Over the past few years, I’ve fallen in love with the idea of using a binder to corral my home and family stuff. I truly believe physical clutter is mental clutter and giving everything a “home” also settles the dust in your head.
I don’t know about you, but before I started using this binder, my kitchen, office and entryway table were littered with papers. Not to mention my purse and diaper bag. Now, my Simplified Life Binder lives in the bar in our kitchen and is the resting place for receipts we need to hang onto, lists of all kinds and planning sheets for things like our 2014 goals, Brady’s birthday party, upcoming vacations and home improvement projects.
We get a lot of questions on how to put your Simplified Life Binder to best use, so here’s a little rundown on how I use mine. One important note, the Simplified Life Binder NOT designed to be a calendar or a planner. Instead, it’s designed to be “home base” for all your family’s important information, plans and papers.
I keep my binder open on our bar in our kitchen. Our kitchen is our gathering place and the bar is where keys, purses, mail and bags usually land. It’s also where we stand when we’re talking through our day or where I sit when I’m planning meals for the week before Sunday grocery shopping. It’s command central, so it was the perfect place to keep our Simplified Life Binder.
In the very, very front I keep all our most important info – emergency contacts, handymen contacts, emergency info for babysitters, etc. Behind that, I used our dividers to create sections for each area that needs my attention – home, to-do, goals (I keep my PowerSheets here), Brady and meals (for our meal planning sheet sets that are sadly sold out – restocking soon!). In each section, I use our sheet sets and I store papers, lists, etc that have been three-hole-punched. For instance, my “home” section has my dishwasher repair man’s info, our “forever house” idea list (one of our new favorite things to talk about over a glass of wine at night) and paint swatches for the rooms we recently renovated (easy reference for touchups, etc). I love this post from Emily Thomas about how she uses her Simplified Life Binder.
We’re getting low on Simplified Planners® from our third and final batch that will be shipping in early February. Pre-order yours soon if you’d like to have one this year. I’m so proud of these and am loving using my own. It’s crazy to think but I’m ALREADY working on our 2015 Simplified Planner and 2015 Simplified Life Binder! :) We’re making some big, bold moves again for what matters most. These kinds of things are scary, but worth it.
Happy 2014 everyone!
xo,
Emily
