Sprucing up the HMB...

Just in case you don't know, the HMB is the Home Management Binder. I'm sure y'all knew that though :-) Just about everyone has one in one form or another. If you've got a family at home, they just plain make sense to keep handy so things run smoothly, with or without Mom at the helm even.

I used to keep mine quite handy. And now I'm re-working it and getting the dust bunnies out of it so I can put it back into use. Yes, I got lazy with it. I got very lazy with it all, truth be told.

So, I have a new binder ready, I am printing off pages I will use, getting rid of things I no longer need kept handy, and hunting around the internet looking at some great examples of not-lazy homekeepers and their binders. To say I'm quite humbled is an understatement. I don't know that I was ever quite to the level some of these wonderful Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 ladies are, but there's still time for me to catch up and get my homemaking mojo back on track.

And yes, I am slowly working on the big ol' fat kitchen binder I've always kept handy as well. That is a huge task in progress as our eating habits have changed, and the home sized has been shrinking over the past handful of years, so I'm reworking some recipes we still use, and playing with other ones to see if they are worthy of keeping. I'll try to keep you up-to-date on that one as I go and get the tabs along the top of the blog updated as well. 

Why have a homekeeping binder anyway? I don't know. There are different reasons for different households I suppose.  In my household, I have children to train up, a household to keep running, and a homestead to keep moving forward with animals to tend and chores to keep on top of. Sure I can keep most of the daily and seasonal things in my mind and just do what needs done day to day, season to season. But a binder just makes it seem less mundane, kwim? There's that nice dolled up notebook sitting there, staring at you every day, waiting to be pulled out and glanced at. You just feel more in tune with the seasonal flow of the home with a binder waiting every day. 

Or maybe I just have this strong craving to have office supplies about me, pretty colored pens, bits of bright sticky notes, fancy section dividers, stickers and doo-dads. 

Yeah, it's definitely more the allure of pretty office supplies in my case. Sheesh I'm shallow in that respect. I can't help myself. There oughtta be a 12 Step program for office supply addicts.There are stores I'm simply not allowed to be in by myself according to husband...Hobby Lobby, JoAnn Fabrics, Staples and OfficeMax. He'd no doubt prefer I stay clear altogether, but at the least, I am forbidden without adequate supervision, and shop on a cash-only plan, LOL And yes, we have a mutual agreement...he needs the same level of "oversight" at places like Harbor Freight, Snap-On, Grainger, etc. 

So, the binder is in the works, the menu and kitchen binder is as well. I could easily spend a lot of time working on the new binder, but I know no matter what I do to update it, it will always be a work-in-progress. And then there's the day planner to update. Lawdy-sakes there are SO MANY great planner ideas out there. Stickers, planner pages, washi tapes, markers, highlighters...oh my! The FUN I could have there. Of course I'd fancy it all up to the point I'd never write in it for fear of messing it up somehow, LOL.

Don't laugh folks. 
Y'all know the struggle is real...