Create a Homemaking Binder (with Free Printables)
A homemaking binder is a great help for busy homemakers. Here are some ideas for creating your own!
What is a Home Binder?
A home management binder is an easy way to stay organized. It’s a central place to keep all of those important papers and ideas (things like schedules, menus, and cleaning routines).
All of these pieces of paper are what help keep your home running smoothly. And a homemaking binder is my favorite way to corral all of those papers.
When I make a new schedule or menu, I file it in my homemaking binder to keep it from getting lost.
How to Make a Home Binder
I’ve written about my homemaking binder before , and one of the questions I’ve been asked is how to put together a home management binder.
First, you’ll need to decide what would be most helpful for you to include in your binder.
Would you like to keep things very simple, with just a place for meal plans and budget pages?
Or would it be more helpful to keep everything pertaining to your home?
Your home management binder can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it! However, I would highly recommend not adding too much to it.
Years ago, when I made my very first homemaking binder, I got excited and added way too many things.
In addition to homemaking categories, I also had motherhood and homeschooling sections. And I had a hospitality section.
I also included inspiring homemaking quotes, photos of my children, and recipes.
I ended up needing a huge 3″ thick binder, and it turned into something I never used. It was just too much, and the binder was too big.
I’ve found it works better to have a binder just for basic homemaking topics, and then make a separate binder for other subjects.
So, while what you put in your homemaking binder is completely up to you, I’d recommend keeping it fairly simple if you actually hope to use it regularly.
Watch the Video
What Should Be in a Home Management Binder?
As I mentioned above, there are many options for what you might want to include in your home management binder.
The key is to make it useful for you, and that will probably look different for all of us.
To give you some ideas, here are a few categories you might want to include in your binder:
- Schedules and Routines (Keeping these in your binder will help you get back on track when you find yourself at a loss for what to do when.)
- Chores and Cleaning Schedules (I like to keep a list of my cleaning chores and the days when I plan to do them. You could also keep chore lists for kids in this section.)
- Finances (This is a great place to keep budgeting forms and financial information.)
- Meal Planning (Keep a list of family favorite meals and your current meal plan here.)
- List of Goals
- Projects (This could be personal projects or home projects. This is a great place to keep track of those.)
- Contacts List
Beyond these suggestions, you could also have sections for family, holidays, hospitality ideas, or anything else that might be useful to you.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure here.
What’s in My Homemaking Binder
You can include so many things inside your homemaking binder, but I prefer to keep mine simple.
- Schedules
- Cleaning
- Menu
- Budget
- Goals
- Projects
- Contacts
With these seven sections, I find that I’m able to keep things orderly and useful in my homemaking binder.
I can always use my simple home management binder to look at my current schedule, make a meal plan, or look up budgets or project ideas.
For daily planning, I’ve used this planner for the past four years. I use the planner in addition to my home binder.
This works out well for me, because I have a two-part planning system.
First, I do all my planning for the coming week with both my planner and my homemaking binder before me.
I use my binder to do my weekly planning. I refer to my cleaning list, master meals list, and goals sheet in my binder.
After I’ve completed my weekly plan and my meal planning, I transfer it all to my daily planner.
I write all my daily things in my planner. Things like daily goals, appointments, and most important to-dos.
My planner also has a place to include meals for the week, so I record those there, too.
Free Printable Home Management Binder
If you’d like a quick and easy way to make your own homemaking binder, I have some free printable homemaking binder pages for you!
You can get these pages by filling out the form above, or the one at the end of the post.
My camera didn’t do these pages justice, as they’re not really a bright red, but more of a burgundy with some navy blue accents.
Here’s what’s included in this printable planner.
It has a Yearly Goals page, to list goals for the year:
And there’s also a Yearly Overview page, to help you see what’s on the agenda for each month of the year:
And, there’s a Monthly Calendar Page, which you can print and fill out for each month:
Then there are two Weekly Planning pages for Monday through Sunday:
And, a Weekly Meal Planner page to help you plan out your weekly meals:
For your financial/budget tab, there’s a Monthly Bills page:
And finally, there’s a simple Notes page, where you can write or record whatever would be most useful to you:
Ready-Made Homemaking Binder
Affiliate links included below. Read my disclosure here.
If creating your own home management binder seems too difficult or time-consuming, you might be interested in one of these Bloom Binders on Amazon.
Or, you can fill out the form below to get my free printable homemaking planner emailed to you!
This free planner printable contains 13 pages of printables you can use to create your own home management binder!
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This post contains affiliate links. Read my disclosure here. Sharing here.
Great planner! I love planning out my goals for the month!
Thank you, Amy!
Great printables! I recently put together a homemaking binder, and it has made such a difference! Thanks for sharing at Friday Favorites. I’m featuring you this week.
Thank you, Jerri! And thanks so much for the feature!
What a nice way to keep organized! Thanks for sharing your printables with us at The Blogger’s Pit Stop!
Thank you, Roseann!
Such a great way to keep on track and organize week to week. Pinned! Visiting from Friday Favorites.
Thank you, Allyson!
Having a homemaking binder is such a great idea! It’s less overwhelming to have everything in one place with easy access.
Thank you, Michelle! I agree, I love mine!
Joy – you have such pretty handwrite and it fits so nice in those little boxes.. I write so big, I would need double the size boxes… that and my eyesight isn’t what it used to be. Oh and you are super organized! I used to be, or so I thought… maybe I was just kidding myself, because, I am but not so much anymore LOL we are neighbors at #LiveLifeWell today – this is the second post of yours I got to read and I just love your stuff.
I would be delighted if you would consider linking up with me too:
PS.. if you are looking for another place to link to on Thursday’s I would love if you would consider joining my new linkup #TuneInThursday – it opens Thursday 3am PST and runs through Sunday night. you can find it at debbiekitterman.com/blog (Please feel free to delete the link if you think it inappropriate).
Thanks, Debbie! And thanks for the invitation. 🙂
Your homemaking binder shows that it was well thought out when you created it. I have a binder with similar sections, but I have my budgeting in a separate binder. Ideally, I would have it all together, but my homemaking binder ended up to be bigger once I added in my Christmas list and contact list.
Thanks, Michelle!
Thanks for sharing this great idea at Booknificent Thursday on Mommynificent.com!
Tina
Thanks for hosting, Tina!
I have a recipe, and meal planning binder but, love this idea. Pinned and sharing. Thanks for sharing at the inspiration spotlight party @DearCreatives See you again soon.
Thank you, Theresa!
I love home organization and I can’t believe I haven’t thought of putting it all in a binder. I could add in my commonly used recipes as well. Emily Ley products are beautiful.
Yes, recipes are great in the binder also!
I love the idea of a homemaking binder. I keep both the cleaning schedule and the menu plan (and grocery list) on our fridge. I love the idea of keeping them better organized like in a binder but am so afraid that if they’re not in sight I might forget to use them. I’ll have to give it a try. Pinned.
I understand. I also keep a menu plan and grocery list on the fridge. I need to be able to see those! 🙂
Ok, I’m inspired! I used to have a homemaking binder and really loved it. Not sure what happened to it. (Yikes!) Time to create another one and get more organized!! Visiting from #LiveLifeWell
So glad it was inspiring, Carri! Thanks for visiting today!
This is such a great resource! Thank you so much for sharing this and for linking up @LiveLifeWell!!
Blessings,
Amy
Thank you, Amy!
What a delicious set of homemaking printables! Thank you for sharing this resource on the Art of Home-Making Mondays Joy! 🙂
I know, aren't they lovely! Thanks so much for stopping by, JES!
Really nice forms. I do a daily docket every day and that is my favorite.
I agree about the daily docket—so helpful!