Free Printables: Home Management Binder

Free Printables: Home Management Binder. Get your home under control with a home management binder. Tons of free home management binder printables to get you started!

One of the ways that I stay sane at home is by using a home management binder. It is a new year and we have a lot of new readers here on the blog, so I wanted to touch base with all of you on how and why I use one.

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What is a Home Management Binder?

A home management binder is a binder (or set of binders) that you use to keep your home running smoothly. Since it is a binder system, it is completely customizable for you and your family.

Different households will require different systems. If you have small kids and are a stay-at-home-mom, your binder will look much different from a working mom with teenage kids or a single person just out of college. The beauty is this binder system can work well for anyone to keep their home running smoothly.

It is both a filing system and a way to keep on top of all the tasks that are required for keeping up a home.

Related: Project Organize: Paper Clutter

How to Set Up a Home Management Binder

I will share how I have set mine up to give you some ideas, but ideally, you have to find what works for you.

I used to have a huge 2″ binder, but it was a pain to pull out and flip through, so I decided to split my larger binder into two smaller binders – one for home and one for family. A few of the categories overlap, but this is what works best for me.

Related: Setting Up a Home Management Binder

Home management binder: Home Section

I removed everything from the Events and Holidays section I used to have and moved it to the Holiday Binder I created. I had too many papers in this section and it was time to switch things up. I also switched out the finance section for a garden section.

Don’t be afraid to change things around or try something new when you see that something is no longer working for you.

At the very front of each binder, I keep an emergency contact sheet, so we can easily find important numbers when we need them.

Planning

In this section, I include papers that need to be filed temporarily and are time-sensitive but do not need to go into long-term storage. Things like flyers from work and school, school calendars, invitations, library schedules, and more.

I have a punched copy of the free school calendar that comes home at the beginning of the year. This has many important school dates on it. I also include a perpetual calendar for remembering yearly dates like birthdays and anniversaries.

Lastly, I have a set of monthly dividers to file the temporary papers mentioned above according to the month. Each week, when I am filling out my planner, I look in the current month to add any necessary dates to my planner.

Household

This is where I include everything needed to keep my home running smoothly. I have a cleaning checklist, a deep cleaning schedule, and printouts for helpful cleaning tips that I refer to often. This is also a great place to log any home maintenance you do. Each of the dividers has a pocket, so you can add receipts you may need, as well.

Meal Planning

This section includes everything needed to plan out our weekly menu, minus any recipes. It will probably come as no surprise I have a separate binder for that!

I include a grocery shopping list, weekly meal plan, monthly meal plan, family favorite recipes, and freezer and pantry inventory.

Each week, I print out a grocery shopping list and add anything to it that we have written down on our dry-erase board on the fridge. I use the sale papers to plan what I can make based on what is on sale. If I am stumped for what to make I use ideas from the family favorites list. I fill out the weekly meal plan and then order my groceries!

Walmart’s grocery pick-up has been such a time-saver. I still pick up fresh produce and meat myself from Sprouts, but not having to go into Walmart each week has saved me so much time and money. Want to try it for yourself? Save $10 on your first order.

I created a master monthly meal plan so it takes even more of the guesswork out of what to make. It helps us to rotate through meals and only eat the same thing once per month.

In the back of this section, I also save take-out menus for those nights when I don’t have time to cook.

Projects

This section is for exactly what it sounds like – home project ideas or information. I have a separate sheet of lined paper for each room of the house. I write down any projects I want to do on these sheets. This includes everything from small things like touching up paint, all the way up to big dream projects like redoing our entire bathroom.

I also have a copy of our landscape supplier’s prices, project worksheets from Home Depot and Lowes, pages with dimensions and measurements, and DIY project plans.

Garden

I love to garden and be outside. I like to keep track of what plants I have, their care and maintenance information, and any plans for the future. We also have a large vegetable garden. I rotate crops each year, so I have a map to keep track of where we plant each type of vegetable for the year. I also have informational print outs on gardening that I have printed out or found in magazines over the years.

Finance

In the past few years, I have used a separate budget notebook for all things related to our finances. I realized I needed more room to keep track of everything than I have in the home management binder.

Before I had a separate binder, this is where I kept our current month’s budget and receipts. The envelope pouch in the binder holds the receipts in case of any returns and until I have time to enter everything into Quicken. I also keep a copy of that month’s bill tracker to stay on top of bills coming in and whether or not they have been paid.

Having this type of binder makes it easy for everyone in the household to be on the same page about what is going on and what needs to be done. And if you ever have a house-sitter when you go out-of-town, you can show them your routines easily.

Home Management Binder: Family Section

• Children
• Family
• Health
• Travel (Used to Be Goals)
• Contacts

Children

This section includes the current year’s parent/student handbooks from school, a dosing chart for medicine based on weight I got from my pediatrician, and after school activity papers I need to hang on to for the season.

At the front, I include a copy of the child information sheet that includes important information about each of my children’s height, weight, etc. This can be crucial information to have in case of an emergency.

I update mine about once every year now that my kids are older, but when they were babies and toddlers I updated it every 3 months since the information changed so much. This is also a great place to add your child’s current school picture so you have it quickly available in case of an emergency.

I also include a copy of the babysitter checklist in this section. The information that doesn’t change is filled out and then I place it in a sheet protector. I fill out any specifics on the night we will be gone using a wet-erase marker.

Family

This is where I keep general family information – maps for hikes in our area, camping checklists, maps for campsites, and general information about things to do in our area. This section is basically for me to keep anything related to activities we do as a family.

Health

In this section, I keep information about our current health insurance policies, the kid’s health program at school, current prescription information sheets, and gym membership information.

Travel

Instead of my goals section (which you can learn more about below), I now have a section for travel. We have been able to take more vacations and plan more traveling as a family as the kids have gotten older. I use this section to track anything travel-related, like packing checklists, travel agent information, hotel confirmations, and ticket information.

Contacts

This is where I keep an up to date copy of our utility contacts page. This is a sheet to record the utility name, account number, and phone number. The last thing you want to do when the power goes out or your water pipes burst is to be looking through a stack of papers to find the right phone number.

In addition, I also keep a printed copy of my address book contacts I keep on my computer, in case anything ever happens to my computer. After I have updated addresses at Christmas time, I print out a new one each year.

Goals

I used to keep a section called goals in the binder. Now I am using PowerSheets Intentional Goal Planner to plan out my year. It is a separate bound planner to help you map out your best year, so I no longer have individual goal print outs to store in my binder. I have since relocated my older goal sheets to a file folder in my office.

The binders are stored on my bookshelf that is right next to my desk. This makes them easy to access and use.

I hope this has given you some ideas on how you can get organized by using a home management binder. For anything that would usually end up in a pile of papers on the counter, I like to give it a home in my binder.

I have a traditional hanging filing system for papers that need to be kept long term, but for all the papers that I refer to often, the binder system works well for me. I can also keep anyone in my family or anyone that watches my children easily informed of what needs to be done.

I have created a series of printable checklists and forms to help you get your home management binder started. Click on any of the links below to download and print. You can also see a preview of all of these printables on my 31 days of homemaking printables page.

Free Home Management Binder Printables

These downloads are for personal use only. Do not share the direct link to the .pdf/.jpg file. Please link back to the original post when sharing.

Household Management Binder Cover and Spine
Emergency Contact Sheet
2019 Calendar
Perpetual Calendar
Utility Phone Numbers
Contacts Page
Deep Cleaning Checklist
Cleaning Checklist
Room by Room Cleaning Checklist
Chore Chart
Grocery Shopping List
Weekly Meal Plan
Monthly Meal Plan
Family Favorite Recipes
Freezer and Pantry Inventory
Detailed Monthly Bill Tracker
Simple Monthly Bill Tracker
Debt Payment or Savings Tracker
Monthly Budget Worksheet
Party Planning Schedule
Guest List
Party Planner
Expense Record
Holiday Gift Tracker
Child Information
Babysitter Checklist
Medical Information
Exercise Log
Password Log
Home Management Binder Dividers

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