Do any of you use a...

[baxjul]

household notebook/binder? I've been making up two this weekend. One has cleaning and housekeeping info, the other has my frugal ideas, simple living ideas, etc. I just wondered what everyone else puts in theirs?

[FrugalMomof3]

I dont have any actually, but this seems like something that I can benefit from, thanks for the tip!

[Laurie in Bradenton]

I hav 12 binders one for each month. In these binders are ideas for hoilday celebrations, frugal tips, decorating ideas, meals, cleaning calenders, etc. Over the years as I would come across something in a magazine that I liked I'd rip it out and place it into the proper binder. Over the last 20 years ideas have been used and commented on. Sometimes things get pulled out and discarded, recipes get tried, adjusted and either kept for future use or trashed.
For a while I had a Martha Stewart Subscription so her monthly calender got pulled each month and filed. Other items go in my binders also like poems or short stories I've enjoyed, Cartoons over the years have also been added.
Dh husband says whats scary is I've got computer paper boxes which hold items for the month to go along with my binders.
Example: January box has New Years Eve Noise Makers, Hats and Banners.
Football Super bowl Decorations
January Binder has Celebration ideas and first of the years to do
things.
February has Valentine stuff including the Valentines for DD school that I bought at the after Valentines sale for next year. No hunting for them or forgetting them know right where they are. Linclon stove pipe crepe paper hat and small red white and blue table decoration for Presidents Day.
And so on.... Kids love the boxes they have decorated the outside with pictures of the things t do during the holidays.
Box have lived in both houses with us at house number one they were on a shelf unit in landryroom in this house on a shelf in my office/4th bedroom/craft/sewing room.
Now some may say this is too oraganized and too much stuff. My response is
its not organized its where I can always find it. Its not too much its the Moms job to make the hoildays and help to educated her family.


Laurie in Bradenton

[pita1213]

laurie i love how you have evrything organized by month. it makes a lot of sense to me! getting my wheels turning for how to organize things here. the boxes would certainly be a better place to keep the decorations the kids make for different holidays

[Laurie in Bradenton]

You'll be surprised when you pull out something made ten years ago (a dryerhose pumpkin) by Ds now 22. He'll come home and see it sitting out on the front porch in October and say something about making it in cub scouts.
DD now (13) loves to help change household decorations. We picked up a fake green wreath off a trash pile and she spends the new weekend of the month making up a wrath to hang on the front door. Easter wreath is coming down (had a collection of little jumpy toys wired to it) along with a couple of plastic bunnies. May wreath will have a luau theme as we have our annual garden party on the 12th.

Laurie in Bradenton

[baxjul]

Laurie - all I have to say is that you are an amazing woman!

[Mom23boys]

I have 2 different ones. One contains all our budget information. I have folders for each month and I can add the bills to the appropriate month. I have our budget set up in the folder so I know what needs to be paid and when. I also keep an expense ledger in the notebook so we can track our spending. At the back of this notebook I keep a calendar with birthday's for every month. I check it at the beginning of the month so I know who I need to send a card to. This notebook also contains telephone and address information. I even keep extra envelopes and address labels in the pockets of this one. I have a menu notebook where I keep our 12 month menus with the shopping list for each month. I also keep recipes in the back of this notebook that I use often. It is easier to pull out the notebook than a bulky recipe book.

I have tried a hosuehold notebook where I add the kids stuff too, but it didn't work for us. I think you have to make a notebook that adapts to you and your family.

[Cricket1]

I just keep one notebook for myself--various notes and stuff I need for the house, etc. I keep it in my purse so that when I'm out and about, I always know what's needed for the home.

[monkeywrangler71]

I used to have a binder with cleaning/scheduling/recipes/phone numbers/projects/etc. but I moved most of it to my scheduling software on the computer. I still have a notebook where I write down my goals and keep an ongoing list of new frugal/green/simple living ideas, and I have a binder for my home improvement plans (paint swatches, measurements, etc.) But all my day-to-day household management stuff is on the computer now.

[geckoace]

i am not as organized as laurie.....wow
i have

Household- info about our house (for sitters and stuff), monthly budget, emergency prepared list, master grocery list, frequently used phone numbers, the general home maintenance schedule, info about my wireless network, some blank party planner sheets, and my holiday schdules and decorations inventory is in a small seciton in the rear. then i have a pocket where gift cards and membership cards are stored, a folder of TODOs and my flylady stickers

Manuals and Warrantiesthe manual for everything and all the warranty papers. i regularly go through and toss things

Kids Stuffhere i keep a pocket of places to go; safety; heath and developtment; nutrition; crafts adn experiments (for sci proj later); education (shopping for schools); then a resource list and kids pages phone book

Home Maintenance a detailed maintenance schedule, how to's for a lot of projects, model numbers/ sizes for things that get replaced like filters and vaccuum bags

Project - specific to whatever big thing is going on currently my sisters wedding

I am planning to create a medical binder and a separate holiday binder in the near future

[tigo]

I have a binder for the kids/SO - it has the basic housekeeping schedule and menu. It has the recipes for the menu as well. There are a few articles in it on household finances (and a copy of my actual monthly budget for an example for them). The idea is I will give a copy to the kids when they move out.
I have a household binder that I use to collect craft ideas (divided by season and holiday) and decorating/gardening ideas.
The last binder is my recipe binder that I use to keep the various recipes I cut from magazines. Each kid has one of their own. They get to mark recipes they want from the magazines and I make copies for them.
The last two binders I go through periodically to purge.