Recently, my significant other asked me about my household notebook. He didn’t understand the value or reasoning behind it. Well, why not – his organizational methods included plastering a bulletin board with all important information.
So I explained to him, in great length, why the household notebook is such a valuable tool. I’ve had mine now for about two years and love it. I’ve never been more organized and up to date on things.
The household notebook goes with being organized, but it also is a very frugal way to live. It helps to contain everything you need in one place so you aren’t constantly looking for it, you aren’t having to replace forms and documents, and it has the convenience of being the size of a binder.
Before I could go into detail, I needed to show him what it looked like. So I drug out my big 1 1/2” binder and plopped it in front of him. I showed him the dividers, and how the notebook was divided. I showed him what types of files I had in each section, and why. I showed him how it has helped, and how much more organized it feels.
And you know what? That night, he went and purchased a big 3” binder so we could have a household notebook for our family of seven.
It doesn’t take much to convince someone when they see the binder, why it’s so valuable. But until they see it, most will resist the idea and not even consider how it would help.
Earlier I wrote an article – The Household Notebook – Explained. The article broke the notebook down into categories and explained what types of things went in each of my categories. I don’t use all the categories that I’ve seen and read about. But I do use a lot of them.
In addition to these categories:
- Calendar
- Family
- Home Management
- Meals
- School
- Phone Numbers
- Financial
- Legal
- Health
- Holidays
- Pets
- Misc.
- Employment
I’ve also seen categories for the following:
- Travel and Activities
- Meals and Menus
- Health and Fitness
- Weight Loss
- Budget
- Schedules
- Inventory
- Cleaning and Chore Charts
- Insurance
- Craft Organization
and honestly, just about anything else you can think of.
This binder is what you make of it. Your household notebook becomes the central information spot in your home for the entire family. You create new categories, take categories away, replace pages periodically and update information.
There is no right or wrong way to actually use a household notebook. But the money it will save and the organization that you feel, is amazing.
Watch my blog for more great articles on the household notebook, coming soon!
Related Articles:
Household Notebooks – Explained
Household Notebooks – Getting Started
Household Notebooks – Further Explained