At Home with GCH – Household Binder, Part 2

Last week, I gave you a tour of my household binder. (If you missed it, just click HERE.) This week, I’m giving you another peek into my binder, and am sharing my daily cleaning routine. Let’s get started!

I want to share a secret with you. It is life-changing, and is what has helped me more than anything else in keeping a clean home. FlyLady. If you have never heard of the FlyLady before, do yourself a favor and get acquainted. Just click on “Get Started” at the top of the FlyLady’s page. (By the way, making a household binder is one of the steps to get started! She calls it a “control journal”.) You will see on my daily routines, that one of the first things I do in the morning is check the Launch Pad. This is the foundation of my whole system. Another wonderful tool that has been valuable to our family is Cozi. You may have heard of it. It is a very popular web-based calendar and organizer. We’ve been using it for a long time, and last year, we switched to FlyLady’s Cozi. (They partnered up! Genius!) So between FlyLady’s Cozi (there’s an app!) and my household binder, even the most domestically challenged person can get their house clean and organized!

Let’s take a look at my daily cleaning routines.

You’ll notice that each day is dedicated to a certain set of tasks…

Monday: Zone Cleaning, Menu & Blog Day 

Tuesday: About Town Day

Wednesday: Just the Basics Day

Thursday: Weekly Home Blessing Day

Friday: Paperwork & Clean Out Day

Saturdays & Sundays are my days to relax, so I only do the basics – cooking, cleaning up after meals, loading the dishwasher, etc.

If you click on the picture above (then click on the one that pops up) you will see what I do every Wednesday. Don’t let the amount of the words on the page overwhelm you! I have almost everything I do in a day on these charts. I am not a slave to my house. 😉 In fact, I find plenty of time in the day for hobbies, catching up with my friends, watching a show on television, playing games with my family, etc. The chart just lays everything out for me and keeps me on task. And should I get sick, my girls can look in my binder and see what needs to be done any given day!

Let’s take a closer look at Wednesday.

You’ll see that after I’m dressed and have my daughter fed and off to school, I check my binder, and then I check  FlyLady’s Launch Pad. The Launch Pad tells me what “zone” I’m cleaning that week (this week it is the master bedroom) and it also gives me a “mission.” For example, this Wednesday’s mission is to dust off the tops of the door jambs and windows. Easy peasy! So on Wednesday mornings, I do my everyday tasks like laundry & dishes, and then after lunch I get my cleaning done.

To see each day’s detailed list, click HERE.

And as promised, here’s another peek into my binder:

On the left is “My Monthly Bill Planner” from the “Finances” section of my binder. In the left column, I write down everything that is due each month. Then in the boxes, I write down what day each bill is due (if it’s always on the same day) and simply check it off once it’s been paid. If the payment is the same every month, I also write that in the left column.

In the middle is a picture of my beautiful daughter, Gabriella. I made a cute printable for each family member and slipped each one into a sheet protector. These act as the dividers in our “Family” section. Behind each person’s picture is important information that pertains to them. So for Gabbie, her medical, school, and cheerleading information is in her own dedicated section of the binder. This makes life so much easier!

On the right is my “Weekly Menu Planner” from the “Menu Planning” section of my binder. I do meal planning on Mondays, and each day’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner is written down on this chart. There’s a section for snacks on the far right of the chart, but I don’t police what everyone munches on when they want a snack. I simply write a variety of things at the top that I need to plan on having in the pantry.

That wraps up our household binder. I know some of you have started making yours, and others are updating theirs. I’m so glad this has been a help! It’s also fun to see what others have done with theirs as it may give us new ideas!

I’ve really enjoyed the comments that you’ve been emailing me! If you have any questions, or would like to know how I manage something in particular that hasn’t been covered, just ask away in the comments below, or send me an email.

You’re welcome to share a picture of your binder with me as well!

Love & Blessings,

Shandy

Be sure to visit Shandy’s personal blog Aprons ‘n Pearls for crafts, recipes, homekeeping tips & more!

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If you would to send a private email to Shandy in regards to this blog, please email her at Shandy@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com

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