How to Make Your Own Home Management System!!!

Hey!!! I do this weird thing where I see something that I want or want to make/create and I talk myself out of it. I’ll look at a completed version of the “thing” I want and notice something about it that doesn’t necessarily apply to me or I’ll think that the “thing” has no business in the lifestyle of a person like me. I know that probably sounds a little weird – but to be fair, I started the post telling you that it was weird. LOL!!!

Anyhoo…a little over a year ago I was on Pinterest I believe (or it may have been YouTube) and I saw pins/ a video with home management binders/systems and I thought “I need one of those!” After creating a board on my Pinterest account and adding tons of pins, I watched a few YT videos I started noticing a common thread. That common thread was family. Most of the women who were creating the home management binders/systems were married women with children. Bummer for Robyn, because Robyn is a single gal with no husband or kids. Needless to say, I kinda stopped thinking about it.

If you have ever read any of my blog posts (specifically the one or two from the beginning of the year – because let’s face it, I typically start off kinda strong with the posts and then I fall all of the way off!!!) you know that I tend to get REALLY busy!!! This year (2019) started off way busier than I expected. I started having meetings very early on in January and the meetings, workshops, activities and events didn’t slow down until June!!! Like literally a few days ago!!! Because I got soooo busy, I really regretted not creating a home management system because it probably would have kept me a little bit more organized and more than likely saved me a little more time with certain things around my home and life. As I’ve gotten older and busier (SMH) I’ve come to the realization that routines are very important. I do have routines: I wake up, brush my teeth, wash my face, go to work…blah blah blah…but when I get off work or on my days off I sometime struggle with “what to do?”

Last month (May 2019) I decided that I was going to create myself a home management binder!!! I felt that I really needed one and it would keep me a little more organized around the house.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room – what is a home management system? In “Robyn’s terms” (LOL – do you like how I just made my thoughts sound real official?!?!) a home management system is a way to keep important things related to your life in one space – easily and readily accessible (i.e. important phone numbers, physicians information, budget, car maintenance, school schedules, etc). They are totally customizable. Like I stated earlier, the majority of the ones I’ve seen are geared towards families… so my system probably won’t “look” like that because that’s not my life. There will be some things that are common to home management systems that my system will have.

So…although I didn’t put my home management system together until last month, I had done some research. I begin most, if not all projects with a little bit of research. It allows me to determine what exists and what adjustments I need to make in order to complete a project…or what gaps exist and how I can fill those gaps.

Now I’m going to tell you the structure of my home management system so you can make your own that will fit your lifestyle!

First things first, my home management system is in an old Kikki-K A5 planner. I originally planned to purchase a three-ring binder (like most of the ones I saw on Pinterest), but then I ran across this AWESOME YouTube (YT) video where a lady used a Kikki-K A5. Can you say a stroke of genius!!! I had a really pretty yellow A5 that I hadn’t used in years that was just sitting in a drawer in my guest bedroom. Using that planner meant that I didn’t have to purchase much of anything!!! I actually only purchased patterned paper and some blank inserts. You may decide that it is more feasible for you to purchase a binder. I’m not sure how much my system will hold, but since it’s just me…I didn’t need a huge binder.

Second, I had to decide what I wanted to include in my binder and how I wanted to present and separate the information in the planner. I knew I wanted to have my physicians information, car maintenance and recipes (although while typing this post I realized that I totally skipped that section..SMH) in the binder, but I also wanted to ensure that the A5 wasn’t going to be empty!!! That would be a complete waste!!! I also new that I wanted to create dividers, because I wanted to hand letter the tabs of course! Take the time to decide what information you want in your home management system. That will determine how you need to organize the information and how. I decided on the following sections:

1. Emergency Contacts
2. Doctor’s Info
3. Birthdays
4. Bill Pay
5. Kinley (my Chorkie ;-))
6. Daily Routines
7. Cleaning
8. Home
9. Car
10. Projects

After I decided what I wanted to include in the binder, I got a little crafty!!! I knew that I wanted to hand letter some of the information so that meant that I would need special paper. I remembered that I had a huge Rhodia Pad of dotted paper (that I would probably never use for anything) in my craft room. I cut that to A5 paper size and punched it so that the paper would fit nicely into the binder. That was honestly the most time consuming part. I had to find some spare time to cut the paper. I actually could have gone to an office supply store and have them cut it, but that would have been a waste of money since I had all of the supplies I needed at home.

After I cut and punched the paper, I decided to make dividers so that I could showcase my fancy hand lettering (just kidding…well kinda…hand lettering is a tad fancy) on the tabs. I used some floral, rose gold hearts and gold polka papers! I absolutely LOVE the way they turned out!!!

Lastly, I decorated the interior pockets with some journal cards (I have a ton of those) and some tags (I absolutely LOVE making tags out of patterned paper!!!). I also still had the beautiful pink, yellow, white and gold tassel I purchased from this fab shop called Posh Pieces!!! You may not want to do all that. LOL!!! I am completely extra sometimes and I’m a little crafty with a whole lotta craft supplies so I try to use what I have to make things a little snazzier 😉

That’s all it took to create this beautiful system. I haven’t totally used it yet, but I can’t wait to sit down, organize and fill it! I think I’m going to purchase a cute little easel and showcase it in my kitchen once it’s done. I also have plans on making the “birthdays” section super cute! I’ll definitely share a blog post when I complete that section!!! I’m so excited about that!!!

You can find the Kikki-K Home Management Binder video here: https://youtu.be/6EgZDt97axE

You can get a personalized tassel here at Posh Pieces: https://poshpieces.bigcartel.com/?fbclid=IwAR3iCtIIeIqELImt9A342M29y7Se7L1jLvi4uNKwuyZJ5ihZJxq109xu4DA

You can find A5 inserts here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C65R11P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

xoxo Robyn