Home Management System Part 1

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Home Management System

What is it?  It is a binder that contains all your important information and schedules to make your house run a little bit smoother. It is not a tiny dayrunner. This book has everything. The box is portable and keeps you focused.

Where do I keep it? In a convenient place for quick reference.

Why do I want one? Make your life easier and more efficient. I forget why I stand up much less why I went into a room. If I don't have a written plan it's not going to get done. You might not have that problem but it will still make more efficient use of your time.

When do I use it? All the time. 

How do I make one? Follow along through this series and learn how to make your own. 

There are so many ways to make one, this one works for me. It saves so me so much time because I don’t have to run around looking for numbers, or dates or whatever else I might need to know. I will go through each section and help you set it up. At the same time I will updating and changing mine around. If there is a section you would like to see but I don't have it listed let me know and I'll see what I can come up with for you.

When making a home management book the first thing you need to consider is what goes in the book. Here are some ideas:

Personal information page for each family member
Household cleaning schedule
Home inventory
Car maintenance schedule
Master occasions list (birthdays, anniversaries)
Gift suggestion list
Party ideas
Budget
Bills
Credit card list
Online account information
Home/Storage inventory
Grocery List
Insurance
Utilities directory
Subscriptions
Warranty information
Vehicle records
First aid kit checklist
Medical emergency directory
Pet records
Addresses
If you have children at home there are probably many more options such as: Chores, homework, sitters, etc. 

You know what your family needs are so just take a while to think about the information that you are constantly hunting down and include it in the book. Because they're expandable, household management books become as distinctive as the family that uses them.

Divide your list into Sections:
I kept my binder pretty simple with these:

Daily Schedule: Changes often but I’ll tell you how to deal with that.
Budget: Make one that works best for you.
Meal Planning: I’ll write more on this in another entry
Family Info: One section for each family member including personal and medical information.
Cleaning: Weekly, Monthly, Yearly lists
Emergency Phone Numbers: Doctor, utility, vet
Misc Lists: Christmas Card, birthday gift ideas, decorating, etc. Just lists.
Calendar: Birthdays and Holidays written in
Addresses: Written in pencil because they change
Accounts: This is where I keep all of our account numbers and how to contact the company. Utility, Auto, Home, Library
Pets: Should be written the same as other family members.

We will begin to put it together during the next installment. So after you make your lists up you will need to gather or acquire the following:
  • 3-Ring Binder (Mine is currently in a 2 ½ inch binder and I’m switching to a 5”. ) Don't get a zippered binder or you will spend the day opening and closing the book.
  • Tabbed dividers
  • Lists of birthdays and other information you decided on
  • Lined paper for more notes and lists
  • Clear plastic page protectors-Heavy duty type
  • Pocket pages
  • Large manila envelopes
  • Small sticky notes and flags
  • Zipper pencil case
  • Pencils, permanent markers, dry-erase markers and highlighters
  • Three-hole punch
  • Small Recipe box and 3x5 cards - I use colored cards and will explain this more later also. 
Don't start putting it together yet. It will get done in steps as we progress. I'm also working on getting printables up that you can modify yourself by downloading into your program. You can just print them and fill them in. (As far as the binder that I'm using goes, it's a simple green 3-ring binder that I decorated myself.)

You might want to consider creating special binders for different things you might not use daily but want to keep the information in one location.
Such as:
Party Planning
Holiday celebrations
Weddings
Anniversaries and birthdays
Lawn care and gardening
Scrapbooking ideas
Sewing ideas and printed patterns
Hobby ideas and info
Recipes (For me this one is a must to have extra and I have more than one.)

I'm afraid to hit publish! I know there is something I should be saying here but I'm missing! Leave your questions in the comments section and I will answer as soon as I can. 

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