Proverbs 31

Being a wife, having a job, managing a home, having children, and putting Jesus at the forefront of all of the aforementioned responsibilities is hard.  And there have been many a blog and mother that would agree.  Back in the fall as I was seeking to be awesome in all of these categories (you can't because we're broken), I learned that a small step for me being able to make sure that I didn't feel like every day was slipping through my fingers would be to make a daily/weekly schedule and assure that every day had allotted time for the Lord in it.  The sweet time in His word would be sustaining and uplifting and reassuring that I would never fulfill all those roles perfectly, but through Him I could carry on.

Fast forward to January and some chatting and encouragement from Jennie, I realized it was time for a home management binder.  My friend Marilyn had shown me her recipe binder last year and I loved the organization and simplicity of being able to easily plan and cook a week's worth of meals using only one resource (no technology needed).  The longer I trucked on swiping the unlock button on the iPad mid stir of a sizzling stove, the more I realized that a recipe portion of a home management binder was a mighty fine idea.

The final product!

This blog was a great resource at how she constructed her home management binder.  And Pinterest is full of printables and ideas for home management.  But because I'm a craft fanatic and a typeface snob, I made my own.  I trekked over to our local cartoleria Cartamarket (picture a microscopic Office Depot with minimal selection) and picked out a bright yellow binder, binder dividers, and 100+ plastic page protectors.  I added card stock, washitape, and printed on paper doilies to make sure everything was ultra adorable.  I used Antrokas and St Marie fonts.  You can download them for freezle here and here.

The Organize Divider

I used this weekly meal planning printable to brainstorm what type of format I wanted for my typed pages.

So far, my home management binder includes:

Info/Emergency Contact Sheet
Organize Divider
Daily Schedule (fairly specific including bath times for Finn and especially quite times with the Lord)

Our daily schedule page.

Clean Divider
Chore Schedule (daily cleaning activities that take 15 minutes)
Tasks for a Deep Clean
Favorite Cleaning Products
Daily Cleaning Needs
How to Wash and Dry Linens and Clothes (important for guests or folks house sitting)
How to Wash and Dry Diapers (ULTRA important for any helpful hands I've I'm every quarantined for illness)
House Sit Divider
Bear Watching Instructions
Housesitting Instructions
Cook Divider
Weekly Meal Planning sheet (I use a dry erase marker on the outside of the page protector for the weekly plan so I don't have to print new sheets weekly)

Dry erase weekly meal plan.

Menu Ideas (a master list of all of our favorite and typical meals with sides included-used to make meal plan each week)
Kitchen Staples (double check this list before the grocery each week)
Dinners Divider
Dinner Recipes (alphabetized and individually printed recipes from Pinterest/emails/Facebook/my favorite recipe site each in a page protector-I didn't do front a back with separate recipes so I can take the recipes out of the binder to cook)

Dinners divider with washi tape label.

Sides Divider
Side Recipes
Appetizers Divider
Appetizers Recipes
Sweets Divider
Sweets Recipe

I plan on adding:
Finn's Learning Divider
Tot School (ideas for at home learning activities from my friend's great blog here)

Budget (under the organize divider)

Health Records (under the organize divider)

Some binders suggest home projects, car maintenance, etc.  The possibilities for life organization are endless!  On the front of my binder I printed Proverbs 31: 25-31.

She is clothed with strength and dignity,
    and she laughs without fear of the future.

When she speaks, her words are wise,
    and she gives instructions with kindness.

She carefully watches everything in her household
    and suffers nothing from laziness.

Her children stand and bless her.
    Her husband praises her:

“There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
    but you surpass them all!”

Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
    but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.

Reward her for all she has done.

    Let her deeds publicly declare her praise. 

Honestly, the Proverbs 31 woman is admirable, awesome, inspiring, a mild workaholic.  But she is unattainable in and of our own efforts.  Only through Christ can I be a loving wife, joyful mother, happy worker, and productive home manager.  So I put these verses front and center to remind me that my first priority is to the Lord, and through Him this home can be managed.

To get started on your home management binder, you can find the PDFs I made with a list of all of our typical meals here and here.