I am no longer actively blogging here at "Taking Time To Create", but I'd love for you to join me at my new blog: "Taking Time In The City". I hope to see you soon!

Showing posts with label Household Binder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Household Binder. Show all posts

Friday, February 15, 2013

The Household Binder {Part 3} Blog, Etsy, Small Business, Gifts Inventory and Memories



Well, hello there again! How was your Valentine's Day? I hope you got to spend it with those you love. We had a fun Dipping Dinner like they did over at The Gunny Sack back in August 2012. My guys love all things "sauce", so it was a hit.
Ready for the final installment of The Household Binder Series? On Tuesday I shared sections for To Do's & Calendar, Food, and Home Maintenance. On Wednesday it was the Finances, Activities, and Health & Fitness sections. Andy today? Today, we've got quite a list, but each section is fairly short. I'm going to share sections for Blog, Etsy, Gifts Inventory and Memories. Whew! We're almost done!

Let's get this party started!

Be sure to check out Part 1 if you need a list of items you'll need to put your binder together.

Blog Organization
Blog To Do's/Schedule, Ideas, and Notes



It’s the same basic layout as the regular “To Do's” Printable (in Part 1) but has some details specific to blogging. 
You can download the Blog Weekly To Do's/Schedule Printable here.

Everyone has their own method of doing things, though, so I'm also including a printable with a blank "Daily Items section. You can download the blank version here.

Here's a place for you to write down all those great blogging ideas! 
You can download the printable here.
The download is slightly different (but better!) than the one pictured above.

I also have a printable for taking Notes that you can download here. It's very similar to the one above.

Calendar
This next section involves something I am not good at when it comes to blogging...planning ahead. I'm hoping having a calendar will help me with this a little.

You can download the Blog Calendar cover sheet here.

I just printed the same calendar as I did for the Household Calendar (Part 1). Here’s the link again. 

Etsy Shop
If you have a craft blog, odds are pretty good that you have an Etsy shop too. Though, I'm just trying to get my shopping going, I thought I'd share the printables I'm going to use to help me stay organized.

Inventory, Income, Expenses, and Notes
One of the basic things I learned when getting my Business degree was that a business needs to track income and expenses. If you don't, then you don't know if you're really making any money. 

Download the Inventory, Income, Expenses and Notes Cover Sheet here.

(slightly different and better than the one pictured above)

(not pictured) 
It's important to have a place to write a quick note or two. You can just thrown in a few sheets of notebook paper or print the Notes printable. 

Download the Etsy Notes printable here.
(slightly different and better than the one pictured above)

Design Ideas
The business part is really important, but it's also important to have a place to write and sketch ideas. I just have some pieces of paper behind this cover sheet.

Download the Design Ideas cover sheet here.

Small Business Section
This would be a great place to insert a section for your small business (other than Etsy), if you have one. My husband has a small landscaping company, so I have a few items here for his business.

Gifts
Many of us try to shop for Christmas and birthdays throughout the year, but if you're like me, it's all too easy to forget what you bought  and for who. The solution? 

Create a section in your Household Binder and write it all down, of course! Now, if you have kids that can read or a husband that also uses the binder, you may have to get sneaky about this, so the surprise isn't spoiled. 

This works well to track each person's birthday, what I budgeted for them/what ideas I have, and what I actually spent and bought/made. The Christmas printable is similar but without the date column. You can find links to download all the printables for this section below:

Gifts Inventory Cover Sheet

Birthday Gifts Cover Sheet

Birthday Gift Inventory Sheet

Christmas Gifts Cover Sheet

Christmas Gift Inventory Sheet

Memories/Things To Remember
I added lots of paper in here to write down fun memories and funny things our little guy says. Kids can be so funny, and I want to remember as much as possible. If nothing else, it could be great blackmail someday!

One fun thing I wrote down recently:

"Mama, my tummy wants food."
"Does that mean you're hungry?"
"My tummy's hungry too."

Oh, how he makes me laugh!

Well, that does it, folks! We're all finished with our Household Binders. How did you do? Get it all together ok? Now for the hard part...we have to remember to use them!

If this is the first post of the Household Binder series you're reading, don't forget to check out
Part 1: To Do's & Calendar, Food, and Home Maintenance
Part 2: Finances, Activities, and Health & Fitness


___________________________________________________________________________


___________________________________________________________________________
Posted by at 11:36 AM 2 comments
Labels: , , ,

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

The Household Binder {Part 2} Finances, Activities, and Health & Fitness


Are you ready for Part 2 of the Household Binder Series? I know I am! Yesterday, I shared how I organized sections for To Do's & Calendar, Food, and Home Maintenance. I think those are probably some of the big ones for most of us.Today we're going to cover the Finances, Activities, and Health & Fitness sections. If you need a list of what you'll need to put your binder together, check out Part 1.

Let's get started!

Finances
Bill Paying

Use your own system here. I keep labels, stamps, the checkbook, etc in the pouch of the divider at the beginning of this section.


Receipts

You could have an envelope, another pouch of some sort, or a page protector here to hold receipts that need to be saved. I’m using some leftover page protectors divided into sections from my old coupon holders.

Download the Receipts cover page here.

Budget

If you have a budget that you update and fill out on paper, you can put it here. We’re working on transitioning our budget to the forms from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University (we're in the class now). If you have something like that for your budget, this is a great place for them.

Download the Budget cover sheet here.

Activities
Field Trips

List ideas for different field trips with your kids such as the library, zoo, play areas, parks. I printed a list of all the library story times in our area each week and a list of all the parks in our city. 

Download the Field Trips cover sheet here.

Dates & Family Time

You could potentially split up these categories, but I found that ideas for one sounded like fun for the other as well, so I combined them. Flying kites for example could be a fun thing to do as a family or on a date. For lots of fun date ideas check out this post from Six Sister’s Stuff; some would work great as family outings too. 

Find a list of some of the trails in your area and print it out. Our family always enjoys a good hike.

Find some fun reading list and try to complete them. The Dr Seuss-A-Thon would be a great place to start. Check with your library for other reading lists or Google it. They’re endless!

Download the Dates & Family Time cover sheet here.

Playtime  & Learn Time Ideas


These are places for me to jot down ideas that I’d really like to try during playtime and learn time with my son. I  mostly use my Pinterest boards for this, but this is where I go if something pops into my head, and I don’t want to get on the computer. I just stick a piece of notebook paper after the covers to write down little notes. 

Download the Playtime cover sheet here.

Download the Learn Time cover sheet here.

If you live in the Colorado Springs area, I’d be happy to share the area specific ideas and activities I found. Just send me an email, and I can email them to you.

Health & Fitness


I printed a bunch of exercises from my “Shape Up” board and put them in the binder. 

Another great thing for this Health & Fitness section would be the Diet & Exercise Printable I made shared about a year ago. 

Well, I think that just about does it for these sections! Tomorrow will be the final installment of the series with the Blog, Etsy, and Memories (Things to Remember) sections. Hope to see you back here then!


If this is the first post of the Household Binder series you're reading, don't forget to check out
Part 1: To Do's & Calendar, Food, and Home Maintenance
Part 3: Blog, Etsy, Small Business, Gifts Inventory and Memories



___________________________________________________________________________

Mondays: Sweet Sharing Monday |  The Girl Creative | Destination: Cutesy Monday | What's In The Gunny Sack |  Made by you Monday | Make It Yourself Monday | Mop It Up Mondays | Make The Scene Monday | Make It Pretty Monday |
Tuesdays:  Show Me What You Got  |  Tuesday Time Out  | Tasteful Tuesdays |  Too Cute Tuesday | Tuesday's Treasures |  Trendy Tuesday
Wednesdays: Super Link Party |  Show & Share | {Wow Me} Wednesday | From Dream To Reality | Create & Share | What I Whipped Up Wednesday | What We Wore & Made Wednesday | The Creative Spark Wednesdays | Milk & Cuddles | Made By Me Wednesdays | Adorned From Above
Thursday: Pin'Inspirational Thursday | Recipe Roundup | A Crafty Soiriee |Taylor House Thursday | Transformation Thursday | Hookin Up With HoH | Creative Juice Thursday | Live Laugh Linky Thursday | Link Party Thursday | Taking A Time Out Thursday | Eat Make Grow
Fridays: Delicately Constructed Fridays | Flaunt It Friday | Financial Friday Link Up  | Friday Fun Party | Friday Flair | Pity Party | Frugal Friday | Friday Favorites | Weekend Craft Soiree | Weekend Warmth | One Creative Weekend | Tasty Creations | 
Saturdays: Strut Your Stuff Saturday | Once Upon A Weekend | Sharing Saturday | Dare To Share Saturday | Craft, Create and Inspire | A Pinteresting Party | Serenity Saturday | Saturday Spotlight | Your Great Idea
Sundays: Nifty Thrifty Sunday | It's Overflowing Sunday Party |  Cooking & Crafts Party
___________________________________________________________________________
Posted by at 2:28 PM 1 comments
Labels: , , ,

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Household Binder {FREE Printables!} Part 1: To Do's, Food, & Home Maintenance

 
You've seen them around--the Family Household Binders. I've pinned them, read about them, and have been dying to put one together for quite a while now. Well, I finally did it! Now before you say, "I've seen this before," keep reading. Yes, it's a household binder like many others, but the difference here is that I'm providing the printables for FREE! Yep. Just because I like you that much!

 Let's get starting putting our binder together, shall we? Here's what you'll need:
  • At least a 1 inch binder but bigger would be better. I squeezed everything into a 1 inch but will be getting a bigger one when I have a chance.
  • Page protectors
  • Section dividers. The ones with pockets are great for this!
Today, we're going to go through the first three sections: To Do's & Calendar, Food, and Home Maintenance. Let's start with the first section, because, well, the beginning is a great place to start!

Section 1: To Do's & Calendar

To Do Section:
 
Start off the section with the To Do's Cover Sheet PDF.

I put mine in a page protector, so I can fill it in with a dry erase marker and reuse it every week.
If you'd prefer to fill in your own daily items, you can download a version with a blank Daily Items section here.


Write these items down as you think of them and then schedule them on the “Weekly To Do’s/Schedule" as you are able.

You can download the To Do's & Project Ideas sheet here.

Calendar Section:

Download and print the Calendar Cover Sheet.

It's always nice to have a calendar to reference, so I printed this one from ellinee.com. Write events, birthdays, vacations, etc on the calendar. You can also use it to schedule monthly cleaning items.

Section 2: Food
Menu & Shopping List

Download and print the Menu & Shopping List cover sheet...

 ...then print a Menu and Shopping List sheet. You could even put this in a sheet protector, so you can use it over and over. I like writing on the paper for this one, but I also printed an extra one and put it in a picture frame to use as a dry erase board. The menu goes Sunday to Saturday (not as it's pictured above). 

Click here to download a one week Menu & Shopping List.

Click here to download a two week Menu & Shopping List.

Grocery Prices Tracking
I want to try to track the prices of certain groceries at different stores. Enter the Grocery Prices Tracker. It'll be a handy reference to help me decide if it's worth going to a separate store to buy an item on sale or if I should just buy it at my favorite grocery store. Can you guess what that store is?

Download the Grocery Prices cover sheet here.

Here's the Grocery Price Comparisons sheet. There's a place to write the item name and then four columns to compare prices. Since everyone likes different stores, the columns in the downloadable version are labeled Store 1, 2, 3, and 4 and then there's a place at the bottom to designate which store is which.

Download the Grocery Price Comparisons sheet here.

Coupons
You can insert your own coupon organizing method here. There are lots of ideas out there. Right now, I’m just putting my coupons in one of the divider pockets and making a list of the coupons I actually have to refer to when I’m planning shopping trips. I also used to organize my coupons this way. I don't get too many coupons anymore though, so this method is working for now.

Download the Coupons cover sheet here. 
Section 3: Home Maintenance
I used a bunch of Martha Stewart's checklists as a starting point to create home maintenance and cleaning checklists. Some of hers were so perfect that I just printed them without making my own. I'll link to those ones below when appropriate. 

I think of these lists more as wishlists than to do lists though, because if I'm honest here, there's no way I'd get everything done on the lists and still have time to do anything else...let alone blog! But you know what? I'm okay with putting off vacuuming of light fixtures if I get to spend some time with my family or chat a little with you all. That light fixture will still be there later.

 On to section 3!

Daily Household Items
These are little cleaning items you'd like to get done everyday like running a load of laundry, doing the dishes, picking up the house...you get the idea.

You can download the Daily Household Items cover here.
My daily cleaning items look like this. You can download my list here or you can download a blank version to fill out with your own list here.

My list is in a page protector, so I can use it again and again with dry erase markers.

I stumbled on the Declutter Calendar from My Simpler Life, so I printed it and put it in the Daily Household Items section too. Yes, I did accidentally print the 2012 version. No, I don't get these items done everyday, but it's great to have if you have a few extra minutes in your day. Extra minutes you say? It happens..sometimes...maybe. Okay, rarely, but when it happens, I'll be ready!

Weekly Household Items
Download the Weekly Household Items cover here.

Like the Daily Cleaning Items list, I place this list in a page protector, so I can reuse it every week. Martha's weekly cleaning list was very detailed, but I wanted mine broken into days of the week. Not everything gets done every week, but it's a good reminder, so things don't go months without being done (dusting light fixtures for example).

You can download my Weekly Cleaning List here or your can download a blank version here to fill in with your own weekly cleaning list.

Another fun item to add to the Weekly Household Items section is the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home Challenge from Home Storage Solutions 101. Some of the items overlap with the decluttering calendar in the Daily Household Items section, but when that happens, you can take a break!

Monthly Household Items
Download the Monthly Household Items cover here.

There are always those items that need to be done but only every once in a while. Print the Monthly Cleaning Items list and place it in a sheet protector, so you can mark them off each month. I try to spread them out throughout the month, so I don't have one overwhelming day. You could also pick a weekend once a month to tackle them all. 

Seasonal Household Items
For those items that just need to be done every few months or so, I created seasonal sections. I printed these seasonal lists from Martha and have links below.

Spring/Fall Household Items:
I'm going to try to complete this list both in the Spring and the Fall
Download the Spring/Fall Household Items cover here.
You can find Martha's list for Spring Cleaning here.

Summer Household Items:
Download the Summer Household Items cover here.
You can find Martha's list to prepare your home for Summer here.

Winter Household Items:
Download the Summer Household Items cover here.
You can find Martha's list to prepare your home for Winter here.


Whew! Have you gone download crazy? Are you getting excited about this Household Binder thing? I know I'm loving it! Remember, all the printables listed above from Taking Time To Create are free and will stay free. The printables linked to the other websites are free as of the writing of this post (February, 2013). 

If you're interested in a cover page like the one at the beginning of the post...
...please let me know. Since it's such a custom cover, I'm considering making printables on an individual basis for a small fee (like a dollar or two) through my Etsy shop. I haven't decided for sure yet, though, so let me know if that's something I should do (leave a comment or email me). I'd love to be able to share the cover too!


If this is the first post of the Household Binder series you're reading, don't forget to check out
Part 2: Finances, Activities, and Health & Fitness
Part 3: Blog, Etsy, Small Business, Gifts Inventory and Memories


___________________________________________________________________________

Mondays: Sweet Sharing Monday |  The Girl Creative | Destination: Cutesy Monday | What's In The Gunny Sack |  Made by you Monday | Make It Yourself Monday | Mop It Up Mondays | Make The Scene Monday | Make It Pretty Monday |
Tuesdays:  Show Me What You Got  |  Tuesday Time Out  | Tasteful Tuesdays |  Too Cute Tuesday | Tuesday's Treasures |  Trendy Tuesday
Wednesdays: Super Link Party |  Show & Share | {Wow Me} Wednesday | From Dream To Reality | Create & Share | What I Whipped Up Wednesday | What We Wore & Made Wednesday | The Creative Spark Wednesdays | Milk & Cuddles | Made By Me Wednesdays | Adorned From Above
Thursday: Pin'Inspirational Thursday | Recipe Roundup | A Crafty Soiriee |Taylor House Thursday | Transformation Thursday | Hookin Up With HoH | Creative Juice Thursday | Live Laugh Linky Thursday | Link Party Thursday | Taking A Time Out Thursday | Eat Make Grow
Fridays: Delicately Constructed Fridays | Flaunt It Friday | Financial Friday Link Up  | Friday Fun Party | Friday Flair | Pity Party | Frugal Friday | Friday Favorites | Weekend Craft Soiree | Weekend Warmth | One Creative Weekend | Tasty Creations | 
Saturdays: Strut Your Stuff Saturday | Once Upon A Weekend | Sharing Saturday | Dare To Share Saturday | Craft, Create and Inspire | A Pinteresting Party | Serenity Saturday | Saturday Spotlight | Your Great Idea
Sundays: Nifty Thrifty Sunday | It's Overflowing Sunday Party |  Cooking & Crafts Party
___________________________________________________________________________
Posted by at 9:49 AM 8 comments
Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)