Organizing Life with Binders

Another school year has begun, and it’s as if the dust has just started to settle from a 3 month long tornado. The inside of all my cabinets felt the wrath… Even I slacked off on trying to keep things organized. 

Teachers have students bring binders to school to stay organized.  Why not take a play from their book and try it out at home?

So far, I have used binders for two things that had otherwise became clutter in my home, and it has already made life so much easier.

First off... My Sports Binder

Anybody that has been paying attention, has noticed that a big part of our lives revolve around our children’s athletics.

Over the years, my kids have been in numerous sports, and every time we purchased the pictures they offered. 

It’s great to look back and see how much they’ve grown.  However, there got to be so many, I was slipping them in random folders and drawers, “for the time being.”  They went from nostalgic to a nuisance.

I finally had enough!  I went to the store and bought:

A Binder
Subject Dividers
Letter Sized Sheet Protectors
4x6 picture Sheet Protectors
Fun Stickers (optional)

Once I had everything, it was all about putting it together. 

I used the subject dividers to separate the kids.

I organized the seasons by date, so when you flipped through, you watched the kids get older. The letter sized protectors were for their team and individual pages.  Then the 4x6 protectors were for any single shots that we still had left over.

After all was said and done, I had a great place to put all of the kids’ sports photos that kept them safe and made it easily accessible for whomever wanted to look at them.

Coupon Binder

If you are anything like me, this is one of the hardest things to keep organized.  You cut out a coupon, stick it in a drawer or your purse/wallet, and then forget about it until it has long since expired.  Then there’s the hassle of flipping through your stack in the store isles to see exactly what you have, or shuffling through store ads to see what deals are out there.

I’d thought about making one of these in the past, but never did.  It felt a little embarrassing to me, thinking that people would judge me as if I were advertising the fact that I needed to use coupons.  That ship has sailed!!  I have long since learned the error of my ways!

Let me tell you… when you have a family of 6, and we all need food, clothes, medicine, and personal items, you need all the help you can get, including (and not limited to) coupons.  This binder has made shopping so much easier and not as stressful.

What I used:

A Binder   
Subject Dividers
Trading Card Protectors

**My subject dividers are the ones with a pocket in the front.  I found this helpful in the store to keep track of the coupons I was planning on giving to the cashier.**

I used the subject dividers to separate the types of coupons. My labels are:

Breakfast, Snacks, Meats & Cheeses, Dinners, Drinks, Laundry & Cleaning, Personal Items, and Misc.

Using the trading card protectors, I organized the coupons.  If I had two of the same one, placed them in the same pocket but made sure the one with the earliest expiration date was on top.

Finishing off the binder… At the back, I used a letter sized sheet protector, left over from the Sports Binder (mentioned above), and placed restaurant and fast food coupons inside.

 

Then making sure to switch them out every week, I slip the shopping ads in the front pouch.

I was then ready to do some shopping.

I have had so much success with this so far, there’s no telling what other things will soon be organized in binders.

Have you used binders to make your life easier in any way?

What other ways have you used to stay organized?

Comment below to let me know!

Until next time…

Happy DIY-ing!!!