Organizing the Kostyu Household

I’m not sure if I have gone overboard on binders for organization, but considering the filing cabinet idea doesn’t work well I thought I’d give it a try!

My frugal tips for making any type of organization binder:

• Buy the larger binders, try to find them at garage sales, thrift stores, schools sales, etc.  Chances are good that if you start off in a small binder, you’ll have to upgrade another time or two as it grows.  It’ll be cheaper to buy a bigger one from the start, than several smaller ones J  If you already have a binder that you aren’t using at home, by all means use it if it’s big enough to get you started so you don’t have to go out and buy one.
• Use scrap paper when possible.  I own a publishing business and admittedly have occasional “oops” prints where something doesn’t print up the way I need it to, leaving me with a stack of paper that has been printed on one side.  My kids can only color so much and I hate throwing scrap paper away… So I just print on the other side and it’s like brand new, nice quality paper (and I didn’t have to buy new paper).
• If you choose to use page protectors, chances are good you’ll be better off buying in bulk and don’t’ buy name brand.  Try shopping at a bulk store like Sam’s Club, or buy an off-brand box such as Staples.  Light or medium duty should work just fine!
• Avoid printing off tons of full-color, full-size images if you are trying to conserve printer ink.  It may be cheaper to take the file to a printing store and have them print it off for you.
• Making my personal organization stuff “pretty” wasn’t a high priority, so I didn’t go out and buy brand new and colorful index dividers.  I used what I had, and then made the rest!  I used plain file folders (not the hanging type).  For my master cookbook, I cut the side that had the actual tab and made the cut one fold-line towards the other side so the tabs stuck beyond the paper between them.  For the household notebook, I used the other side (now too narrow to be used full size) and cut it into thirds the long way, and then cut the long side down to cut in the binder with a little excess for a tab.  Then using scissors, I cut about ¼ in. and made actual tabs.  I used my hole puncher, punched holes and placed them in my binder.  Three tabs fit on the top two rings and then for the last 3 lower tabs (all cut out so you can see what each one says) fit on the middle and lower ring.  I had these on hand, was not using them, and they are sturdy enough to be used as index dividers.  You can also take regular plain paper, print out your divider theme (routines, for example) and use paper scraps and tape to make the actual tab. Label it first, then tape it to the edge of the paper where you want the tab.

My Household Notebook:

Much of my inspiration came from Home Management Binder University and from running a google search on “household notebook”  There are a lot of great sites out there, but Candy’s site (linked above) has not only tons of information and ideas on her blog, but also a e-book you can download on the topic and she has links to many other household management binders online on her blog that you can visit and get inspiration from also.  Thanks so much Candy!  Her blog is also such an inspiration for those living the Christian life.

My cover is made using clipart I found online.  I consider myself “the help meet at home” so that titles the cover.  Then I have Titus 2:4-5 as my household notebook “theme verse” and also Galatians 5:22-23 as a constant reminder of the fruits of the Spirit.

I have a pen/pencil organizer at the front, a list of emergency contact numbers from a Control Journal, (which still needs to be filled out), a page of pictures from my wedding, then my first tab.  My notebook is divided into the following tabs:

• Lists: I like keeping lists of things – movies we want to see, books we want to read, things we’d like to pay off with our income tax return, items we’d like to buy (to remind us when we want to spend our money on petty things – there is a dishwasher waiting in my future!), places we’d like to visit, things like that.  Each list is on a different piece of paper.
• Routines: I am trying to develop a daily routine that I can follow through each day.  Currently I am developing a weekly routine, with specific things I do each day of the week.  I also have pages for my morning, afternoon, schooling, evening and before bed routine.  For example, my schooling schedule goes a little like this (in bullet form): open with prayer, begin with bible (read, memory verses, books, activities, discussion), work on reading, work on math through games and counting, sign language, songs/dance/rhymes/fingerplays, flannel board stories/time to play on their own with the flannelboard, coloring/painting/art, worksheets/workbook if interested, other games and activities including matching, threading, play-doh, beans/rocks, ABC scrapbook, Truck book, cutting, tracing, etc, etc.
• Calendar: This starts out with a yearly calendar downloaded from A Virtuous Woman in which I have birthdays and anniversaries listed.  Then I have 12 month tabs where I put a monthly calendar behind each one, pamphlets/brochures/etc for places we’ll be going that month, a list of reminders for the month, etc.
• Phone Numbers: I have a form I created for phone numbers, with every other listing highlighted to make it easier to read.  I made a text box in the top right corner so I can write in what letter of the alphabet the page is for, so if one page is full I can easily just print out a single sheet and label it with the correct letter.
• Kids – a sheet for babysitters, activity reminders (if I’m having a day where we’re all bored and I can’t think of anything to do, I can refer here to all of the toys we have, activities the kids like, activities I’d like to do, etc.)
• Inspiration – lots of inspirational articles I’ve printed out on the role of a Christian woman, wife and mother.
• Cleaning – cleaning lists for each room, monthly/quarterly/yearly to do’s, cleaning tips and recipes
• Finances – when bills are due, complete contact information for each bill, how much we owe, what the monthly payments are, our budget
• Unlabelled – I’m sure I’ll find a use for this soon.

Organizer & emergency numbers

Wedding pics and calendar