My Organization Binder

I have shared my organization binder on this blog before, but I often switch things up, and just love the way it's looking right now so I thought I would share!

When you open my binder you see a few things inside the front flap of the binder. I have my laminated cleaning schedule tucked in there as well as the 52 week money challenge that I'm hoping to complete this year. There's also a couple gift cards I need to use and some post it notes, which I seem to use every day! =)

My dividers for this binder are labeled as; lists, making money, bill payments, budget, spending log, savings log, fitness, gifts, addresses, and inventory.

In my first section I have quite a few lists which is appropriate since that the title of this section. I have a list of projects to complete, and lists of items donated to the Salvation Army.

Below, you will see my list from Samantha at Simply Organized organizing my scrapbooks to complete.

I also have a list of items that I eventually want to use in quilts. I plan on either making or having quilts made containing items from my dancing days and my days at URI. I have quite a few t-shirts, costumes, and other clothing items that I have stored away for this future project so I want to keep them organized.

In my Making Money section, I use this printable to keep track of my money made through e-bay, paychecks, etc..

In the Bill Payment section, I use this printable to keep track of what bills I have paid and what bills I still need to pay.

Monthly Budget is just that, a monthly budget. I try to budget out my money every month so I won't spend enormous amounts on things that I actually don't need.

I also use my spending log to keep track of every purchase that I make. I like to do this so I can add up everything I spend and see if I'm on track with my budgeting.

My Savings log is where I keep track of the money I've been saving in my savings account.

In the Fitness section, I keep a bunch of fitness inspiration including magazine articles and workouts I've written down from different websites, blogs, and pinterest.

I did not include pictures of my gift section because you have already have seen this previously, and it has not changed. I still use the same gift tracking printable.

I also did not include pictures of my address section. This is simply because I have addresses for friends and family in this section which I cannot share due to privacy reasons. I also have my address labels in this section, which I can't show you for my own privacy!

My last section is my inventory. I have so many boxes stored away in the attic, kitchen stuff, childhood items, etc.. and I want to know what is in every last box in case I want to find something. I also keep track of my DVD collection, books that I own, etc. I am just crazy OCD! =)

This is where this little binder lives, with my Blog binder and my Coupon Binder. Just a little thing that keeps my life a little more organized!

Do you have an organization binder? What kinds of things do you keep organized in your binder?

Blog Organization Binder

Hey everyone!

Today I wanted to share a project I had been thinking about for some time. I hinted towards this project during Tuesday's post  but wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do entirely at that point. I took some time yesterday to jot down a list of ideas and came up with something that I think will work for now.

Without further ado- here is the project I want to share with you today....

I recently decided to start a "Blog Binder" for this little blog project of mine. I have been investing quite a bit of time into this baby and thought that it was about time that I started getting everything organized for it.

Also, as this blog grows, there is so much more to keep track of. I have so many ideas constantly popping into my head for posts and I have ended up writing them on my regular to-do lists and it is far too confusing. I am ready to have a place solely dedicated to this blog.

So first off, I took my new Staples Better Binder (which are by far my favorite binders on the planet- because I'm a nerd and actually have a favorite binder...) and created a simple cover page and a spine label.

Then I gathered some extra dividers that I had hanging around and created eight different sections.

My sections are as follows: Calendar, Blog Topics, Income-Cash, Income- Products, Printables, Reader Questions, Birchbox, and Empties.

I may create more sections as the blog adapts, changes, and my projects get bigger, but for now these will work.

The first section is the Calendar:

I have a blank calendar for each month and as I write posts (or have an idea of when I will be posting a certain post) I write it down in the calendar for that month. That way I can keep track of what days I have posts uploading and make sure that my content is making it onto the blog!

My next section is all about future blog posts. This is where I can jot down any ideas I have for the blog.

Sorry but this section is definitely top secret! It contains ideas that have just flown into my mind, and also ideas that other people may have given me or requested!

The next section is Income- Cash

For this section I used Sam's printable (if you haven't seen Sam's blog, Simply Organized, you are seriously missing out- definitely my favorite blog of all time!) She created a printable to keep track of blog income by month.

The same is true for my next section, Income-Products. I used Sam's printable to keep track of any products earned through this blogging venture.

 The next two sections, I don't have pictures to share because I haven't done anything with them yet. Printables is completely empty at the moment. My plan is to start creating my own printables for this blog and offer them to you, my readers! As I develop each printable, I will print a copy and keep it in this section for my records.

Then in the reader questions section, that is where you come in! If you have a question and leave it in the comments, I will be jotting it down in here so I can do a post where I will be able to answer your question!

Birchbox, is where I will keep track of all the products that come in my Birchbox and my thoughts on them so I can share that with you each month. I usually just wrote this information down on a piece of paper and threw it away afterwards, but this way I know where that paper is!

Empties is where I keep track of all the beauty products I have used up throughout the season. You can see on this paper, I have titled it fall empties and then blurred out all the products I have written down so far...no sneak previews!

Finally, in the front of the binder, I will be starting to keep track of my blog statistics. This printable is also from Sam at Simply Organized, and I want to use it to keep track of how much this blog grows throughout the next year. I will be starting this in January.

For now my Blog Binder lives in between My Organization Binder and My Coupon Binder.

If you are a blogger, do you have a Blog Binder? How do you organize it? I would love to hear!

To Do List Notebook and Organization Binder Update

I am here today with my updated organization binder and my new to-do list system. I know last week I briefly discussed making a new system for my to-do list. I needed to change something because I was constantly finding post it notes with things written down, and having to rewrite my list over and over again- enter, my to-do list notebook!

This baby was purchased at Staples and is part of the Martha Stewart collection. I absolutely love these notebooks (I already own two of the larger ones) and think that the color and pattern of this one is just adorable.

This notebook has several lists inside already, the first is my work to-do list.

(I have blurred out any sensitive information throughout this post to keep the privacy of my students and myself)

The next list is my personal to-do list

Then on the third page I have my Blog Topics list where I list things that are happening in the next month or so that I can blog about. I also would place any topics that are suggested or requested by readers on this page.

In addition to the above pages, I also have a page that outlines my blog posts for the next few weeks. It is not a definite list of topics, but I like to keep an idea of what topics I want to cover and how many "free" days I have to blog about personal things such as my weekend recap, or an exciting event that has happened. I like to plug in my organizational topics and other posts that I know I want to do first, and then add in the filler so there is a variety.

In addition to my new to-do list, I wanted to review how my organizational binder is helping me and what sections I've been using and what sections I haven't.

My tabs are labeled as follows: Calendar, Lists, Bill Payment, Budget, Spending, Saving, Style, Workouts, Gifts and Inventory.

I never use the calendar tab. Ever. I have my planner which I carry with me 24/7 so I really don't need a tab for a calendar in this binder. I am still unsure what I will put in that section but I am still thinking about it. I will let you know when I figure it out.

In my lists section, I have a huge list of projects I want to complete...

A list of scrapbooks to complete...

A plan for my dance quilt and URI quilt...

and some future home ideas...

Next, I have a bill payment check-sheet where I keep track of all the bills I have to pay and check them off after I have scheduled the payment for them. I keep track of what bills are scheduled, what ones need to be scheduled and my current balance on my credit cards on the post it notes. I update these about every 1-2 weeks to make sure I'm keeping an accurate account of what is going on with my finances.

In my budget section I keep a sheet that details all of the categories i foresee myself spending money. I make an estimation about how much I can spend in each category and then at the end of the month I fill out the actual column and calculate if I was over or under my budget goal. Keeping track like this makes me spend a lot less than I did before that is for sure!

I also keep track of every purchase I make in the spending section of my binder. It really helps me make sure I am staying on track

In the saving section I keep track of all the money I make in my paychecks and also in other ways, through rebates, swagbucks, ebay, etc...

I keep track of my coupon savings...

and keep my savings balance up to date...

Finally in the gifts section- I keep track of gift ideas for friends and family..

What I've already purchased for them..

Extra gifts I have around I could always use...

Stocking stuffer ideas...

And lists of what has been given to me so I know how much to spend on people...

The other sections of my blog aren't used quite as often, and style and workouts are mostly just for me to keep reference articles and papers in. The inventory hasn't been updated in awhile but it is where I keep track of things such as my DVDs and books.

and that's it! That's what my new to-do list notebook looks like and what my organization binder is doing these days. Let me know how you keep these things organized!