Home Management Binders!

Have you seen them at different stores lately? There are quite a few to choose from but I think the one that works best is the one that is made by you...for you! Check out a proto-type at Archivers (they have a class to make one for $25.00), but I think it limits you in what you put in it and how you design it.

Stacy will explain more of the nuts and bolts of it tomorow.

For today, think about all those pesky piles of papers that you have on your countertops and/or desk. These are papers that are too important to put too far out of sight, but they have no 'real place' to be filed so you just keep moving them around. You handle them too much and then you can't remember where you put them.
That's what we will be dealing with in building a Home Management Binder!

Spend some time gathering:

(1)important receipts, birth announcements (needing a gift), wedding invitations, REBATES (yuck, I am always losing those), or kids papers that need to be signed and returned to preschool/school.

(2)Find those loose business cards that tell you the name and number of the guy who cleans the gutters or sprays the lawn. You may have 'pending' cards of a potential hairstylist, chiropractor or nail salon that you want to hang onto.

(3)Then there are the receipts of returned items that you need to hang onto until you receive credit on your account.

(4)Gift cards

(5)Magazine subscription renewal that need to be sent in...someday

(6)Important numbers the baby sitter may need in case of an emergency

Are you getting the picture of what the Home Management Binder is for? I had a modified version when my kids were younger. These miscellaneous piles were put in this binder so I always knew where to look first. It took alittle time to get used to it, but then it became my master planner.

What my planner did not include were papers that already had a system:
(1)Bills to be paid
(2)Coupons for groceries
(3)Menus
I felt there were too many of these for this planner...but again, this planner is for customization, so anything goes that will work for you!

Come back tomorrow to find out what to do next!