I'm not the most organized girl on the planet but one thing I DO have under my belt is the completion of a household organization binder or a "family binder" for our home. I put this together last year after I installed our kitchen command center, and let me tell you - it's SO handy! Here's what I put in ours and some FREE family binder printables I made just for you!
A Family Binder is a sort of "command central" spot where important papers and plans are held for the entire family. It can contain useful information that the family can easily access, emergency information, and other items like chore charts, calendars, cleaning schedules and meal plans.
It doesn't have to cost a lot of money to make a family binder. Simply pick up a three-ring binder (I like one that you can slip in a customized cover, like this one), some page dividers, some page protectors, and get to work!
What's in your family binder will be unique to you - make it work for you and your family! I'll include some links to other family's binders and some more resources at the end of this post, but here's what I've put in ours:
- customized cover page (there's a free printable for that below!)
- emergency information
- photocopies of birth certificates
- will
- meal plan
- cleaning plan
- chore charts
I don't have a calendar in our family binder because my hubby and I use Google Calendar and sync that on our phones.
Free Family Binder Printables
I designed a fun & floral set of family binder printables for my own binder, and I wanted to share them with you today so that you can use them for your binder if you'd like! CLICK HERE or on the image below to download a customizable PDF of the following documents:
- customizable cover page (you'll need to download the free Bebas Neue font if you want yours to look the same)
- emergency information pages
- meal planning page
- cleaning schedule page
- 3 chore chart pages
Here are some other ideas of things you could include in your home organization / family binder:
- school information
- house project list
- vacation checklist
- recipes
- babysitter information
Make Your Family Binder
To make your own family binder, simply print out the sheets you want to use and fill in your information. Gather all of the important documents you want to include and place them in sheet protectors if needed.
Using your page dividers, divide the binder into sections that work for you. Mine has "Emergency Info", "Meals", "Documents", "Chores" etc. Place the pages in the appropriate sections and include loose page protectors and empty page dividers for any future additions.
Place your binder in an area that's near the hub of your home for easy access. Mine is on a shelf in our command centre on the side of our fridge.
Cheers to a more organized 2016!
Want some more family binder ideas and printables? Check out Make a Family Binder from 30 Handmade Days, Household Notebook from Organized Home, and Our Home Binder from Just a Girl and Her Blog.
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John
Making a family binder is a great way to keep important documents organized in the same safe place. Too often, people have to scramble to find birth certificates or passports for themselves and their children, so having something like this to act as a command center for every important family-related document helps immensely. Thanks for sharing!
LETICIA A WATSON
Thank you so much for your beautiful templates! I have the "What's for Dinner" template in a frame behind glass so I can use a dry-erase marker to write on it. It sits in my kitchen and me and my family love it! Thank you!!