Wednesday 18 May 2011

Goal 40b. Make a useable Home Management Binder

So last week I discussed how I have made my Finder into my version of a Home Management Binder. This week I want to discuss what goes into my Home Management Binder Folders, and how this works for me. The best thing about this system is that now I don't have a million scraps of paper all of the place that I have to clean. Even when my home management binder is disorganized and messy it is all contained within my laptop and disappears when I turn off the screen. Nice!


1Goals Folder
In this folder I have the following documents:
Goals list - identical to this post
Monthly journal -  in which I jot down the highlights from the month,
Reading list  - both of books I have read and books to read.
Yearly Learning Plan - designed for homeschooling families but I use it to track my own personal learning. This could become especially useful if I decide to do any further studies.

2Weekly Plan
Recently I found the website Cozi and so have not actually used this section. I was looking at it this morning and it has some old things from a time when I designed my own agenda that could be printed out (Remember when I talked about designing my own things for days on end??). So this entire section could be deleted.
I also want to do a plug for Cozi, since I LOVE IT! In short it is a website that contains calendar, to-do lists and shopping lists applications. You can have multiple lists in each category and multiple calendars, which makes it easier for me because I like to write things on a list to get them out of my head, even if they are not going to be due for another 2 months. This way I can keep a future list and a separate today list. I also love that because it is online both Prince Charming and I  have access to it.

3Daily Schedule
I keep routines for each shift that I work (Days, Evenings, Nights), to try and help me stay on track. This means that I have already thought about what a good day looks like in terms of time management and what I can reasonably get done. The most useful part of this is that it tells me what to expect, gives me a good plan to allot my time and, most importantly, tells me when to go to bed and when to wake up. With shift work being notorious for causing sleep disturbances and insomnia this plan helps me avoid these problems.  
4Menu Plan
In this folder I keep everything to do with meal planning and cooking. Since I love collecting recipes and trying new ones I have a lot of information in this section. The forms I keep include a list of our favourite meals, pantry and freezer inventory as well as my grocery lists from past months (organized by month) and a "Resources" section. The resources include things such as lists about organic food & sources, information about different diets, etc. 
I try to plan my meals monthly and then plug them into my Cozi Calendar. Then I use a spreadsheet to record all the ingredients I need per meal. Each week I can update my calendar based on any meals I want to change (didn't get done the week before or a change in plans) and it is simple copy and paste. Any ingredients I have already I cross off, but this makes it easier to re-use these lists. I also use the same foods in my breakfasts and for all the "sides" in lunches. Only the sandwich or entree changes in our lunches! I shop using flyers, but I don't use coupons and I only shop at 2 stores! My meal planning could be a whole other post. Here is an example of this form. 

5Ministry/Hospitality
In this folder I keep any documents I have created for ministry activities (I am a youth group leader) and ideas for future events. I also keep devotionals I have found, and ideas I have for other types of ministry. Although I help with praise music sometimes I keep sheet music in my 4Archive folder. 

6Holidays
Here is where I keep anything to do with holidays to celebrate (Christmas, Easter etc.) and holidays to take! I try to keep copies of old packing inventories so that creating them in the future is easier. I NEVER travel without a list, because I have tried this and had to spend $60 for a weekend trip because we had to buy all new toiletries and pajamas. In my Christmas section I keep a Gifts organizer on which I try to keep ideas of gifts for family members. I also keep a running wishlist for myself!

7Household Inventory
This contains various inventories of things I have in my house. I would like to have this better organized in case of insurance claims. Something to work on!

8Finances
I use the program YNAB for this, so this is simply where my backups are stored. Please check out this software if you want the best personal budget ever!

I do have other folders, but for now I haven't started using them. So I will just list them. 

9Household Maintenence, 10Spiritual Matters, 11School, 12Personal Appearance

I also have 2 TEMP files which regard current projects that once over will not require anything to be kept. These are for my upcoming move and my sister's wedding. 

Thanks for reading this LONG post! I hope you found some ideas useful. Here are some resources & inspiration that I found useful when making paper home management binders and eventually my computerized one. 



Flylady

How have you created personal home management tools? Which ones work for you?

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