How to Create a Home Management Binder – Plus, FREE Downloable Templates

September 22, 2020 2 Comments

Category: Home Life, Organization
Tags: Home Organization, Home binder, Organization

Owning a home takes work – cleaning, maintenance and the repairs can feel never-ending! It’s hard to keep up with all the household to-dos especially when managing kids, work, and just life (!!) so I created a home binder to stay organized. I think what makes this binder especially helpful is that everything you need is in one place so you can always reference back, if needed.

Before we dive in, let me just say that this blog post has been in the works forever (and my most requested blog topic perhaps of all time lol) so thanks for hanging tight on this one. I spent time creating templates for you all that you can easily download and make your own! (These are at the end of the blog)

Note: I will be the first person to admit that this binder may have gaps and need some revisions (your suggestions/feedback for enhancements would be appreciated!) but I’ve slowly tweaked it over the years to include everything I need to manage our home.

So let’s get into it…

What’s a home binder?

Simply put – A binder that houses all of the information needed to run your household smoothly.

I’ve divided my home binder into the following categories.

• Contacts
• Calendar
• Contracts
• Receipts
• To Do Lists
• Important docs
• Miscellaneous

Contacts

Include the contact info of all your close family members, doctors, schools, home repair and maintenance people all in one place for easy reference! I add this to our binder, but also keep this on our fridge so babysitters, grandparents or whoever can easily reference it when needed.

I split “contacts” into the following categories:

• Home maintenance – Organized by Cleaning, Repair and Maintenance
• Medical care – Kids’ doctors, Adult doctors, Specialists, Dentists etc
• Kids’ care – School, sifters, activities
• Pet care – Vet, Groomer, Walker etc.

*I keep the “Contacts” list on my computer and continuously update it as we have new contacts. I only re-print the document annually. 

Schedule

It’s hard to keep up with all of your household responsibilities but it helps when you write down everything that needs to be done and then identify how often they need to be serviced. You can then easily reference it at the beginning of every month to see what needs to be tackled each month. Here’s how to get started:

• Home Maintenance Plan Schedule – Write out all your household responsibilities. I divided them into: monthly, quarterly, 2x a year and 1x a year. I then split each of these categories into Home and then Personal / Business. In yellow, I indicate which months they should be completed based on their needs / frequency

• Cleaning schedule – We have our home cleaned weekly, but about a year or two ago I decided that many specific parts of our home were being missed. So, I created this monthly calendar that includes specific “deep cleaning” sections for our housekeeper to focus on each month so nothing falls thorough the cracks.

Contracts / Estimates

With so many projects and home maintenance to-dos, I feel like I am always getting estimates and invoices so I need to house them somewhere.

• Add in any agreements, proposals or contracts for home: Painter, Landscaper, Insurance, etc. It’s nice to be able to reference back to this once you get an invoice!

Receipts

• Any time you have work done on your house, keep your receipt so you can remember when someone came and how much they charged.
• You can even write notes about whether they did a good job, who specifically you liked working with etc. This always helps for the next time you need the same repair or want to compare pricing!

To-Do Lists

• I have a general house to-do list which I write on my To Do Templates. (I have 3 design versions of this To Do Template which you can access here)

Important Docs

• Important dates to keep in mind – birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions you want to remember and see at a glance on one page (this helps when I buy cards in bulk)

• Copies of insurance cards, license / passports
• Passwords

Miscellaneous

• Notes that you want to write down – names of paint colors, grocery staples/lists, odds and ends, etc.

Well, there you have it! Feeling overwhelmed? Inspired? The key is to start with building the actual binder (list of what you need is below) and then getting started on filling in the templates with your own information and contacts etc. I have one excel document on my computer that houses everything in this home binder and I simply use tabs excel to keep it all separate but together. I update as I go and print out new content when necessary.

Build Your Own Home Binder

Here’s what you need to get started:

• Binder – This 3″ Heavy Duty Binder is the perfect size to house all of the items needed

• Dividers – I bought this pack of 100 dividers which is such a steal! I use them for this binder and others for work / medical / financial etc. These are clean and modern and a fraction of the price of the ones from Container Store. 

• Label maker – I love this label maker (which includes the tape needed) that I use all the time! I printed out labels for every section of the binder so I can easily organize all the content inside.

• 3 Ring Hole Puncher

• Heavier paper for printing (optional) – I personally prefer these important documents to be on card stock paper so they don’t get wrinkled / have more substance. This Neenah Bright White Cardstock is 65 lb weight so it’s heavier than standard paper but can be used in at at-home printer.

• Laminator (optional) – Since I reference back to these calendars, lists and important documents so many times, I like to laminate them to make sure they in good condition. This laminator is super easy to use and laminated in just minutes!

• Computer with access to Excel to download the templates and a printer.

Templates are below for you to customize and make your own! Happy organizing 🙂

• Maintenance Schedule Template (FREE)
• Cleaning Schedule Template (FREE)
• Important Dates Calendar Template (FREE)
• TO DO List Templates