Household Binder Love

I've seen family binder challenges all over blogland since January. Thanks to so many great, inspirational bloggers, I have been motivated to clean up and bring some order into my home. I love to be organized and could be really obsessive about it if I didn't control myself! I mean things like color coordinating EVERYTHING--labels, containers, tab folders, etc., or spending copious amounts of time figuring out how to determine categories for filing, etc.

But, thanks to bloggers like Jen from iHeart Organizing, I have put my organizational skills to work. I decided to participate in her Household Binder challenge.

Without further ado, here's how I organized my binder. I still have some work to do, but it's a start. I used most of Jen's wonderful printables (and of course tried to color coordinate everything!).

Here's my binder:

I was going to get one of Target's pretty ones but decided to be frugal and use something I already had on hand. I got some pretty scrapbook paper from Michael's and slipped it into the clear pockets on the front and spine. I didn't label my binder or put in a cover sheet, because it's the only binder (so far) that I have. A recipe binder will follow at some point.

I got the pocket tab dividers from Target:

And labeled the tabs with these categories:

Important Dates
Calendars
Important Information
Auto Logs
Gifts and Wish Lists
Household Wants
Finances

Here's what's inside:

Important Dates

Calendars

Important Information

Auto Logs

Gifts and Wish Lists

Household Wants (in this section I included places to jot down things I'd like to get for the house or movies or books that I'd like to read)

Finances (I made up my own charts here. I pay almost everything online but do get a couple of bills. Those will be placed in the front pocket of the tab divider. All I really need is a place to jot down the bills that need to be paid for the month, the amount, when they are paid, and totals.)

That's it for now. I have room left to add categories if needed, and I would also like to add a zipper pouch to keep pencils, pens, stamps, and anything else I might need to keep the binder up and running.

I'm looking forward to having everything all in one place!

Linking up to these parties: