Family Binder...

I'm so excited!  I've found a ton of blogs that I just love to follow.  If I just had more time!  There are so many awesome creative people out there...it's INSANE!  Thanks to all of you sharing your wonderful ideas and a special thanks to all of you who are hosting link parties...LOVE them!   So on Monday I ranted about how much I enjoy my home binder and I know there are a bazillion blogs that have shared their binder but I thought I'd show you how I did mine.  I basically took everyone else's ideas and customized them to what I needed!  I must say it's very simple and nothing fancy but it works for me!  I'm sure I'll do some document redesigning once all my other projects are done {if that ever happens}.  So I separated my binder in the following sections;

1. Daily to do list
2. Weekly overview of chores (each day)
3. Cleaning checklist
4. Menu planning/Lunch planning on one side and my grocery list on the other
5. My 52 weeks of cleaning chart
6. Monthly Calendars with all events (I insert the kiddos school reminders in here)
7. Weight Loss/Fitness Tracking
8. Vacation Planning {Which I must say is my absolute FAVORITE)} :)
9. Project Checklist

 

Again, it's amazing the feeling I have doing these lists and then having the joy of crossing things off as I go...I don't know why but it just makes the accomplishments real.  I'm really a visual person, that's all!

As you can see there are a lot of sections that have to do with cleaning...I DO love to have a clean house.  There's just something about walking around in crumbs and dirt that doesn't jive with me :) Having things laminated does give me a little of a happy tingly feeling!  I'm all about recycling, composting and trying to do things using "greener" methods.  I have a separate binder for my coupons which I love.  Having it all in one binder was just a little much for me.  I went on amazon and found these perfect coupon holders to put in the binder I found at Big Lots:

It's so much easier now that I have these to organize everything!  I have yet to find a coupon that doesn't fit!  I separated by sections: Dairy, Meats, Condiments, Snacks, and Household good.  I'll have to add a picture of the binder later...you'll never guess what print is on it....ZEBRA! Not sure if I'm going over board with the zebra, but for right now I'm enjoying it :) To maximize my savings, I even have a spreadsheet with items I tend to purchase on a weekly basis to compare what the weekly sales have to offer.  Again, I may be going overboard, but for now I am loving the savings!  I must admit that I'm new to the couponing world so I still have much to learn.  I can't believe I use to think "$0.50 coupon...what the heck am I gonna do with that!"...now I'm saving over $15-20 a week just with coupons!  What an idiot I was all those years, giving stores my hard earned money to now realize I can keep some of it in my pocket!  They say "live and learn"...this to me is more like "burn money and learn"!!!  Oh well...water under the bridge, but I wised up and am now on the wagon :)  

Wishing you all a wonderful Thursday :)