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| Warning: You are viewing this page with an unsupported Web browser. This Web site works best with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, Firefox 1.5, or Netscape Navigator 8.0 or later. Learn more about supported browsers. Organizing chaos with the household binder
By Nancy Buchanan, for Office at home
In this article
OK, I admit it: I am not the most organized person in the world. But over the years, I have learned there are some ways to help tame the chaos. One of the best is creating a binder with all your miscellaneous household paperwork. You know, the things you wouldn't file because they may never happen again but are important enough that you aren't ready to throw them away. For example, last summer, the pump for our well stopped working, and we couldn't remember who installed it six years ago. I went straight to our household binder and was able to quickly locate the name of the company. They came and fixed the pump the next day. Here are some tools you can use to create a household binder like the one I use:
Get or find a binderChances are that you already have a binder that you could use for your new household reference binder. Look for one that has a plastic sheet on the cover and the spine, as shown here, where the cover art is inserted between the plastic sheet and the binder:
The size of the binder is up to you and should be based not only on the materials you plan to insert today but on how much you plan to add to it in the future. Create your own spine and cover artYou can go into Microsoft Office Word and create your own spine and cover art from scratch, but I prefer to use the templates that are in Office Word and on the Office Online Web site instead. They are faster to work with because they are already formatted for the size binder you have, so you can concentrate on customizing them instead of having to figure out how to format them.
Organize then create tabsCreating tabs for your binder sounds easy but it is actually one of the more challenging aspects of this project. That's because you will have to take an inventory of the content you plan to insert into the binder and then organize it into categories. Once you come up with four to eight categories, you can create tabs. I used a brand of tabs that included clear labels that I could print on my printer. The tab labels came with detailed instructions that told me how to use Office Word to successfully create and then print those labels. If you choose to purchase labels with tabs you can print on, just make sure that the package says that they work with Office Word. Otherwise you could always purchase tabs that you can write or type on. After you have created your tabs you can insert them into your binder with the content that goes in each section. Add new contentWhen I created my binder I relied heavily on templates from Office Online to make it faster for me to load content. For example, during a remodeling project, I wanted to keep track of who worked on the project so I could thank them when it was over and possibly use them again for future projects. I used the supplier list in Microsoft Office Excel to create a blank contacts list and then I hand wrote their names on the list after I met them. There are many additional templates you might consider using to help organize household information in your new binder:
Time to get startedHopefully, you can see how you can use templates to make putting together a household binder, or any other type of binder, as easy as possible. If you, like me, are organizationally challenged but are willing to try, a binder can be a good way to start. After all, a journey of a thousand miles does start with that first step. |
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