Contents The Information Merry go Round Start Your Planning with a Master List 4

Contents 1. The Information Merry go Round 3 2. Start Your Planning with a Master List 4 3. More Planner Ideas 6 4. Building Your Planner 10 5. Eleven Home Binder Categories 11 6. 24 Home Binder Templates 23 www.declutterbefree.com www.howtodeclutterandorganze.com 2

1. The Information Merry Go Round Are you in an information merry go round? Whether its info for the summer holidays, Christmas must do s, school work, school information, schedules, vacation lists, menu planners, grocery shopping lists, work to do s, recipes that need filing or even that invaluable list of available babysitters. Having all these pieces of paper at your fingertips is critical to the smooth running each day of your home and life. So stop the paper hide and seek! How will a Home Binder System help you? Your Organizer will help you instantly put away and access paper information for the entire family. Every family member can file and access the information. You design your Organizer to fit the information you need to control and choose the categories that are the most relevant for you. You can start small, get used to the lists and planners and start the habit of checking your Organizer daily. You ll massively decrease your mental to do clutter because once you write it on the master list and set a to do date it is much easier to take action. It s user friendly and low maintenance. You control how much information it holds. If sections get too large you can start a separate organizational binder for that topic. The system can be changed anytime to suit your family s changing size, activities and needs. Nothing gets lost and all information is at your finger tips. 3

2. Start your Planning with a Master List The purpose of the Master to do Planner is to take all the clutter out of your head and on to the page. Initially this is the where you write down all your must do s, should do s and need to do s and especially all the undones in your life. The purpose is to fill up the page so you can see what you need to organize and get done. All the to do s in life come in different shapes and sizes and difficulty. This list when done may include errands, painting projects, repairs, shopping, personal goals, mending, craft projects, chores you want your family to do, phone calls and e-mails to return, cleaning or removal jobs or even what you wish you could get done, plus all sort of to do odds and ends. 4

3. More Home Binder Ideas How to use the templates When you have written all the to do s on your master list you can fill out the other planners. Repairs are written on your repairs planner, errands are put on your weekly to do planner and grouped according to location, time and need. Ongoing projects are put on the project planner and broken down into smaller doable parts and chores are listed on a daily, weekly or monthly planner. Calendars: Every family needs one calendar to fill in activities. Most families prefer a wall calendar that everyone can see. If you don t like this idea put your family activity calendar in the front of the planning section. Weekly Planner: This template lets you plan your week. If you know Tuesday is busy add more to do s on Wednesday. The idea is this planner gives you a chance to look at the week as a whole and pace yourself. Morning checklist: Using this template will calm the frantic rush of the school morning. A checklist outlines morning routines. If you have ever left your home with vitamins untaken or a child with teeth unbrushed, two seconds looking at the morning checklist will solve this problem. Evening checklist: The best way to get organized in the morning is to start the night before. Clothes laid out, rooms picked up, school lunches organized and story time met. Outlining the necessary tasks for your evening and your children means everything gets done and nothing forgotten Repair List: List repairs and small jobs that need to be done around the house. If you need any supplies for the repair you may want to include a hardware store shopping list so it s a one stop shop and there are no re-runs back to the store. Other Planners: You may need to add work schedules, events lists, special projects, party planner and volunteer work. Take a lined page use a three hole punch and your information can be added to your Organizer. 6

Organizing Tasks and Incompletes Once you write down absolutely everything on your Master to do Planner you now have choices. Your undone tasks, incompletes and messes fall into seven categories. Tasks that need to be made into routines: Some of your to do s are recurring and predictable. They are slotted into a daily or weekly cleaning/housekeeping/organizing routine Tasks that can be delegated to family members: Tasks such as cleaning rooms, making beds, and chores for children can be delegated. These tasks can be put of chore checklists and put where your kids can see them. Tasks that need to be done daily: Daily tasks are all the small things that you want completed daily so you can wake up in the morning and start the day with new and fresh with all or most of yesterday s tasks done. Tasks that are long term projects: If you have any incomplete craft, repair, redecorating projects your planner will help you make the choice to let it go or to make a plan to complete it Tasks that need to be grouped together to be done: You create free time when you group errands together instead of making several trips. These tasks can be listed on a weekly planner. Tasks that are seasonal: Do you have car or home maintence that needs to be done every six months or so? Do you have quarterly or seasonal tasks? Things such as storing and cleaning and decluttering seasonal clothes, garden maintenance can be listed on a yearly planner. All you need to do is look it at once a month and you know what action you need to take. Tasks that need to be let go of: I often think of unfinished craft projects or woodworking projects and stuff you are stashing away to do one day. You may want to reconsider and let these things go. Setting a date and time to do any task is being organized and efficient. Everything will get done. Write it down, get help if you need it and be consistent. If you find life intervenes and you cannot do your task just reschedule. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish. 7

Monthly Calender One of the most important planning tools is your monthly calendar. Writing down where and when activities take place will help you see when you have the time to declutter and organize, where cleaning and errands and grocery shopping fit in your life. We all have busy days and by using a monthly calendar and the planners your free time, down time and fun time become as important as all your household tasks. You can use your calendar on the wall, have a separate calendar for each child to mark school activities and project due dates or use it to plan your household management. Use it as a guide to keep you on track and be flexible as to what you can do. 8

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 9

4. Making Your Home Binder Tool kit and supplies for your Family and Home Organizer You can make your family organizer with stationary products you have in home. All you need to do is print out the planners and checklists from the report, gather the materials listed in the tool kit, and a pencil or a pen. Once you have these you are ready to build your Family Organizer. You will need: Binder with rings to fit plastic sleeves and notepaper Clear plastic page protectors Note paper with binder holes Dividers in a colour you like Labels A pen Some tips for making your planner Work on one category at a time The Planning Category will include to all the relevant to do lists you need to get your to do s out of your head and on to the page Home management Category will contain household checklists, chore lists and seasonal cleaning lists School Category can include all the information related your children need for school for study and extracurricular activity Food can include menu planners and shopping lists. Start with two or three categories that are relevant to you. See how often you use it. Remember if it doesn t work for you, change it. 10

Getting Started Now that you are familiar with all the benefits of creating a home binder, it s time to get your paper and information clutter under control. The organizer is so simple and easy to put together you can do it while you watch T.V. Here are a few tips to help you get started. Get your supplies ready. This includes a binder, plastic sleeves, marker, paperclips and labels Gather all your scraps of paper, your phone information, school and holiday info, take away menus, brochures and put them in a basket Print out the free printables included in the report to transfer information on scraps of paper onto the appropriate list. Schedule an hour to get the structure of your binder completed 5. Eleven Home binder Categories Here are the eleven categories Category One-Communication This section contains phone list and emergency lists. You may want to make separate lists for kid s friends and any contact information a babysitter may need. Category Two-Household Planning This section includes a cleaning schedule and cleaning checklists. You may want to include a weekend chores planner or seasonal chores list. Another ideas is children s chore checklists and any maintenance you need to do for your car or house. Category Three-School Activities This section is for those extracurricular activities, homework schedules, and even a checklist for packing those school bags. You can also add a school project planner, information pages, school bus pass and school reading lists. Category Four-Meals and Menus- This section is where you can keep your menu plans, grocery lists 11

Category Five-Hobbies and Activates-In this section you can keep library information, there is a picnic planner and hobby store information. You can keep hiking or walking info and craft information. Category Six-Weekend Activities-You can include movie passes and information, museum and art gallery brochures and a checklist for what you need to pack in your outings and information on swimming pools, skating rinks or the Zoo. Category Seven-Events-This category is for those special events in your life. Any ideas for parties or family get togethers, recipes you like for dinner guests and any notes from your last function. You may want to include a Christmas Section. Category Eight-Health and Fitness-This section includes your gym information first aid checklist, health records and any prescriptions and vitamins. This is where you store your child health records, any dental information and medical insurance information. Category Nine-Money and Finance- You may want to make a separate financial binder. You can keep your budget, banking information, bills and any chequebook or credit card information. Category Ten-Travel-You can include a checklist for packing, a checklist for camping and any ideas for holidays and places to stay. Category eleven-other lists-you can make a garden maintenance list, childcare section or a sports section. 12

24 Home Binder templates Ten Top Tips to Making Your Planner Your Own 1. Start with the categories that are most relevant to you and add other categories as the information comes your way. 2. If the certain sections get too bulky you may want to start individual information notebooks 3. Meals and Meal Planning could expand to include recipes, successful meal plans, grocery lists and your shopping plan and extra photocopies of these planners and become a information binder in its own right. 4. Money and finance may include bills, budgets, and goal setting sheets in a separate binder. You may want to keep this where you put your financial information. 5. You may want a separate binder for each child with school information, their phone numbers, and homework, project and reading lists so they can file information from school, project information and us the calendar as an organizing tool. 6. This binder meant to hold information that is relevant to you now. Don t use it to store information. If there is information that you haven t used for several months consider filing it if you still need it. 7. Go through your binder every two months to discard redundant information. 8. If you find you have a section you never use, discard it. This information binder is for your particular needs 9. Keep a plastic sleeve in the very front of your binder for priority information. 10. Don t make this information binder too complicated. Simple is best 13

Emergency Number: This phone number is: The address is: Directions to the address: Police Department Fire Department Ambulance Poison Control Centre Family Physician Parents mobile number Parents work number Neighbours name Neighbours number Relative name Relative phone Other Numbers Copyright 2014 declutterbefree.com 14

BeFree Daily Organizer To do To call To Buy 16

Be Free Decluttering and Organizing Planner To organize and declutter Date and Time Copyright@2014declutterbefree.com 18

Be Free Repair List Date To Do Completed by Copyright@2014declutterbefree.com 19

Project Planner Project To Be Done Completed Copyright@2014declutterbefree.com 20

Daily Housekeeping Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Extra jobs Copyright@2014declutterbefree.com 21

Seasonal Chore Planner Winter Spring Summer Autumn Copyright@2014declutterbefree.com 22

Weekly Chore Planner Week One Date: Week Two, Date: Week Three Date: Week Four Date: Copyright@2014declutterbefree.com 23

Monthly Budget For Monthly Expenses Household SUBTOTAL Electricity Gas Telephone/Internet Mobile Mortgage/Rent Water and other Rates Insurance Estimate Actual Food Groceries Lunch Out Takeaways and Coffee SUBTOTAL Transportation Bus/Train Fares Car Finance Maintenance Registration and Insurance Petrol/Gas SUBTOTAL Personal Clothing Hairdresser/Beautician Doctor/Dentist Medicine Make-Up Grooming Products Club/Gym Membership Extras SUBTOTAL Entertainment Movies/ DVD s Eating Out/Drinks SUBTOTAL Debt Credit Cards, Loans Repayments SUBTOTAL TOTAL Copyright 2014 declutterbefree.com 35

Here s to living a little lighter Jane Alais www.declutterbefree.com Copyright Jane Alais 38