I have stated more than a few times now that organizing is about making life EASIER.  It’s about streamlining and simplifying to have more time and energy for the things that really matter.

One of the best ways I’ve found to do this is with my Home Management Binder (HMB).  3 years after I first wrote about it, my HMB blog post continues to be my most popular post.

So, once again I’ve updated the post to include NEW printables (for a total of 43) that streamline and simplify life even more! I hope you enjoy them all!

What’s a Home Management Binder?

A Home Management Binder is the central location you keep all the important home and household information your family needs to keep your house (and life) running smoothly.  It creates quick access to what you need and reduces paper clutter by providing a “home” for information and papers that come into the house.

Importantly, a Home Management Binder saves time and frustration by eliminating searching through piles of paper and serves as a ready-made “How-To Guide” for running your household in the event you can’t.

Where To Keep Your Home Management Binder?

A Home Management Binder should be in a convenient location easily accessible to the whole family.  Mine is in the kitchen because most of our family discussions and planning takes place there.

What To Put In Your Home Management Binder?

A Home Management Binder is for the information you refer to regularly.  It’s NOT the place to keep birth certificates, wills or insurance documentation.

The goal is quick and easy reference; too much information will slow you down.  Include the information you access daily, weekly or monthly.

Because a Home Management Binder is tailored to you, no two are the same.  It can contain cleaning schedules, chore lists, household budgets, bill trackers, family calendars, family goals, home and auto maintenance information, and anything else you need.

Whatever’s included, it’s usually organized into tabbed sections, such as:

1) Home/Auto
2) Family
3) Finance/Budget
4) Schedules
5) School
6) Kids
7) Chores
8) Meals/Meal Planning
9) Medical
10) Family Goals
11) Vacation
12) Holidays
13) Fitness Goals
14) Contacts

Not every section is necessary for every family and one family may keep babysitter information under “Contacts”, another under “Kids”.  Beyond just including what you access regularly, there’s no right or wrong way to organize your Home Management Binder.

Find what makes sense for your family and go with it!

43 Free Home Management Binder Printables 

Below are 43 printables I use and the 7 categories I organize them under.  You don’t have to use them all or organize them as I have.  Pick and choose the pages that will work for you.

1) Home & Auto:

i) Home Maintenance Checklist: Checklist of common seasonal home maintenance tasks (not meant to be exhaustive) with space to add your own tasks.

ii) Home Maintenance Log: tracks household work and maintenance including date, who did it, cost and when the next maintenance is.

iii) Home Project Wish List: tracks details of home improvements we want to do and estimated cost.

iv) Auto Maintenance Log: tracks work on vehicles including date, who did it and cost. We use one per vehicle.

v) Insurance Information: records details of health, home, auto and work insurance.

vi) Account Information: records details of utilities and other accounts.

vii) Notes: records information related to these categories not captured by the forms. I place one after every subcategory, but to avoid making this post longer than it needs to be, I won’t repeat this every time.

2) Kids & Pet:

i) Childcare Info: records details of before and aftercare for my daughter (works for full-time daycare too!).

ii) Babysitter Notes: information to leave with the babysitter.

iii) Children’s Friends: records my daughter’s friends, their parents, contact information and any information to be aware of, such as an allergy.

iv) Children’s Activities: records details of classes/lessons taken outside of school.

v) Pet Information: records all things pet and pet care.

3) School:

i) School Reference Sheet: records school information.

ii) Children’s Activities: records details of school extracurricular activities.

4) Contacts:

i) Important Contact Info: work contact information and contact information of services regularly used.

ii) Friends and Family: contact information of friends and family.

iii) Password Sheet: records website, username and password information.  If you aren’t comfortable writing down passwords, write prompts to remind you of the password.

5) Medical and Emergency:

i) Medical and Emergency: emergency numbers, all doctor and pharmacy contact information and contact information for the hospital and walk-in clinics.

ii) __________ Doctor Visits: tracks dates of doctor visits, reasons for visit, treatment received and any notes.  Each family member has a sheet.

6) Family:

i) (UPDATED) 16 Monthly Calendar Pages: to track future events and commitments.

ii) Family Bucket List: list activities your family would like to do/places to visit etc.

iii) (NEW) Freezer Inventory: to keep track of what’s in the freezer and when you should use it by so you can stop buying duplicates and losing forgotten items to freezer burn!

iv) (NEW) Kitchen Conversion Sheet: to quickly and easily convert different cooking and baking measurements and temperatures without having to get out your phone and do a search!

v) Daily/Weekly/Monthly Cleaning Schedule: sets out how often chores are ideally done along with a few tips to make cleaning faster and easier.

vi) Age-Appropriate Chore Chart For Kids: so you can get the who family involved in cleaning.

vii) Habit Tracker: to help develop and track the progress of new habits.

viii) Things To Remember: information you want to remember, divided into 3 categories:

1) People (to jot down a gift, activity or interest a child, partner, friend, mentioned or you thought of for them);

2) Places (to jot down a restaurant you want to try or store you heard about etc.); and

3) Other (to jot down any other random things you want to remember: a good book you want to read, series to watch, website to check out etc).

7) Celebrations:

i) Dates to Remember: yearly events like birthdays and anniversaries.

A Few Final Tips

I keep the pages in page protectors to stand up to the heavy use they experience.  I also keep a pocket pouch at the end of each section for items I only need to reference for a brief period like party planning notes or travel itinerary.

Any information that comes into the house related to these areas gets filed in the appropriate section.  And business cards I want for future reference get placed in a business card page protector in the “Contacts” section.

Conclusion

I can’t say enough good things about Home Management Binders.  If you’d like to simplify your life with one, click the button below for my 43 FREE printables.

Let me know in the comments below what you’ll keep in your HMB.  And if you liked this post, please share it!

Happy organizing!