What is a Home Management Binder?
A Home Management Binder is a book for your home, covering
everything from your Wi-Fi passwords to housekeeping checklists. It’s simply a
file that holds all the information that you and your family need on a day-to-day
basis to run the house smoothly, without having to trawl through piles of
paperwork to find the answer.
It can be created in lots of
different ways, and contains many different things depending on your needs, but
as I wanted quite specific things in mine, I decided to create one myself.
I didn’t know how much I needed Home Management Binder and
now it’s become an integral part of running my home, and I wouldn’t be
without it: – A Home Management Binder is the key to a well-run home
When you start using your Home Management Binder your system
will evolve, and you will be able to tailor it to your family's needs. Once your system is in place, it can become a
centralised binder for your different lists, documents and important
information
Who will be using Your Home Management Binder?
Are you the only person who will be using the Home Management Binder? Or do you want other members in your household to also use it also? Obviously, there are no right or wrong answers to this question, but you need to consider this to determine what type of Home Management Binder will be right for your family.
Personally, I make each portion of the
household management notebook available to every member of my household. it allows them be more involved in making
their house a home and keeping the whole family running smoothly.
How will you use your Home Management Binder?
As with anything that’s truly useful, the information inside
your binder should be specific to you and your family, and help you to run
your home easily.
It’s a handbook to YOUR specific home – everyone’s will be
slightly different, depending on what is done in your home and by whom.
I did a lot of thinking around what I wanted and didn’t want
to go into my Home Management Binder. If
there is too much information in it, it will just become messy and you probably
won’t use it, alternatively if it hasn’t got enough information in it then it’s
simply not going to be useful.
How big do you want your Home Management Binder
Another question to be mindful of is that size do you want
your Home Management Binder to be? Will
it stay in your home or will you want to keep it in your handbag? If you want it to be portable, then you
aren’t going to want to be lugging a big A4 size binder around with you,
whereas if it will be staying at home that size is fine. Will a small A5 size have enough space to
fill out your information?
Be Mindful of Security
If you want to have a “portable” Home Management
Binder, there are things that should be in your Home Management Binder that you
would not want members of the public to have access to, such as your credit
card account numbers or internet passwords.
Even though I have listed these items in the General contents of the Home Management Binder, I would not suggest carrying them around with
you in the grocery store, for example.
The Home Management Binder
Home Management Binders got their name because lots of
people organise their household management information into
A4 Ring
Binders or Lever Arch Files
The types of things that can be placed in a A4 Binder are:
· Chore Charts
· Cleaning Schedules
· Laundry Schedules
· Meal Planning
· Recipes
For a more complete overview of the categories I have a post called What should be in a Home Management Binder
Why A Binder, Not Notebook?
The advantage of a binder over a spiral notebook is the ease
with which you can add and remove pages.
Especially when you are learning what works best for your family, and
building schedules and routines for the first time, you will most likely make changes
and edit the contents of your Home Management Binder a lot. This makes adding and removing pages quickly
and easily.
Use Punched Pockets for Recurring Checklists and Schedules
I recommend using Punched Pockets
or laminating for your most referenced
pages in your Home Management Binder. These will protect your pages from
getting dirty, wrinkled or accidentally ripped.
For pages such as your daily household chores, or other checklists,
having a page protector and a dry-erase marker is a way to check off
your accomplishments without ruining the paper.
When your done with the document you can simply wipe it clean, ready to
use it again without having to print/rewrite the whole list. This is such a
time saver
Use Binder Tabs for Creating Sections
One way to keep your Home Management Binder in a logical
order is to use Binder Tabs,
this will allow you to create sections to allow you to find what you
want quickly, so you can keep all of your Bills in one section, recipes in
another and so on and so forth.
Keep Your Home Management Binder Simple (at first)
For your Home Management Binder to be useful, it does not
need to be complicated. Starting of simply will ensure that you don’t
become so overwhelmed that you decide that it doesn’t work for you. Once you get used to using the Home
Management Binder, you can add more lists, checklists and printables – If your
anything like me, you will get excited about the printables. But at the beginning - Simplicity is the key.
Don’t worry if it isn't perfect or beautiful enough for
Pinterest-envy. I will let you in on a secret - chances are – those pinners
aren’t even using theirs. I hope you
have found this article interesting, why not share your Home Management Binder
in our Facebook Group or on Instagram using #GODeclutterHMB
I really appreciate you stopping by, and want to say thank you - because without you I wouldn't be here.
Believe in Yourself, You got this, NOW Go Declutter!
