Home Management Binder

This is my first blog, so bear with me :)

As a stay-at home-mom, I have a lot of responsibilities to help me better manage my time (& keep my sanity) I use a Home Management Binder.

I found having a Home Management Binder (HMB for short) is very useful. It helps me remember all my "to-do's", appointments, phone numbers (having children I have experienced the "Mommy look I turned your phone into a boat! See?") so a paper back-up is nice to have. My HMB is still a work in progress, so please bear with me. Also I have "mini-HMB's" that I will also discuss.

My Master HMB:
It has my EVERYTHING & it is pretty bulky (Big 3-inch Binder). It has dividers to help me find everything easily.

1. Phone Numbers - every number I need. From friends & family, to Dr's (especially, my daughters specialists), therapists (again for my daughter), OAG (child support), even my lawyer's phone number. I have it in a chart with 4 columns; one for the contacts Name, one for the Phone Number, another for their Address, and another for their e-mail address (very useful).
2. Family - a copy of everyone's SSN, birth certificate, my divorce decree, my marriage certificate, and any other super important family documents.
3. School - a copy of school schedules/ homeschool schedule on a weekly basis. Home school sites. My college information
4. Home Management - Chore List! Daily  Chores, weekly chores, monthly chores. Home made cleaners list
5. Meals & Menus - Past weekly menu list (I have another smaller one dedicated to the kitchen)
6. Money & Finance - Bill list, Bank Statements, Important receipts (the ones that you would be in a bad situation if you couldn't find it)
7. Health & Wellness - Medication dosage charts, health insurance information.
8. Calender - Year-at-a-Glance, Monthly. Where my family's important dates are all written down so I don't forget.

Quick/Condensed HMB
Some sections were cut out because I don't need it everyday, but other than that it is very similar to my Master HMB, but must skinner (1-inch). This is the one I use daily. At the end of the month, it's contents get dumped into my Master HMB & I start over the next month (mainly from 2nd & 4th sections).

1. Contacts - same as above
2. Calender - Current Month & current week ONLY
3. Medical - Health chart per family member (Name, SSN, Date of Birth, Insurance provider, Insurance Number, Emergency Contact, Emergency Contact's Number, Medical History which includes past surgeries & date, Medications w/ Dosage Prescribing Dr  Date prescribed & comments about medicine, Medication allergies w/ date discovered about allergy & comments, Other allergies w/ reactions & medication usually taken for it, And Other diagnoses w/ Diagnosing Dr Date diagnosed Resolved or not Treatment & Comments). It's a lot, I know. But when formated (it can be done easily on a home computer w/o internet connection) it is about 2 pages worth of info but well worth it. And current insurance cards.
4. Money & finance - Bills for the month. (it's nice to line up what bills to pay w/ each payday so things don't feel so overwhelming

Medical Management Binders

This one is mainly for my daughter. She is disabled & has a TON of medical information. Six months worth of medical documents = a whole 3 inch binder by itself! So I keep her bare necessities in my other two binders, but the bulk of her information is in here. I take it with me whenever she goes to see her specialists, or an ER visit, or even to her Pedi. Not all sections will apply to every child, feel free to modify if you want to make one too :)

1. Personal Information - Health Chart (see above). Summary of birth (or disability).
2. Important Phone Numbers and Addresses - Parents Information ( good to have in the contacts in case you leave the binder w/ a babysitter), Dr's, specialists, therapists, Pediatrician
3. Care Plan & Schedule - If there is a long medication list (my daughter was on 6 different ones, some repeatedly throughout the day), here is a good place to put it! I put a "daily calender" (listing all the hours of the day) and filled in what was going on each hour;wake-up time, eating times, medication (if so, which one & what amount), therapy (if so, with which therapist & what was/will be focused on), rest time/quiet time, bath time, story time, bedtime.
4. Therapies & Developmental progress - therapists & goals & progress
5. Calender- write down all appointments, also use to match up to Condensed HMB's calender 
6. Health history & Evaluation - More in depth version of the health chart. Copies of hospital paperwork & from visits with specialists.
7. Important Documents - Immunization cards, information on how to use medical equipment & care for Mic-Key button & central-line (my daughter had a feeding pump & a central line & a Mic-Key button) 
8. List of Specially Trained "Respite" Babysitters - good babysitters (or if you have a special needs child, babysitters who are also trained to know administer medications properly/work machines properly)
9. Useful Articles/Information - related Documents to child's disability, or health articles

Kitchen Binder

I haven't gotten this one completed yet, but here is the basic outline that I'm looking at:

1. Current weekly menu - Breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner. For Monday thru Sunday. i might through in recipes for the meals for the current week in here too
2. Crock pot recipes - It's summer time & HOT.  The crock pot makes my kitchen less hot than the stove & oven.
3. Casseroles - I love making casseroles. So this section should get pretty full by itself too.
4. Dinner - Other dinner ideas that don't fit into the previous two sections
5. Dessert - I love dessert. Need i say more?
6. To try - This section is for all those yummy looking dishes that i see in magazines, but have yet to try. Once I try them (& if my family likes them) then they will make their way into another section. if my family decides the recipe really isn't their style, well, i tried & it can go. It's also a good motivation to get rid of those magazines that I tend to hold on too because "oh, i can't toss it yet - I haven't tried the recipe yet". So I get to keep the recipe & toss (or give away) the rest.

Well, that's pretty much it for my HMB's.

They also have a paperless version. My favorite is cozi.com.  But you can also make your own (like with Microsoft Works Processor, or OneNote.