The Binder System

The Binder System
 
Three ring binders are a fabulous way to organize paperwork.  From finances, to birthdays, to your house paint colors and flooring brand… you can keep it all organized and easy to find by using a binder system.  We love using binders that are uniform in color for a clean, organized look, and using the type with clear pockets on the outside to slide a label in so we can see what binder we’re looking for.
 
The two binders we’re quite possibly the most thankful for are (1) The Fall Binder and (2) The Holiday Binder.  It makes the Holidays much easier having the information needed in one location and easy to find.  What exactly do we keep in these binders??  Read on….
 
The Fall Binder is a 3-ring binder with technical and sentimental information related to Halloween and Thanksgiving.  It has a section listing what each child has dressed up as for Halloween each year, along with a picture.  It has descriptions of how we decorated and (sometimes) decoration ideas for next year that we came across.  
 
The fall binder also has go-to information about Thanksgiving.  One section is a “journal” with a paragraph or two about what we did that year: who we celebrated with, what we did, etc.. It also has cooking records: all our traditional recipes are here in one spot, along with a record of cooking our turkey (weight, time, temperature, etc) which has been a valuable reference year after year.  
 
The Holiday Binder is set up in a similar fashion.  One section holds our Christmas card & picture from every year.  Another section holds our Christmas cookie recipes and Christmas meal recipes.  The Holiday Binder also has a “Journal” section telling who we celebrated with and what we did during the holiday celebration. The very important “Gift” section lists what we gifts we gave/the recipient and what gifts we received/the giver.  It’s fun to look back and reminisce (and assures you will never give the same gift twice ).  We also keep a section to add ideas for next year, whether for decorating, gifts, or things to do/see.
 
A binder system is useful in so many ways, but it really does make the holidays easier to navigate.  We know exactly where to find them, and they hold so much useful information.  It takes a lot of the stress off so we can enjoy the time and not worry about the little details as much!
 
How to set up your own? Here’s a starting point…. You can add/delete sections to make them your own.
 

1. Purchase two 3-ring binders with pocket fronts.
2.  Create a label for the front and the side using a word document.  We labeled ours “OUR FAMILY’S FALL” and “OUR FAMILY’S CHRISTMAS”
3.  Purchase dividers for each and label with the sections of your choice.  

Our fall binder has the following sections: 
Halloween Décor 
Halloween Fun (which contains the costumes and journal) Halloween Entertaining (which contains recipes, entertaining details we used, and ideas for the future)
Thanksgiving Décor
Thanksgiving Fun (which contains our journal)
Thanksgiving Entertaining (which contains recipes, entertaining details we used, and ideas for the future)
       Our Christmas Binder has the following sections:
              Christmas Cards
              Christmas Décor
Christmas Fun (which contains our journal)
Gifts (which contains gifts given/received and ideas for next year) 
Christmas Entertaining (which contains recipes, entertaining details we used, and ideas for the future)

Happy organizing!