My Household Notebook-Linky Party

Erin of Blue-Eyed Bride fame did a post on her household notebook so I thought I'd link up to her link party.

I've been keeping a household notebook for about three years.  It has helped me tremendously.  When I feel unorganized, I feel like my life is in total chaos. 

There are a ton of sites to find free downloadable lists and I found one of the best sites for downloading lists to help keep your home organized, as a matter of fact, that's what the site is called Organizedhome.com. 
My household notebook is basically just a 3 ring binder with clear tab dividers.
The notebook is divided into the following sections:
(On each section divider I put the individual sheets that are enclosed within that section)

Phone list
Master phone directory
Emergency phone directory- doctors phone numbers-good to take out and post on the fridge when the kids are with a babysitter

Meals and Menus-
Freezer Inventory-so you don't forget everything you've frozen for future meals and the date they were frozen
Pantry Inventory-
Listing of Favorite Meals
List of Meals to Try
Monthly Menu-

Weekly Menu-

Dinner Ideas-a list of dinners that my family enjoys

Family -
a list of family members sizes, store preferences (for the tween in the family), birthdates, anniversaries
Home Management -
Master list of home improvement projects, list of dates and when certain household things need to be done (change air filters)
Planning -
birthday party ideas, vacation planning, list of blogs I love, best home decorating websites

Activities and School -
School calendars, newsletters, soccer roster, football roster

Sorry for the blurry pics. It's hard to take a pic of a page.
Money and FinanceBudget/spending record-very important in this economy
Bills to pay

Credit card list
Insurance Information-
I put copies of my insurance policies in a clear page protector

Home Management
Household cleaning schedule

Seasonal chore schedule
Children's chore checklist
Home inventory
Home decorating ideas
Car maintenance schedule
Magazine subscriptions


PlanningCalendars
Schedules
To-do lists
Scrapbook ideas/page layouts

My household notebook has been so much help. I can now tell when I have plenty of food in the pantry to menu plan. In past years, I've forgotten what was in the back of the freezer - now I don't.

I also have my Breast Cancer Awareness day-timer planner, which is invaluable to me!

 I also keep a recipe notebook that I can just grab and jot down the great recipes I see on blogs.

Valentine's Day

Today I got a surprise.  Mr. H and I had agreed to not get each other a Valentine's Day gift since we feel that we are blessed enough and don't need to spend money on each other.  After we woke up, Mr. H came into the living room with a card.  He had bought me the sweetest card.  It was so special, I almost started crying.  Of course, I stayed with the plan and didn't get him a card, even though it was our first Valentine's Day as a married couple.  My gift to him was heart shaped pancakes with a heart shaped pad of butter on top.  I'd had that planned all week.  Sometimes, the smallest things make me feel like I'm prfetty cool.  Silly, I know.  But Mr. H is more about the things you do, not the things you can buy him.  He requires very little to make him happy and that's why I love him so much. 

Mr. H went to pick up the buys since they were at their Dad's house.  Tater Tot had called me to tell me that Small Fry was puking and had been since 7am so their Dad wanted to meet early to switch.  I stayed home to finish the laundry and get ready to make lunch for my Mom and my boys.  Small Fry never threw up once he was at our house and started acting pretty good.  I did ask the boys what their Daddy got them for Valentine's and they said nothing.  Tater Tot said he even had to remind his Dad that it was Valentine's.  Things like that break my heart.  But, Mr. H said that was ok- we got them enough fun Valentine's candy and goodies to make up for it. 

My Mom came over to eat lunch with us and to get her Valentine's goodies from us.  We got her a cute card, chocolate covered cherries and yummy Lindors truffles.  For lunch, we fixed a healthy feast of grilled chicken with white wine sauteed mushrooms and onions, roasted carrots, potatoes and asparagus and a salad with a balsamic vinegar dressing.  The meal was perfect and healthy, which makes it even better.  No guilt after eating it. 

This afternoon I'm working on my monthly menu planning for my household notebook and writing the kid's activities down for the next month.  Gotta keep organized or I feel like I'm going nuts!

Menu Planning Monday

Monday - Pork Tenderloin, green beans with new potatoes
Tuesday (soccer practice night) - Hot dogs with chili and cheese
Wednesday - Italian Pot Roast (recipe below), mashed potatoes, salad
Thursday - Pork chops, scalloped potatoes, steamed broccoli
Friday - Sandwiches (grilled cheese or turkey and cheese)- packing for trip

Italian Pot Roast (Crockpot)

3 or 4 lb. pot roast- whatever size you want to use-just needs to fit in the crockpot

1 can Coca-Cola

1 package Lawry's spaghetti seasoning

1 large can (14 oz. I think) of diced or crushed tomatoes

1 can of beef broth

Place the roast in crockpot, then pour and sprinkle all ingredients over roast. Cook for 6 to 8 hours on low. The roast will completely fall apart.

I serve it with mashed potatoes. The sauce is awesome.

~To help support the Pork Industry, which I have to say, has gotten a bad rap in the past couple of weeks, I'm serving pork this week. Our family loves pork and I think the media has scared the general public to death with this Swine Flu or H1N1 flu. I feel sorry for any pork producer in the country. This latest scare has got to be hurting their business.

It's been raining like crazy here again, I think we're on the 10th day straight. I'm counting on soccer practice being cancelled due to the soggy fields. That gives me more time to plan for our trip to North Carolina at the end of the week. This weekend is a long awaited, exciting trip for us. Mr. Hautemama is graduating from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina with his Master's Degree in Accountancy. I'm so proud of him. He has spent many late nights studying for his Masters. I feel like our life has been on hold for the last two years, as we couldn't travel because Mr. H was worried that he wouldn't be able to access the internet on vacation. He took an online degree program which was actually very interesting. The class discussions were all online in a message board form. His professors would post the quizzes and tests online and then Mr. H would post his finished test back to the professor. Honestly, anyone with an accounting degree gets my respect. I'm an English and literature type of girl. Numbers scare the heck out of me. Heck, I even despise balancing my checkbook. And....to think that 5 short years ago I was a licensed Financial Advisor. Guess you know why I'm not one anymore. I hated numbers.

This will be one of the first times I've ever left the boys, except for business. My Mom is sweet enough to step in and take care of them while we're gone. Hopefully everything will go smoothly. I'm a list maker so I've spent the entire day listing out everything we need to remember to do before leaving.

Speaking of lists, I have the best site for downloading lists to help keep your home organized, as a matter of fact, that's what the site is called Organizedhome.com.

I keep a household notebook, which is basically just a 3 ring binder with clear tab dividers. The notebook is divided into the following sections:

Meals and Menus
Sections:
Freezer Inventory
Pantry Inventory-as shown on the enclosed photo, when you put something in the pantry, you put a mark through the box. When you use that item, you complete the X by putting another mark through the item. You then know it's been used and you need to replace it.
Menus - monthly
Shopping Lists
Pricing Form - to remember what an item is typically priced at a certain store



Sorry for the blurry pic. It's hard to take a pic of a page.




Money and Finance
Budget/spending record-very important in this economy
Bills to pay
Credit card list
Insurance Information-I put copies of my insurance policies in a clear page protector

Family and School
School schedule
Holiday list
Lunch menus
School information
Daycare information


Home Management
Household cleaning schedule
Seasonal chore schedule
Children's chore checklist
Home inventory
Home decorating ideas
Car maintenance schedule
Magazine subscriptions


Planning
Calendars
Schedules
To-do lists
Scrapbook ideas/page layouts


Phone list
Master phone directory
Emergency phone directory- doctors phone numbers-good to take out and post on the fridge when the kids are with a babysitter

Activities/School

My household notebook has been so much help. I now can tell when I have plenty of food in the pantry to menu plan. In past years, I've forgotten what was in the back of the freezer - now I don't.

This is how happy I feel after organizing my home!