Home Management Binder ~ Part Quatre { Fin }

If you missed the other posts about my Home Management Binder, you can find them here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

The whole idea behind a Home Management Binder is all well and good, but the there is really no point to it if you don't use it. I will admit it right here that I don't use my binder all the time, mostly because almost all of it is in my head. All the recipes, the cleaning schedules, the contact information: Yep, it's all up there in the noggin.

The things that I do use:

Our financial breakdown: Every two weeks, when Matt comes home with a paycheck, I sit down and look at our financial sheet while filling out the bank deposit. Every few months I look over my breakdowns and what money is actually in the bank accounts associated. My purpose is to make sure that no one suffix is getting too much or too little money deposited.

Cleaning Lists: I use this list when I am on cleaning spree. It helps me to keep tabs on everything that needs to be done in a room before I can say it's clean; I feel like I get something accomplished when I can cross it off. It also helps when I have someone (our neighbor's daughter or a friend) in to help me do deep cleaning: I'm able to put the list on the counter and not have to constantly answer the "what comes next" question.

Triplet Schedule: This one sits on the counter top at all times. Every diaper and every bottle is marked on there, along with how much they ate and their weights (if I weighed them). I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, because if they don't hit their eating goals for the day I kind of freak out. Overall though it is helpful to be able to see, at a glance, what's going on and what comes next.

As for the things I don't use on a regular basis, such as emergency contacts and calendars, they do come in handy. The contacts and medical information are readily available if someone is here babysitting and something happens or they have a question, they can look right at the binder and know who they need to contact or any pertinent information about each of the kids.

Our calendar is helpful because I can scribble things down in there before I get them on the wall calendar, or if things are months in advance (such as the babies' appointment in June). The meal calendar is helpful, but honestly, I have yet to sit down and fill one of these out, simply because we're eating a lot of freezer meals right now or things people have dropped off (we used to do this though).

There you have it folks! My Home Management Binder in a nutshell. It's still a work in progress, but that is how it should be. The point of the binder is to be a help, not something that doesn't change or address your current needs. Go for it! See if it's something that will help you. If you do a post about it, please, let me know. I'd love to check it out!