My family budget notebook is one of the best “tools” we use in our house. It’s what helps us stay on track, make a plan if we go “off-track”, and it also makes tax-time a breeze!

I go in to more detail in the video below, but basically my family budget notebook is separated in different sections to keep everything where they should be.

Main Section

• Pouch for pen, stamps, checks, address labels
• Monthly Calendar to write bill due dates on, followed by a budget breakdown sheet for each month
• Checkbook register I made using an Excel spreadsheet

Pocket Dividers

• Mortgage Statements
• Vehicle Loan Statements
• Utilities
• Debt
• Business Income/Expenses (will go in to more detail in a later post)

Check out the video below to see exactly how this notebook is used and why I love it!

How I organize my family budget notebook

I’d love to hear how you organize your family’s finances! Do you use a similar method? Share below what works best for you! Or send you photos and info to amandasblogs@yahoo.com and I may just feature it in a post!

You can find the ARC Notebook System at Staples!

For more information on the Irregular Income Planning and Debt Snowball, check out DaveRamsey.com.

Meal Plan and Shopping Notebook using ARC Notebook System from Staples

My Meal plan and shopping notebook is one that I will use several times a week. This being the case, I may switch things around as I use it and find what works best for me.

But for now I have it set up in 5 sections.

• Meal Plan
• On Hand (to keep track of what we already have in our deep freezer and pantry)
• Lists
• To Buy (for bigger items and “wants”)
• Projects (to keep track of what projects we’re working on and items that we need for it.

I go in to more detail in the video below.

What I love about the ARC system is that you get custom set up that a binder gives you, while functioning like a spiral notebook. Being able to move pages freely and change the layout is very important to me. The notebooks take up much less room on my desk and shelves than my binders did though so I’m super happy about that.

Find more about ARC notebooks at Staples.com

Grocery List found at DonnaYoung.org

Grocery Shopping List found at HelloCuteness.com

Price List found at MoneySavingMom.com

Do you use a notebook similar to this for you meal planning and shopping lists? If so comment below and let me know what way works for you!

ARC Notebooks: My New Favorite Way to Stay Organized!

I tend to get excited about little things. Especially things that help me get and feel more organized. A few months ago I heard about the M by Staples ARC Notebook system. I checked it out, didn’t really “get” it and moved on.

Well, a few days ago I was introduced to a Facebook group for other consultants for one of the direct sales companies I sell for, that was dedicated to the use of ARC notebooks. I checked it out again, watched a couple videos they had posted, and by the 2nd video I knew this was the system for me. They basically combine the concept of a binder and a spiral notebook, except they’re not a bulky as a binder, and you can move the pages around, unlike a spiral notebook.

I’m the type of person who is NEVER satisfied with a planner or organizer and am constantly searching for the “perfect” option. I’ve tried several popular options, including an Erin Condren planner, but there were still things I wanted to change. Nothing was “perfect” for me. Now I’ve found it.

In fact, I’ve found 5

• Budgets/Finances
• Meal Plan/Shopping Lists
• My Younique Business
• My Thirty One Party Notebook
• My Thirty One Team/Training Notebook

To some, it may seem like having multiple notebooks to follow would make it more difficult to stay organized. But the key is for each ARC Notebook to have its purpose, and that’s just what I’ve done with mine.

I’ve even DIY’d one of them So if you’re concerned with the cost, be sure to stay tuned to see how I saved money on one of them.

Join me over the next week or two as I’ll be detailing exactly how I use each of my new notebooks and how they help keep me sane and organized no matter how crazy life can get.

My house is small…it was small when it was just the two of us and even smaller now that there’s 3. I’m not complaining, because I’m very grateful to have a roof over our heads, but small spaces do come with challenges. But I’m always up for a challenge

This picture ^^^ is what our coat closet has looked like since we moved in 7 1/2 years ago. It served its purpose but had a lot of wasted space. It was also an area that I never really took the time to fully organize.

I took our 3rd bedroom (which was storage) and turned it into my new home office (series coming soon ). When I did that I had to move a lot of things around in order to make space for what used to be kept in there. That’s when I knew I needed to do something with this small closet space.

The top shelf used to be cluttered with candles (which I moved to our hall closet), a blanket, weights, hand-held vacuum and a basket full of junk. Using the same basket, I unloaded the “junk” and used that to store extra gloves, ear muffs and a few other odds and ends. I used my Medium Utility Tote to store the vacuum and its accessories. I think that the tote sitting there looks much better than if I were to just have the vacuum sitting there. This also gives me the ability to store a couple other items in there if I need to in the future without it cluttering up the shelf.

I went to Wal-Mart and purchased a small shelving unit ($9.97) to store the items that I was moving out of my new office. The bin on the top shelf is used to hold diapers. This is most convenient because 9 times out of 10 we are in the living room when my son needs his diaper changed. All we have to do is go to the closet and grab a diaper. It’s also great for when I’m rushing to get out the door, knowing that they’re right there.

The second shelf holds baby wipe refills. Like diapers, we buy wipes in bulk either from Sam’s or when there’s a great deal at one of the drug stores.

The 3rd shelf holds the weights that I moved from the shelf, accessories for my steam mop, and a few rolls of paper towels.

Having the small shelf still allows for me to store my steam mop, vacuum and carpet scrubber, among other things.

I had my husband remove the bar that once hung below the shelf and add 5 hooks. I used these for scarves, coats, and dog leashes. I think this looks much cleaner and neater than having the bar. The whole closet feels much more open and I’m loving the fact that I can fit so much more in there now

Products used in this project:

• Medium Utility Tote from Thirty One – no longer available, but the Large utility tote would work, as would the new Your Way Cube
• White bin (holding the diapers) – from Dollar General – $5
• White Shelving unit – from Wal-Mart – $9.97
• 5 Hooks – from Wal-Mart – $1.97 each

Does your junk drawer look as bad as mine did? Ugh! This was another area that stressed me out when I was trying to find something.

I actually decided to move our junk drawer to a different drawer and use this larger drawer for cutting boards, hand towels, foil, etc.

There, that’s much better

Now, on to the smaller drawer. You wouldn’t believe how much stuff I threw out. I know why its called a “Junk Drawer” for sure now!

You probably couldn’t see, but in the first picture there actually was 2 bins in there that I used to “organize” it. Over time we gathered too much stuff and it became a place where everything just got tossed into if it didn’t have another place.

I used those two bins in my new drawer but gave them a purpose this time…

The smaller bin is FULL of batteries. We don’t have that many batteries in there right now, as most of those no longer worked and I hadn’t gone through them yet. In the corner of that bin is a shot glass that holds extra keys.

Behind that bin is our measuring tapes (mine’s the pink one in the very back ), and the dog brush and nail clippers (which I have since moved).

The longer bin hold several things. In the front I lined up pens, a screwdriver, flashlight, Tide-to-Go pen, and a few other tools my husband might need handy. Behind those is hand sanitizer, chapstick, our video camera battery charger, and extra Wallflowers from Bath & Body Works.

I realize that this will probably need some tweaking, but for now I’m happy and much less stressed when I open the drawer.

How do you handle your junk drawer? Share your ideas below!

Join me next week when I tackle our coat closet!

Look at that mess. If your freezer looks like this than you can relate to my frustration every time I opened the door to find something. It got so bad between this and our deep freezer in the basement that I was quickly losing track of what we had and what we needed. Something had to change.

Luckily I had some bins left over from my Hall Closet Organization that I knew I could use to tackle this mess.

I started by taking EVERYTHING out of my freezer and cleaning it really well.

I had 3 bins and a larger basket to work with and thankfully they all fit perfect inside.

The top shelf is already limited on space because of our ice-maker bin so I decided to put the larger basket on top and fill it with quick and pre-made foods like fries, chicken nuggets, etc. Beside that bin I put the few frozen meals we have on their side. Maybe now that I can see them we’ll remember that they’re there

The bottom I am especially proud of. Each of the 3 bins has their own purpose. The first one holds meat. Each Sunday after I make our meal plan for the week I take the bin downstairs and pull out the meat we need for the week. This way all I have to do is pull it from this bin a day before we need it so it can thaw and I don’t have to dig through a huge freezer trying to find it.

The second bin holds frozen fruit. I don’t have a lot of this on hand all the time so pretty much all we have is in the bin.

The third bin holds frozen veggies. This is another thing that I always stock up on. I do the same with veggies as I do with meat at the beginning of the week. You wouldn’t believe how much of a time saver it is.

I use the door for ice packs, ice cream, and frozen sauces. I like to freeze my sauces flat in ziploc bags and then transfer them to the door and store them on their side. They take up so much less space this way.

Do you have a great tip on organizing your refrigerator or freezer? If so, share it below!

Next week I tackle the Junk Drawer!

I’ve always considered myself organized, but I have part of my house that are anything but. Those are the areas I’m hoping to tackle over the next weeks/months.

First up is our hall closet. As you can see, it was a MESS!

Anytime I had to get something from there I felt stressed out. Mostly for the fact that there was no method to its madness. The floor of the closet had barely been touched since we moved in over 7 years ago. Needless to say, there was a lot of stuff that needed to GO.

With any organization project I always start by thinking about how I want it to look. What do I need to get it to look like that?

The first step was to take everything out of the closet and divide it in to 3 piles:

• Keep
• Keep, but belongs somewhere else
• Trash

The trash pile ended up the largest…thankfully! I needed to get rid of stuff to make the closet functional again.

Once the “trash” was gone, I placed everything else that I wanted to keep, but not in the closet, in a tote so I can put that stuff away at a later time.

When it came to putting things back in the closet, I knew each shelf needed its own purpose.

As you can see by the final result above, each shelf pretty much does just that.

The first shelf I dedicated as our “Gift shelf”. Some people have a Gift Closet where they store items they purchase throughout the year to be used as gifts at Christmas or other times. We don’t need a whole closet for that.

The second shelf is for our towels, wash cloths and iron. Luckily this closet is right outside of our bathroom so it makes sense for our towels to be here. Plus our bathroom is TINY, so any room I can free up in there I will.

The third shelf is for healthcare type of stuff. The 2 bins on the left were purchased at the Dollar Tree ($1 each).  The case on the right is our First Aid Kit that we purchased a few years ago from Sam’s Club. It has room for everything you need in case of emergencies.

The tote in between them is a Little’s Carry All Caddy from Thirty One and I keep all of my samples and freebies I get in the mail in there.

The 4th shelf I keep extra beauty products like sponges, cotton balls, hair ties, etc., in another bin from the Dollar Tree. I also have extra baby shampoo and lotion there in the middle (still leftover from my baby shower…my son is 2 now lol), and a pedicure kit I received as a gift (That I WILL use one of these days ). The tote on the right holds our Dog’s stuff – like dog shampoo, spray, brush, etc.

These bottom two shelves still look like they need work but I promise they’re 100% better than what they were. The bin on the top holds a bunch of rags (probably more than we need). On top of that is a pool that I bought my son this past summer for next summer (got it for less than $5 at Kohl’s at the end of the season!). The towels on the right are old towels that we use when we bath our dogs. The Little’s Carry All Caddy from Thirty One in the middle holds tealight candles and tarts for my tart warmer.

On the bottom I have 3 bins. The one on the right holds all of the light bulbs I found when I cleaned out the closet, plus the original light fixture that was in our hallway when we moved in. We haven’t decided if we’re going to use it somewhere else or not yet so that’s why it’s still in there.

The candles you see there (yes I LOVE candles and have a TON of them), are in 2 different bins. The back bin has scents for spring and summer, while the front bin hold candles for fall and winter. This way I don’t have to go searching through trying to find a Mom’s Apple Pie candle (my personal fave!). Once spring rolls around I’ll move that bin to the front.

What’s one area in your home that needs organized but you’re dreading it? Comment below and share!

Stay tuned next week when I tackle my freezer!

Items used in this project:

• Bins from The Dollar Tree ($1 each)
• Little’s Carry-All Caddy from Thirty One
• All-in-One Organizer from Thirty One (now redesigned and called the Keep-it Caddy)

I can’t believe it’s 2013! Whether you make New Year’s Resolutions or not, I hope you have a plan for what you’d like to accomplish this year. I have a list of things that I’d like to do. Unlike other years, I’ve made this year’s list pretty doable.

For example -

Lose 40 pounds by Summer

Reorganize each room in my house one-by-one

Meal plan (and stick to it)

Start our Emergency Fund (more on this later )

Those are just a few of the things on my list. I have other business related goals that I’m really excited about and hope I can accomplish too!

One of my goals (as you just read) is to reorganize my house, one room at a time. The Holidays are over and I’m more than ready to have my house back. Especially my Living Room. My original plan was to start with that room, however we plan on purchasing new furniture around tax time so I figured I better wait.

My January Focus area is our hall closet/linen closet, junk drawer, freezer and coat closet. That sounds like a lot, but with them all being little spaces I know they won’t take too long. Stay tuned each Tuesday when I’ll post my progress! Feel free to join me!