Family Organization Binder

One of the things that keeps me (and our family) most organized is our Family Organization Binder. In this 2-inch binder I store everything that our family needs in one place.

I have dividers for the following:

• Meals and Menus
• Home Management
• School and Activities
• Family
• Health
• Address and Phone Numbers
• Finance
• Emergency

Every bit of important information goes into this binder so that if we ever needed to evacuate our house, everything of importance is in this one place. It also serves as reference and storage for all of those papers from school, work, etc.

Two of my most used areas are my grocery list and weekly meal plan. My husband knows where to find the grocery list, so if he uses anything up, it goes right on the list. I have my grocery list organized by the aisles in my favorite grocery store, and most purchased items are already typed in so I just need to check them off. This saves a ton of time each week. No more slips of paper laying around.

Another area we use often is our Medical Log which keeps track of the childrens' illnesses and medications. It's all in one spot, dated, so that when we need to speak with our doctor, we have an accurate account of temperatures, medications, symptoms, dates, etc. I also never have to try and remember (or communicate with another caregiver) if I have given a medication on a certain day. Once the medication is dispensed, the date and time go on the log. This has been invaluable. I now have almost three years of medical history on my children.

To help you get started on your own organizational binder, I've compiled some documents that you can download and print. Some of them you'll simply insert into your binder and others you can fill in. The first file, Family Organization Binder, contains three pages that list each divided section that you might want to have, along with a list of documents that might go into that section.

Feel free to download any of these documents to get started. Make this binder work for you by including any information or documents that you feel will help keep your home (most likely your kitchen) paper free. If you have any questions, post them in the comments and I will respond!

Downloadable PDF documents:

• Family Organization Binder
• Grocery List
• Meals This Week
• Grocery Price Book
• Family Information
• Pharmacy Information
• Medical Log
• Homeowners Insurance
• Vehicle Information
• Contact Information
• Emergency Information
• In Case of Emergency

|| Edited to Add: ||
Here are links to the Word or Excel documents for most of the above so you can edit them as you choose. The fonts I used are Gill Sans MT, Amelie, and Times New Roman.

Word or Excel Documents:

• Grocery List
• Meals This Week
• Grocery Price Book
• Family Information
• Pharmacy Information
• Medical Log
• Homeowners Insurance
• Vehicle Information
• Contact Information
• Emergency Information
• In Case of Emergency

Also, if you are having trouble downloading any of the files, make sure you are clicking on the correct button. In the picture below, you'll see a blue download button. Click this. If you see anything else that says "download", don't click on it. Sometimes there will be ads at the top of the screen trying to get you to download some other product. The green download button downloads another program called 4sync. You do not need this.