Homemaking Binder

I finished my homemaking binder enough where I feel I can finally show you! Its not perfect but it works for right now until I figure out what I have to change to make it work better.

Its split into sections:

Devotions
Meal Planning
Recipes
Cleaning
Detailed Cleaning
Blog Planner
Kid Information
Birthday Organizer
LyTen Love Customer Template
Camping List
Idea Pages

I will also be adding a page for the children I am watching this fall-spring. It will be an information page with their parents information, emergency and anything I need to know about their schedules.

I will have a separate homeschool binder that will keep all my template pages in so I know where to get another if I need one. Also, it will have our schedule and ideas in it. My normal planner will be placed inside my homemaking binder because I look at it every morning.

So here it is!! I will be putting a link to where I had gotten the pages from. If I don’t post a link- I will I might just have to search again for it!! I always want to give credit to the amazing people out there giving free printables! They rock!

Starting my page out I had made a simple Hernandez family mission statement! Its how we run our household and its a nice reminder for myself and the kids!! I simply typed house rules into Pinterest and got a few ideas and wrote them down.

This verse reminds me not to be lazy.

She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:27

Kat from Inspired to Action talks about why moms need mission statements and also helps you create your own mission statement.

Click Here to create your own!

Bible Reading Plan

Prayers for your Husband

Prayers for your Children

I am trying to do my own bible study and this is a help sheet so I can go over some verses.

Bible Study

Meal Planning I found a great blog to get some awesome ideas from and printables!

Weekly List

Shopping List

Meal Planning

This is just a common recipe that we have used in the past that I just made in word and printed!

I took a picture because I made this divider for my cleaning section. The tab is on the top so its easy to get to! I use this section the most and need it frequently! I simply cut a file folder in half and punched it with my 3-hole punch.

These are my daily cleaning lists. It is specific to my house and it works for us. Not everyone will be able to use the same cleaning list. I have found that looking at many different lists and then creating one to my house was the best for me. You can find so many lists on Pinterest or even just looking online!

More cleaning lists!

I also have a detailed cleaning list that I use for when I have extra time I can go on there and find a few that I can do quickly. they are mostly the main things that don’t need cleaning everyday or week.

I havent been very good at keeping up with blogging and planning I just write whatever I really want. I have been wanting to be more organized and have a list of things I can write about incase I get an idea block!! I found this simple but useful blog topic printable off
Blog Topics

Kid information

This is my template I use for custom orders for my owls. It’s just something simple I made in word and printed. Super simple for me. I know many people have made their templates more elaborate but simple for me works much better!

Camping lists that I have made for my family. They are in the protectors because I use a simple dry erase marker and check of what we have packed!! We each have individual lists as well that have what each person needs.

Camping List

This section is my inspiration! I get a few magazines in the mail and usually rip items out of the magazine and put here. Whether designs for the girls rooms, the kitchen or party planning. It all goes here. I don’t get many magazines so I don’t have many and I usually like Pinterest but it is nice to see party planning ideas in here.

This is my binder I had gotten from Staples. It is the Martha Stewart brand!! Which I love teal and it was perfect!! A little expensive but I decided I could spend a little for something I will use everyday!! I also wanted to show the printables I made for my sections which I havent put in here yet!! It’s still a little work in progress. I made the designs from word from the clip art. It was simple and cheap!! I may one day change them but for now they work great!

I hope this can help you be inspired to make your own binder for your family!! It has helped me stay on track with cleaning!

Prepping for Homeschooling

This August I will be watching a friends son. I am pretty excited to have someone for the girls to play with! They are excited I think as well. I have been trying to get the house prepared for when he starts coming middle of August! Which is almost here! Two weeks about! Prepping for homeschooling Lyla this year, getting the house straightened up and organized, and spending time with my girls has been keeping me busy!

My mother is helping me get things organized for teaching Lyla. I am so thankful she has been so great finding so many items in her home that can help us. Manipulatives and also printing out great items. She has been setting up little containers as sensory buckets. They are amazing! I cannot thank her enough! I was afraid of how much homeschooling costs and really I haven’t had to buy anything. Mostly free printables or homemade items from around the house!

Once, I get it all arranged and set up I will post pictures!! I am hoping to post our home school adventures every week. We are starting September 1st! Wish us luck!

Holiday Catch Up

 

It’s now Tuesday night and I am still not caught up on house cleaning. Yikes!! I feel way behind since the holiday weekend. Monday I woke up determined to get so many things done. Cross off my entire list and boom! I felt so sick. I am not sure what was going on, but I definitely couldn’t stand long without feeling like I was going to fall over. It ended up going away around 430. I did end up accomplishing one load of laundry, the dishes and straightening up the downstairs before daddy came home. Also, I had to figure out insurance information and get it all switched so it would cover the new doctor we had for the girls. We had an appointment for today and it had to be switched. So last minute. Whew! That was close! ha

Today, I had to get the girls ready for their doctor appointment. Which was nervous for since they have not been to the doctor in awhile and we were seeing a new pediatrician. I am thankful that I had figured out all the insurance mumbo jumbo and we could keep our appointment. The girls are healthy and getting so big!! Lyla is such a peanut at 29.2 lbs and Tenley at 23 lbs 12 oz she is catching up quick!!

Ended up coming home and daddy was home from already! Tenley and I took a nap while daddy and Lyla went out to the garage “to work on some wood with tools” Lyla said. She was pretty excited about all this “work” they had to do together. They were out there for awhile that Ten and I got a good snooze in.

Tomorrow, I have three other kids to watch and I am hoping to get some cleaning done before they get here at 2pm. Wish me luck!! This is hopefully to prepare me for having more kids!! I’ll probably say about 4! You might not want to ask Tony because I am sure he would say “more kids? I don’t think so!”

Babies are too cute to resist!! We will see what I say tomorrow at 6pm when all the kids are gone!

Homemaker Binder

Lately, I have browsing Pinterest and have been obsessing with organization. I started searching house binder, homemaking binder, and home management binder and found tons of great sites with lots of free printables. I have been wanting to get a better schedule for myself and get organized with my cleaning. Some days I get a little off track and I am hoping this will help!

On Monday is July 1st. I am hoping by July 31st I will have a completed binder!! Giving myself 30 days is plenty of time to gather ideas, print off sheets and get a binder all organized. I am obsessed with lists and Tony always tells me whats the point of a list if I don’t ever use them. Well, this is hopefully a way I can keep my lists together and actually cross a ton off!!

I have a few main categories I want to have in the binder and then I will be doing subcategories.

Main:

Mission statement- I found this on http://www.inspiredtoaction.com

here is a link about why mothers need a mission statement.
http://inspiredtoaction.com/2010/02/purposeful-motherhood-why-moms-need-mission-statements/

Prayers and Daily Devotions- (monthly prayer lists for Tony and the kids)

To Do List- (daily, weekly, monthly)

Calendar- (weekly, monthly)

Cleaning- (morning routine, night-time routine, daily, weekly, monthly)

Kids Routines- (morning, night-time, weekly)

Sitting- This is for the children I am watching (child information, schedule, parent information, emergency information)

Menu- (meal planning, favorite recipes, grocery lists)

Bills- (due date, what is paid, payment plans)

Extras- (birthday lists, important numbers)

I will probably be adding as I go by and think of more items. Starting tomorrow I will be making my deep cleaning list and breaking down what I would like to do daily on what day that works for our family. I am pretty excited to get it started! I will post all the links I find the great printables as well. I am probably going to have to make a few myself just to fit it to our family but in the end I hope it works great for us!!

Do you have a homemaking binder? I would love to see if you have posted! When I finish mine I will be doing a post of it!

My Golden Birthday

So it’s about 3 and half months away from my golden birthday! September I will be turning 27! Yikes. I know most are like yeah you’re still young and have lots of time. I know I probably do but then I sit here and think of how fast it has been since Lyla was born. That was 4 years ago!! I still can’t believe it! I don’t understand how quickly it can pass. I remember when time seemed soo slow when I was in high school and younger. I felt like the school year would never end. I guess time passes by when you’re having fun. I must be having the time of my life because I swear just yesterday I was 20. I have a lot of amazing things that have happened. Two of my biggest accomplishments are my two beautiful girls. I wouldn’t change a thing. They are the best. I feel most days they make me feel young, but at the same time old. Tony and I have been together for 7 years which is pretty incredible. Crazy to think about!!

I was reading a great blog about how she just turned 29 and she wanted to do 30 things before she turned 30.
Here is a link to the post! Check it out!
http://optimisticfascination.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/birthday-goals-29-things-to-do-before-i-turn-30/

I got so inspired. Made me want to make a list as well. Except, I will be doing 30 things before I am thirty and I will have 3 years instead of just one year. I want to give myself good time for a few things and this is the perfect way to go about it. Yeah there are many things I want to do before I die but there are some short-term goals I would like to have done!

These are not in order of what I want to do. It’s just a list of what I want to do! I will probably randomly cross things off the next three years.

1. Buy a house

2. Get a tattoo

3. Finish the girls baby scrapbooks

4. Join a gym

5. Get married to Tony

6. Have a garden and eat from it

7. Take more family pictures. Hoping every 6 months!

8. Sew a dress

9. Go to Ikea in Chicago

10. Run three miles straight

11. Open my Etsy Shop

12. Swim in the ocean

13. Read the entire Bible

14. Get a dog

15. Say yes to everything for one entire day. (don’t tell anyone of course what day)

16. Go to church at least 20 times

17. Go to a midnight premiere

18. Keep up with my blog

19. Have a kid free weekend with Tony at a hotel out-of-town

20. Learn sign language and teach the girls

21. Bake a 3 layer cake

22. Limit my time on social media (Facebook, twitter, internet, blogs, pinterest, and instagram)

23. Spend more family time together, make memories the girls will remember

24. Ride my bike with the girls in the trailer often

25. Be successful with my business

26. Visit family more- mom and dad, grandparents, sister and brothers

27. Finish all the laundry- don’t have any dirty clothes besides the ones on us
(this one might be the hardest one haha)

28. Finish more projects

29. Read 200 books

30. Print out most of the pictures I have taken and at least put them in albums

Hopefully I can accomplish most if not all of these!! I would love to cross all the them off!! I am pretty excited to start a few of these! I feel like if I can see them I will do them!! It will be a constant reminder hey get on track!! Don’t slack!! Wish me good luck!! Here’s to crossing things off my list!

What do you want to do? What is your bucketlist?

Staying Home and Being a Homemaker

A year ago I was blessed to be able to quit my job and stay home with my two girls. Tony works at an asphalt company mainly from April through November. During the off-season he does snow plowing for the company. At the time I quit, Tenley was just 5 months old. I had a very rough pregnancy with her and ended up missing lots of work. I don’t regret missing any of the days because it was better for her health and my own. I was also commuting 45 minutes to get to work and 45 minutes back. It was horrible, not including the late shifts I was given.

We ended up going over our finances and figured out that once he went back to work in April a month away, my paycheck was going to a babysitter and gas. Is that really how I wanted my kids growing up?! The babysitter taking care of them when my paycheck wasnt providing anything besides paying them.

The next day I put my two weeks in. Best decision ever!!

Some days I will admit are a huge struggle for me. It can get very hectic around here. You feel sometimes alone and that you’re missing a lot.

Even though some days are insane you really are gaining so much. It’s truly a blessing. Remember your children will grow in ways you never thought possible.

I am not the perfect homemaker. Some days have been lazy days, dishes piled up and laundry got out of hand. There were days I took advantage of being home. I will admit it, I am in no way perfect. My house is no where near spotless and my kids are not on the best schedule. When Tony was off it was a little slacking which I regret now trying to get things back into order.

Taken with my iphone- sorry grainy picture. You definitely get the point though!

My house isnt always this messy I promise!

I want to strive to be a better homemaker and take care of the duties of the home. Tony works so hard to make sure I can stay home to raise our girls that I want to make sure he is satisfied with what I have done for the day. Dont get me wrong, I do want to do it mainly for me but its nice to have him smile and feel relaxed coming home to a clean home. Not every day is there dinner on the table or all toys picked up but I am getting better. Tony always tells me that he doesnt care how the house is but it is a more relaxed situation when he isn’t worrying about housework. Keeping on a schedule is hard for me. I am definitely a procrastinator but I am hoping to get a cleaning schedule down. I will do a separate post about it. Hoping it helps me with daily cleaning and keeping schedules.

I believe this was what I was called to do. Tony does a wonderful job of taking care of us and being the head of the household. I want to be a great teammate and happily do my job. Taking care of the house and children. I am so blessed in so many ways.

This job has been given to me do. Therefore, it is a gift. Therefore, it s a privilege. Therefore, it is an offering I may make to God. Therefore, it is to be done gladly, if it is done for Him. Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God’s way. In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfullness.
-Elisabeth Elliot

Here is a link to print off the quote above:
http://time-warp-wife.blogspot.ca/2012/12/free-printable-elisabeth-elliot-quote.html