Thursday, August 16, 2012

Household Notebook - Free Printables!



Recently, I decided to get a little more organized.  Years ago I created a household notebook for myself.  In came the world of the iPhones and I soon didn't need any of the lists that were in my notebook.   The only thing that I was still using were the pages that held my kids health information.  A lot of good that notebook was!   This time I decided that I would just make my own lists instead using those of others and trying to mold them to my liking.  I know, I should have thought of this a lot sooner. 

Wa-Lahhh!!!  This is what I came up with:




The end result is eight categories which are: Planning, Menus, Household, Health, Finances, Family, School and Blogging.

I designed two different looks for my pages.  The stripes that you see above, and the flower that you see below.  I have all the pages in both designs.  I personally like to mix them up a little bit.  The cover for the notebook (above) I printed out in the stripe and the divider pages for each category (below) I printed out in the flower.


I have learned over the years that if I do not plan out my meal schedule that I tend to spend a lot more at the grocery store.  Coming up with an idea for supper is one of the things that I dislike the most.  Solution:  plan out the meals for a whole month!  Then I don't have to think about it again 'til next month.  Love it!  I have also found that planning monthly menus saves me even more money then just planning weekly menus.  I don't have to go to the grocery store as often, and I don't feel like I am running out of food.  BUT, I also have learned that I don't like to HAVE to cook certain meals on certain days.  Sometimes something else sounds good.  On those days I give myself leeway, and just trade it for another meal on the list.  Ah, a list with freedom.............



Here is my monthly menu plan.




I have then also created a monthly grocery list which consists of all the items I should need to make those meals on the plan.  And as always, some blank spots on the end, to include those items I just didn't think of before.


Shopping for Christmas presents throughout the year also has saved us money.  There have been times however that I can't find a certain present, or don't remember what I have bought for someone.  Hence, the Christmas List.



Do you ever sit in your chair and think, "I have ten minutes, I wonder what I could do right now that would make my home better?"  No..... I don't either ! :0)  There are sometimes though that I don't have enough energy to complete or start a large project, but still feel like I should be doing something.  That is why I have the ten minute list.  I can go to this list and pick out a project that won't zap the only energy I have left, but still feel like I have accomplished something when I am done.


What's this list for..........well definitely not for confining me to have to do these tasks only on these days.........but rather a guide of what I feel is necessary to get done every week.  Kind of like a goal sheet.  Follow it when I can, but switch things around when necessary.

Have you figured me out yet?  I love lists, but I don't want to be married to them.  I like to use them as a guide, not an absolute.  They do help me keep my focus though, otherwise I may get so involved in "cool projects" I might forget to do the laundry!



Since moving south I don't do as much couponing as I did up north.  Basically I just don't have as good of stores as I did up there.  But I do coupon some.  Instead of a whole binder dedicated to my coupons, I now have about 10 pages of baseball card organizers, and place them in my MENUS section by my monthly grocery list.




I have also started to keep receipts in my binder in the unused baseball card organizers.  I keep the Christmas presents receipts behind my Christmas list in the FINANCES section.




In the household section I keep doctor's cards, library cards, salon cards, etc.... once again in the unused baseball cards organizers.

This year I have also been attempting to learn about gardening in a very different planting zone.  So far I have killed 3, no, maybe 5 plants.  Some of them just cannot handle the hot Texas afternoon sun.  :0(  My roses have done really well, but I would like to attempt to plant a little more than that.  With my Garden Notes pages now I can keep track of all of those plants that I have killed that I would like to not kill again.  Also I have learned of the different blooming season here, and want to keep track of those plants that I have seen doing so well in other people's yards.




Please feel free to download any of these pages for your own personal use.  Here are a few examples of each style.  There are a total of 26 pages in each.  Mix and match as you will!  Enjoy!!






Download the Household Notebook Stripe









Download the Household Notebook Flower 


PS.  I have just added a blank copy of the Monthly Grocery List for those who would like to be able to fill it out themselves.  Download the Stripe Monthly Grocery List here and the Flower Monthly Grocery List here.





New to Redfly?  Many more great ideas to come!


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