last hour I have been kicking myself and repeatedly saying

"WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!!!!!!!

Currently, this is what my dining room looks like!

All this stuff needs to find a home back in the laudry room. 

But my laundry room looks so nice!!!!!!

uhhh, what was I thinking!

Scrapbook Storage Binders

These are my "Fun Binders" These are mostly used for scrapbooking and photography.

First I have my Magazine Control Binder. Another confession....I'm a magazine junkie!! This is a binder I use to temporarily house the pages I tear out of the many, many magazines I read. I say temporaily because the items regularly get moved to other more topic specific binders.

My first topic specific binder is my Scrapbook Layout Idea binder. This binder is for all the layouts I tear out of scrapbook magazines. I have this binder broken down by the number of photos featured on each layout...(1-16+).


Next is my Photography Binder. This is for all the photography related tips and articles I tear out of magazines or print off the internet.

Then I have my Scrapbook tip & Techniques Binder. This is for all the fun little ideas I find I would like to try.

Then I have my Kids Craft Binder. This is for all those little activities I come across to try with the kids.

I have several other binders I use to store various scrapbooking supplies and items like acrylic stamps, flowers, Cricut cartridges ect.

Recipe and Shopping Guide Binders

I love trying new recipes and frequently tear recipes out of magazines and print from online sources. I rarely use a store bought cookbook. But with all of those pieces of paper I needed to find them a home. What better then a BINDER!!!

First let's talk about my Recipe Binder. Here I put all the recipes I tear out of magazines or print off the internet. I keep a calendar at the front for monthly menu planning and I have a section for meal ideas. The recipes themselves are sorted into the following catagories: Main Dish, Side Dish, Breakfast, Baking. Each recipe is slipped into a sheet protector.

Next I have my Price Guide Binder. This is a handy tool when planning my weekly shopping trip. To be honest this has taken me some time to build, but is worth every minute spent.

This binder is divided into the following catagories: Fresh Fruit, Fresh Veggies,Breads, Dairy, Condaments,Can Fruit, Can Veggies,Can Food, Box Food, Pasta/Rice, Meat, Cereal, Frozen Food, Baking, Beverages, Paper Goods, Toiletres, Cleaning, and Snack foods.

At the front of this binder is a zipper pouch that holds reciepts I need to go over. I have a printed "Cheat Sheet" at the front that list the abreviations I use for each store; LK for Lucky, SW for Safeway ect.

In each section I have a sheet for each food item. On the sheet I list the size of the item, the store abreviation and the price. So for example I buy Jar Applesauce so on that sheet I have noted that a 47.8oz jar of TreeTop cost $3.99 at Safeway and $3.49 at Lucky. This helps me to try and save as much as possible on my weekly shopping runs because I ALWAYS compare the listed price with the sale adds.

My Household Bills Binders

Keeping track of household bills has always been a thorn in my side, I have to say!

In years past I would loose bills, forget about bills and frequently pay bills late. That is until I found my binder system!! Now my bills have a home and I have a system for filing and paying them that works for me.

I have 4 binders I use for bills and investments:
1 for household/utility bills1 for credit cards and loans1 for business related bills (my hubby owns a Landscape Construction Co)
1 for our investments (IRA's, College Funds and Stocks)

These binders are broken down by bill and at the front of each binder I have a form listing due dates, amounts due, dates paid and amounts paid. It's handy to have this information at-a-glance.

Each day when my mail arrives I go through it immediatly. I NEVER let it sit...that is to dangerous for me!! If it sits, it piles up!! I shred and recycle all junk mail first. Then I open all bills and 3-hole punch them, I keep my hole punch in the cabinet that house my Bill Binders. As I file each bill I write down the needed information on the form at the front of each binder. Checking this form is one of my MIT's listed on my Daily routine.

Now I always know where my bills are and I never pay bills late!!

Medical Information Binders

I have learned over the past few months how important it is to keep medical record information contained and accessable at a moments notice. To acheive this I put together Medical Record Binders for each member of my household. These binders are broken down into the following catagories: Visits, Lab Work, Immunizations, Procedures, and Reciepts. At the front of each binder I have the medical record number, emergency contact information, allergies, current medications and a list for any OTC medications.



I have also put together a binder for my mother, who is currently under a doctors care for an on-going illness. It is such a valuable tool for my sisters and I, who take turns attending my mothers' appointments with her. It allows each of us to make notes of the appointment and have past notes handy. It also keeps each of us up to date on her care.

Binders, Binders, Binders.......Love me some Binders!!!!

I have a confession.............I'm a binder junkie. I use binders to organize just about everything. It helps to keep my life clutter free and it helps the kids and hubby too!

Today I'll share my most important binder:our Household Notebook:

This binder sits at the end of my kitchen counter 24/7. It contains all of the following sections & information:

Planning: This section is divided into subcatagories of Daily, Weekly, Monthly & Personal Developement.
In the Daily catagory I have a printed form with the following information: My days general plan broken down by hour. A list of tasks I would like to accomplish on that day. My top 3 most important tasks to complete that day. My dinner plan for that day. My baking plan for that day (I like to have a fresh baked treat ready for the kids to have during homework time each day.) A list of "To-Do's" focusing on a particular project I may be working on...this could be reorganizing a closet, doing some scrapbooking or working in my yard. On this form I also keep track of my water intake for the day...I'm not very good about drinking enough water so this helps me.
In the Weekly catagory I have a printed weekly calendar. Here I list out everything that is taking place that week, including times, such as kids events, hubby being out-of-town, appointments ect. I also include my cleaning routine here and my project goals for the week.
In the Monthly catagory I have a month at a glance calendar. This helps in my weekly planning so I know what the month has in store for each family member. Hubby also uses this section to block out times he will not be home or will be working late.
In the Personal Developement section I keep track of my personal food intake, my excercise routine, my personal goals ect.

The next section is Household Inventory. This section is also broken down into subcatagorize: Dry Goods, Can Goods, Baking, freezer, Cleaning Supplies, and Paper Goods. I do a weekly check of items so I know what we have, what has been used and what we need. This is a GREAT tool when making my grocery list.

The next section is titles Projects. Here I have individual printed sheets for each project I am currently working on and projects to be worked on. On this form I list what the project is, my goals, any shopping needs to complete the project. I also break down the project into managable To Do items so I don't feel overwhelmed with the "big picture" of the project.

The next section is Cleaning. Here I have cleaning checklist for EACH room of my house. Here I'm able to keep track of Daily-Weekly-Monthly-Yearly task for each area of the house.

The next section is School. Here I put any "need to keep" correspondences from the kids schools; calendars, class schedules, class contavct list ect.

The last section is Misc. Here I put anything that needs to be kept, but doesn't fit into any of the other sections.

Every Sunday evening after the kids have gone to bed I sit down with this binder and first look at my monthly calendar. From there I transfer information to my weekly calendar and from there to my daily. I write out my daily routines for the ENTIRE week. Based on the events for that given week I plan out what projects I will try to tackle. If I have a busy week I may skip a project all together, but if we have a light week I may choose a larger task that takes more of my time. I also check my cleaning schedule and add anything that needs to be added to my daily routines.

Once a month I go over my cleaning checklist and write down on my monthly calendar any less frequent cleaning and household maintence tasks like changing the heater filter.

I also use this time to do any meal planning. I use to try to plan an entire month in advance, but that became unrealistic for me. Now I focus one week at a time and write a shopping list for that week. I do my grocery shopping every Monday and my large wholesale shopping once a month. I will be posting more about this later.

So as I said before I'm a binder junkie and have many more binders to share, so stay tuned.....

Managing Laundry

In a household with six people laundry has been a thorn in my side for as long as I can remember. I always felt like I was drowning in laundry....piles to wash, piles to fold, stacks to put away..it never ends!!!
Recently I came up with a system and amazingly I rarely think about laundry anymore. Here is what I do now:
WASHING/DRYING
I always start a load in the washer before I take the kids to school. By the time I return the first load is ready for the dryer and I can put a second load in the washer. I have both loads completely done by 10am, then I don't think about it the rest of the day.
Monday: 2 loads from master bedroom, 1 dark, 1 light
Tuesday: 2 loads from my two older daughters room; 1 dark, 1 light
Wednesday: 2 loads, one from my sons room, one from my youngest daughters room; 1 dark, 1 light
Thursday: 2 loads; 1 towels, 1 linens
Friday: 1 load; All whites
Saturday/Sunday: NO laundry!!
FOLDING/PUT AWAY
I fold all laundry in the bedroom it came from and place it on the bed. My kids are responsible for putting all their own laundry away when they get home from school.

Tuesday Task

As I mentioned in my very first post, my goal with this blog is to make myself accountable for getting my home (and life) a bit more organized. To do this I have been giving myself one major task per day to accomplish by the time I go to bed. This can be something as simple as getting laundry finished, or something more time consuming like cleaning out and organizing my fridge....(not a task I look forward to, but will do none-the-less.)
Each Tuesday I will document one of my completed tasks....My Tuesday Task.

Today let me introduce you to my Hall Closet/Linen Closet. As it appeared just days ago.....

This is how it has looked for the better part of a year. When opening the door you were taking your life in your hands.....you never knew what was going to jump out and bite you. As for finding what you were looking for, you had best set aside a good 10 minutes for searching.

On Sunday I completely emptied the closet out, wiped down shelves and put it all back together in just under an hour. Huge pat on the back to myself for that accomplishment!! And "Thanks" to my Royal Sister for taking the Royal Rugrats out for the afternoon, leaving me uninterrupted time!! Yeah!! THAT does not happen often!

So Here is my hall closet/linen closet as it looks at this very moment.....

Now, if I can keep it this way, I will have REALLY accomplished something!!