The Southern Housewife's Household Binder

I got many, many, (many!) emails and requests for a couple more peeks into my Home Binder.

Now, first let me say that I love this thing! Like really love. I spent hours upon hours working on it and getting just right. And my actual daily schedule took me two versions, each tried out for at least a month, to get it to where it is most efficient for me. BUT, this is what works best for me. It may not work for you. It may not make any sense and you'll scratch your head and try to figure out what I'm trying to do, get really frustrated, and walk away from your computer thinking I'm even crazier than you first thought. I really do hope it works for you, though. Or at least give you some ideas to jump start your own Home Binder.

So, let's just start off with a couple of pictures of the sections I have within my binder...

In the very front, you'll see my pencil holder (am I a geek, or what?!) I have a ruler, pens, a highlighter, stamps, small scissors, and those colorful post it tab thingies that help me to find what page I'm on each day and when a new week starts. I highly recommend having something like this in the front of your binder. It will save you a few minutes looking for stuff, because you have what you need right there.

For each of my three sections, Housework, Cooking, and Crafts, I have a plastic separator that I can insert a cute image to show what section it is. My first one is Housework. I just adore that cute girl- don't you?I think she's adorable with that dark, short hair, poofy yellow dress and sweet smile. :)

Behind this plastic separator you will find several week's worth of print outs of my daily schedule. You are more than welcome to use this as the 'bones' of your daily schedule. I love the room it gives me for any notes I may need to write about in my dinner, and errands sections. I find that I use that space quite often. No matter what I have typed down, life happens and I find myself switching days with chores that I wasn't able to get to. PS- Sorry about the scan; I tried to get it to an Adobe file with no luck. :(

After my daily schedule, I have a cute folder that I put my 'housekeeping' papers in: the zones printouts from the Flylady, any cleaning tips from Martha, etc. I know there is a better way to organize things, but for now I just stick these notes in this folder. I know where to go when I'm looking for a certain something.

Here is my cooking section in my Household Binder. In this folder, I have my week's meal list, recipes I'll need for that day, recipe ideas, and miscellaneous recipes or coupons that need to be filed. In the back of this folder I have several sheets of notebook paper. This is where I keep a running list of things that I find I need from the grocery store. When I'm ready to make my shopping list, this is the first place I go.

For some reason, I never got a picture of my crafts sections. It's just as well. It's the exact same thing as the first two, only the folder is packed with decor ideas I've ripped out of magazines, fabric samples, tutorials, and the like.

In back of that is a list of all my family member's addresses, birthdays, and phone/cell numbers. I can't take the credit for this one though. My momma made it. But now you can see where I get my Type 1 personality. :)

And there you have it, folks. My binder is pretty simple, but it works for me.

PS- HAPPY INAUGURATION DAY!

I am so proud of Mr. (soon to be President!) Obama. I cannot wait to watch history take place today in front of my very eyes! Oh, if I could only be in D.C and have a ring side seat...

I pray that he does what is right and is the hope and positive change that our country so desperately needs right now. We only have to look at joy and celebration taking place in other countries around the world to see that many, many people are in support of Obama. I pray that he re-establishes us as a great nation and that he works diligently to change the economy for the better. I pray that he does what is right for education, child welfare, the elderly, insurance issues, and environmental issues. I pray for his wife and children- that they learn to be strong in the face of such adversity and the media leaves them alone while they are still young and fragile. I pray for his health, as I cannot imagine the pressures of this job and how much it will age him. And I pray for us as a nation- that we may be unified, despite differences. I feel such a division in this country right now..."You are either with us, or against us." And it shouldn't be so. Especially at a time like this, we need to be unified for the good of our country. I pray we look past those differences and see the bigger picture. Amen.

It was obvious we needed a change for the better, and I feel that Mr. Obama is the change we need. I hope everyone gets a chance to see history unfold today. You know where I'll be come 10am! ;)