Making a Household Planner / Organizer

Updated April 08, 2007

Sometimes it's called a household organizer, a household binder, a household notebook, a household information book, a home file book, a home organizer, a home notebook, and a ton of other names. In my home, we call it "the book" (and I use a variety of names for it throughout this site). No matter what you call it, it's a must-have item in every organized home.

A home organizer is just like a personal organizer that you carry around with your but acts as a central information center for all members of your home. It simply a place to keep track of all the important household events, schedules, and information that everyone in the home should know about.

Supplied and Procedures

Check out, Putting Your Organizer Together for a list of materials and what to do with them.

Know What to Leave Out

Check out, What You Should NOT Put in Your Organizer for more on this.

Sections

Every person sets up their notebook differently, but there are a few must have sections:

• Emergency Information (should always be first in the book)
• Individual Information (should always be second if you have children or pets that may require a sitter)
• Calendars and Schedules (includes your active "to do" lists and menu planning)
• Phone Numbers and Addresses
• Master Lists

Other possible sections (depending on your circumstances) may include:

• Sitter Information
• Phone Messages
• Greeting Card / Thank You Card Lists
• Logs (borrowed items, loaned items, library books and rentals to return)
• Chore and Allowance Charts (for children)
• Shopping (shopping lists, coupons, rebates, price lists)
• Inventories (kitchen inventory, supply closet inventory, books, videos, music library)
• Finances (Budget, Expense and Income Tracking)
• Projects (upcoming parties, hobbies, upcoming trips)
• Health logs (food log, exercise log, well-child doctor visit schedules)
• Computer information (for when you need to call tech support because you're computer died)

Section Tips

Be Logical: Just make sure that you set up your sections in a logical way, so other family members won't have to fumble through the notebook to find what they needs. It's best to put frequently used and important sections closer to the front, so they can be found quickly.

Group Things Together: Don't try to make a section for every little thing. For example, I've seen people make one section for "daily chores," one section for "weekly chores," one section for "monthly chores," and so on. It would be more logical to simply place each of those lists under the master list section for reference then schedule them in your calendar section as needed.

The Fewer Pages the Better: It is also best to try to combine everything together on a page that you will look at daily, like your daily or weekly planning page in your calendar section. I've seen some people set up one calendar for menus, one calendar for appointments, one calendar for events (like birthdays and anniversaries), one page for the current "to do" list, and so on. With such a method, you would be flipping through pages all day. Instead, get it all onto one planning page (either a weekly planning page or a daily planning page), so you can open your book to a single page and instantly see everything that is going on and must be done.