How to Set Up a Household Binder with Printables

Use printables to set up a household binder and organize all your important family information in one place.

This post was originally published in 2018 and updated in 2024.

I use my personal planner daily, but my household binder is the real secret sauce that keeps me organized.

My household binder is filled with printables for organizing everything from bills and cleaning schedules to remembering birthdays and all kinds of to-do lists.

There are tons of planner printables here on One Mama’s Daily Drama, so I want to show you how I use them and keep them organized. If you’re setting up a DIY home management binder, here is everything you need to get started.

DIY household binder

Supplies

• 1-inch 3-ring binder
• 3-hole punch
• tabbed dividers
• clear plastic sleeves

Instructions

1. Choose and print inserts.

Every household binder is personal. The first thing you need to do is decide what you want to keep track of and print those inserts. This set of 36 life organization printables is a great place to start!

2. Sort into categories.

Organize your printables into categories that make sense to you. Write the categories on the tabbed dividers and add them to the binder. You may or may not need all of these categories. And it might make sense to divide them into smaller categories (eg. separate sections for bills and student loans).

• Address book
• Financial
• Meal planning
• Housekeeping
• Kids/school
• Pets
• Medical

3. Punch holes and file.

The last step is to punch holes in all your printables and put them into the categories of your binder. Add one of the clear sleeves in each category to add extra things like bills in financial or your vet’s business card in pets. Once you’ve got it assembled, you’ll want to reference and update your binder often!

Household binder printables

You can see all the home binder inserts included in the 36 life organization printables set.

Address book

The first section of my household binder includes vital information. It’s a quick reference so I don’t have to look up anything in a pinch.

I also keep all my address book-type information here.

• birthday calendar
• contacts list
• passwords

Financial

This section includes my yearly bill planner. I write down the amount and due date as soon as I receive a bill. Most come via email, but if I have a bill that comes in the mail, I keep those in a clear sleeve. I sit down every Friday to balance my monthly budget and pay bills. When a bill is paid, I highlight it in green.

I’ve also used this section for organizing student loan information and tracking debt repayments.

Meal planning

My meal planning section has a sleeve for my weekly meal plan. This is also a good place for a list of your family’s favorite meals, master grocery list, freezer inventory, and pantry inventory.

I recently moved all of my meal planning printables to my recipe binder, since that’s where I’m more likely to use them.

Housekeeping

Having a regular housekeeping routine is handy for organizing chores into daily, weekly, and monthly schedules. For things that you don’t do on a fixed schedule but want to track, this when did I last printable is handy.

The sleeve in this section is where I keep things like:

• appliance warranty information
• plumber, electrician, etc. business cards
• paint cards for the colors throughout the house

Kids/school

You could print a few extra pages of the contacts list to keep up with teachers, PTA, etc. Add the academic calendar. When my kids were little (and growing so wildly) I kept a kids’ info cheat sheet for each of them here. It was so handy for remembering clothing sizes!

Pets

My dogs’ vet has an app that organizes all of their info, but you might use this section for:

• pet sitter-type info like food brands, feeding schedules, or medications
• vaccine records or schedule
• vet contact information

Medical

You probably want to keep most medical records separately, but this would be a good place to keep the things you need to access frequently:

• prescription paperwork
• kids’ shot records
• doctors’ contact information

More home binder printables

Of course, you can keep anything that you find helpful in your household binder. In the back of mine, I have several pages that I like to use randomly. Having a few printed copies means I can grab one when I need it.

• Lined notes are helpful when you need to add to any section but want it to be pretty and match.
• I use this brain dump worksheet anytime I’m feeling overwhelmed by everything I’m trying to keep up with (which is often).
• And a wishlist comes in handy to curb impulse shopping and help you plan for birthdays and holidays.

What’s next? Try these other fun and creative ideas on One Mama’s Daily Drama:

• Desktop Organizer Wallpaper
• How to Organize Photos on Your Computer
• How to Organize Paper Clutter Once and For All