Menu Planning and Home Management Binder

 

***Update*** I am taking my printables (a few new) to Staples for binding. I’ll post when I get it done.

I have been working on a home management binder for about a week. I am taking my time filling it in, and wanted to share my progress. I will also explain our menu planning.

I told you already about the book I just started reading- Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. You can visit her website Simple Mom, where you can find lots of ideas, or order her book. I am working through it, and so far have sat down with my husband and decided on a family mission statement. We thought of all of the things we wanted to represent, and decided this easy to remember saying-fit us perfectly.

God- First

Others- Second

Self- Last

From there I am trying to do everything with that purpose in mind.

One of my 3in30 goals for February is to simplify. I will spend a day each week this month purging a different area of our home. I purge often, but I am looking with new eyes this time. I will hold all of my finds in our guest bedroom for the weather to warm up. In a few months I will have a yard sale. I will let you know what rooms I am purging on Friday.

On to the binder-

I am going to need a bigger binder, I bought this for homeschool attendance and grades, but decided to put them in my home management binder as well.

Year Calendar- so I know what month I am in!

The first section holds monthly calendars for 2011. Remember- I just made this! I will put review deadlines, blog post idea days and family schedule reminders here.

The next section is for devotional, I don’t think I will keep it though, I have been doing really well writing notes, prayer requests and devotionals in my daily Bible in 90 Days notebook. I use one page for each reading.

This section takes the place of The Box for now. I found our schedule being wrecked, and as a result, was very frustrated when “zone day” didn’t happen…etc. Each day had already been scheduled, so I would just have to wait until next week. I felt like a failure, and when a Type-A feels like a failure… This is Tsh’s idea, and allows you to see what needs to be done in a day, week, and month. As I do them, I mark them off with a dry erase marker. This page is in a sheet protector. This way, I can see what has been done, what is left to do, and work to find the spots in my schedule to do them.

This is my daily schedule- also printed off from Tsh’s site, she offers lots of free printables.

I am trying to keep it simple, I never know what the day will bring. This lets me see what is most important each day. If I get most of these done, I am happy. I get a fresh start everyday!

This is my school section. I have a page for each child’s attendance, which were done until a child spilled something on them while they were awaiting the binder. There are also pages for books, videos, preschool plans, letters to the school district, etc.

This next section is our menu planning. I had done very well with this method, and have recently gone back to it. It works for me! This is from the e-book from The Old Schoolhouse last year: Menu Planning- How to Plan Menus for a Month and Enjoy It! You can go and get it FREE if you click on the link!

How it works- List what you like to eat for each meal. We are boring.

Then, you take that knowledge and start building your month of menus. You have four weekly pages and an un-numbered page for weeks you want to go off schedule, etc.

I put mine in page protectors, then I take the current week’s menu and hang it on the fridge. That way, everyone knows what is going to be on the table.

Each week has its own shopping list. Know you know what you need to buy when you are making those meals each time you shop for that week. I have not yet gone shopping since making these again, so they are still blank right now. I also don’t know how freezer cooking will change this process, but I will update you when I figure it out.

In the past, I have copied mine before adding irregular items, like socks or a birthday gift. That leaves my master pristine, and current.  I do know there are online planners that you can print out each week, but I prefer to write on paper. I’m just like that. No schedule in my iPod either. There is nothing like writing things down for me.

I found this free budget planner online, but we don’t have many of these expenses, so I also printed out the blank option. I will take the main idea and build ours from there.

This section will also house my monthly schedule of bills, what is being paid when and where I will put all of my passwords and login information.

This section of my binder is to help me more often see birthdays that are not in our own house.

And who I usually send cards to, all in one place.

And last but not least. A spot for blog thoughts. I picked this space because it was purple, although I may move it to the front to replace the purple tab for devotional.

None of my tabs are labeled yet. I may change everything before long, so I don’t want to make it messy looking. I may never label it! My dividers each have a pocket to hold stray papers, or whatever.

It feels nice to have a spot for everything I need each day, and a plan that is portable. I thought the box would work better, but I am really liking the binder. I may have to do a giveaway for the box!

If you have questions, feel free to ask!