If you're striving to have a more organized home and family think about adding what is sometimes known as a homemaking journal, also known as a home management binder, a home organizer, and (before my time) a household receipts book to your routine.

Whatever name you choose, it is the key to organizing your life. Truly...

A homemaking journal these days is a home organizing binder for all the things related to you, your home, and your family. It carries within it lists on maintaining your home and belongings, schedules to keep all the members of your immediate family organized, and reminders of things you need to do from day to day, month to month and even year to year.

We like call them Homemaking Journals because by keeping all these details of your home and life it is like a journal of how you and your family live. How you keep house. It is also a way for us to be reminded of the past and how women kept home.

Homemaking Journals are nothing new. Women in our history might have kept a daily journal, a household receipts book, or some such collection of what she meant to do in her daily homemaking life. A dear friend of mine holds within her treasured hands the homemaking journal of her grandmother. Detailing her daily life with fade-outs whenever a new babe was born this precious piece of history is in the right hands, those of her soon to be wed granddaughter.

Today's Homemaking Journal or as we know it, home management binder, tends to be a bit more organized, a little less in personal information and sometimes more in personal style. It usually has calendars and daily planner information along with all of the household details. There are sections to organize each part of home life and that fact makes it an easier one stop shopping place for all the information regarding your day, your home, and your family. This way if any member of your family needs to check out what is for dinner, what mom would have cleaned had she been home from her well deserved vacation, or what the phone number for the babysitter is they can check the notebook.

My own home organizer is set up this way and it makes it easier to take with me and also to flip through the necessary sections while I go from meal planning, to cleaning, to my home business and/or childcare. All I did was purchase a classic sized binder and fill it with the sections needed in our home.

Update: Lately I've been feeling a need for change and a desire to have a bigger Home Management Binder also with a few other add ons. I also wanted it to be very cute so stay tuned for a new article.

Building Your Homemaking Journal

So now you know what a homemaking journal is how about putting one together?

The Exterior -

For the outside of your homemaking journal the cover, it makes sense to use a day planner binder or a simple plastic 3 ring binder . You can personalize a plain binder by slipping in wonderfully designed pages along the front, sides and back among many other things so don't despair that it won't be attractive.

For my homemaking journaI use a 8 X 1/2 by 5 inch zippered day planner. I like the compactedness and it's small enough that I can take it to appointments etc. My household notebook is also waterproof and zips up to keep my home details safe. My homemaking journal is family friendly and my husband has no problem finding what he needs in it. So this option works for our household.

A simple plastic 3 ring binder works just as well for a home management notebook. The kind you can pick up at your local office supply store for very low cost. There are also 3 ring binders with designs or pretty covers. And if you're feeling extra organized UniKeep.com makes an innovative sturdy binder made for ultra organizers like myself. (yes I have one that I use for business) that you can customize. They are fabulous! Visit Unikeep here.

But oh what if you want a lovely fabric covered binder for your household notebook? Well if you're talented unlike myself you can make one using the great directions from this site.

Now onto the inside of your homemaking journal...

The Interior -

Here's a brief overview of some pages I feel are important to include in a family household notebook in addition to your basic monthly or weekly calendar...

A note before I begin. Some of this may seem sort of silly to put to paper but studies show and many will tell you that putting things that need doing to paper is one of the (if not the) best ways to become more efficient and organized. If you have trouble organizing your life and things to do start with just a list of what you need to do on a given day and post it prominently. Mark it off as you go along and see if you don't start feeling a tad bit more organized.

1. Daily Routine: These are the things that don't change from day to day. Such as breakfast, morning devotions, exercise, thaw dinner, take out garbage. It can be as basic or as detailed as you want it. This is actually the main form to keep YOU, as organizer of your home, organized.

2. Daily To Do List: This page is all of the things you have to do for the current day that aren't a regular part of your daily routine. Appointments for that day. Calls you need to make. Which area of your home you are cleaning. Your menus for the day. This list will change constantly so it's sometimes easier to have an erasable planner page for this or a pack of tear off sheets.

3. Weekly Routine: This is a household list of the things you do differently from day to day but they don't change from week to week. For example Wednesday may be the day you run your errands and Monday the day you do laundry. This might be the most important list for me. If I don't stick to this I get severely off.

4. Detailed Home Cleaning Instructions: This section of your household notebook will include the regular routines for the upkeep of your home. It is a finely detailed cleaning list for each room or area of your home. Such as; wipe walls, vacuum under bed, wash curtains. It gets very detailed so don't hurry in making these lists and expect to add to it and tweak it as time goes on. Group home areas together if your home is large. For example you can group a bathroom and bedroom together. If you're in a smaller home or an apartment each room can have it's own sheet.

5. Home Budget Worksheet: This organizer page or area of your household notebook is a sheet showing the regular bills and monetary responsibilities for each month. You can check them off as they are paid through the month. This section in your home journal can be the beginning of getting your finances together.

6. Important Numbers: These are numbers for people like your pediatrician, plumber, computer repair etc. Emergency type numbers also go here.

7. Weekly Menu Plan : If you are organizing your meals and/or meal planning this would be the sheet showing your meals for the current week or the month if you are so inclined. All on one page.

8. Baby Sitter Info: This is the informational sheet you leave for your babysitter. Include cell numbers, kids favorite books and toys, allergy information, pediatrician information, and anything you think your babysitter needs to know to keep your kids and his/herself safe. This page is so helpful for those looking after your kids.

9. Phone Book: This is your regular phone book. Just all the numbers of friends, families, and agencies you need to keep track of. It makes it very convenient to have these pages in your home planner.

10. Homeschool pages : If you're a homeschooling parent a schedule of what courses, unit your are in and a list of the daily homeschool schedule is a nice touch. This can get a bit more deep than this and in that case you may want to consider a homeschooling notebook. Visit our homeschool page for more resources.

11. Hobby details: Do you sew? Knit? Crochet? Tatt? Scrapbook? Yes the list can go on but you can keep it all organized in your homemaking journal. True there are separate organizers you can purchase if you are deeply into your hobby but otherwise you can just make a section in your household notebook to keep track of it.

Other items you could include in your homemaking journal would be a grocery list, pantry list, goals (for yourself), celebration reminders, devotional pages, and the list goes on.

Your homemaking journal will be an ever growing thing. Don't be afraid to edit it or tweak it to work for you. You may like your instructions to spread out on many separate pages or you may like all of your information consolidated in just a few pages (like me).

Whichever method you choose to build up your homemaking journal don't be afraid to do what works for you. Every household organizer is as unique as the family or individual who uses it.

Homemaking journals can be a lovely personal thing. The addition of favorite photographs, colorful artwork and sections unique to you and your household will keep you turning back to this resource day after day.

Homemaking Journals Online