Mother's Manual - Guest Post

I am pleased to have Becky guest-posting for me from Purposeful Homemaking today!

Thanks, Becky! I love your ideas!

Hi! My name is Becky and I blog over at Purposeful Homemaking. I am very excited to guest post for Johanna today.

If you’re looking to start taking some steps towards getting more organized, you’ll probably like taking a sneak peek at my Mother’s Manual. But first, let me tell you a little about me…I love to blog about living frugally and keeping life simple at Purposeful Homemaking. I am a simple girl who is passionate about making a home for my family. I love to share ideas with others, whether it is recipes for the kitchen, natural solutions for your home, or of course, ways to save money!

If you’re looking for some baby steps to get your life a bit more manageable I think making a Home Manual will help. Actually, I know it will. :-) Let’s get started!

My manual is a 3-ring plastic binder with a clear cover. It contains just about everything pertinent to my role as a home manager.

One of the goals of having this binder is to reduce the amount of wasted time by having things in one place. It includes helpful tools such as a Meal Planning, Budgeting and more.

I call mine a Manual because if I had a job in the workforce, I'd more than likely have some type of a manual that would assist me in my job. Well, my job is a SAHM mom and I have my manual for that too! It's a work in progress but I've already seen the benefits of having it.

To get started, I printed the cover and a few other pages here. Inside my notebook, I have tab dividers for the following sections:

• Birthday Cakes/Themes
• Blessings
• Blog (running list of ideas I want to post about)
• Books I want to Read
• Craft Ideas
• Decorating Ideas
• Emergency Contacts/CPR
• Finances (includes a list of needs and projects that need to be done. You could also include a printout of your budget under this section.)
• Holidays (traditions, recipes, decorating ideas, gift ideas)
• Homeschooling (helpful articles, ideas)
• Hospitality (list of meals that are particularly good for entertaining, or cute place setting ideas)
• Household Cleaners (recipes for natural options)
• Inventory (freezer, pantry and paper products)
• Marriage (helpful articles, inspirational writings)
• Maximize Your Mornings (plan of action for getting up earlier)
• Menu Plan (my calendar of meals, list of ingredients for each of those meals)
• Ministries
• Natural Remedies
• Parenting
• Routines/Weekly Schedule

I also keep a portable 3-hole punch in the back for hole-punching articles that I want to file under one of my tabs.

A Home Manual is a very inexpensive tool that will help you as you manage your home. Personally, I think every home ought to have one whether you are single, married, have children or not. It helps you be more efficient with your time and it might even help with your sanity knowing everything's in one spot! :-) I think that this also makes a great bridal shower gift. I wish someone had gotten me started on one of these when I first got married!

Have you made one of these? Have you found it to be helpful? If so, share your tips in the comment section. Thanks for reading!

Thanks for having me on your blog today, Johanna!

If you found this post to be helpful, then I sincerely hope you’ll join me at Purposeful Homemaking for more tips like this!