I do seemingly everything with 3-ring binders and page protectors. Well, okay, not everything, but a lot of things. So if you’re wondering what to do with a binder you have around the house…well, I can offer you a number of uses for it.
Cookbooks
When I got The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30-Day Gourmet, I immediately took it apart. I put every page in a page protector and put the pages in a 3-ring binder with clear outside pockets. I put the cover in the outer pockets.
This allows my book to open flat, protects the pages from the inevitable splatters of a freezer cooking session, and made it expandable so I can add recipes printed out from the 30-Day Gourmet site. I don’t do this with all of my cookbooks; it would take way too many page protectors!
Prayer Journal
Another binder is divided into 8 sections – one for each day of the week and one for every day.
These are labeled as follows:
- Every Day- Praises, Goals, Schedule
- Sunday- Church
- Monday- Nation, Government, Leaders
- Tuesday- Missions
- Wednesday- Friends
- Thursday- Self
- Friday- Family (immediate)
- Saturday- Family (extended)
I printed out photos and/or representative pictures for the specific people and things in each category, leaving blank space beside, above, or below them and inserted the pages in page protectors. I use dry erase markers to write more specific prayer requests with the people and groups.
For example, the picture of my husband is consistent; I always want to pray for him, even if he doesn’t have any specific requests. If, for example, he’s currently praying for wisdom in knowing which car to buy, I will write that in. I can erase that particular request when it’s no longer a need. (If the dry erase has been there a while and won’t come off, color over it again with new dry erase ink. When you rub THAT off, the old ink should come off, too.)
I also have some print-outs in the front of my notebook about prayer, meditating on Scripture, etc. You could keep notebook paper in the book, as well, if you like to journal your prayer requests.
You can read all about my prayer binder here.
Instructions and Warranties
This is a very large binder at our house – about 3 inches, I think – and we need to start another one. Most people don’t even know where to find their instruction manuals and warranty paperwork. If they do, the paperwork is usually in file cabinets. I discovered that it fills up a file really quickly and then it’s hard to find what you need when you need it, so here’s what I did.
I filled up a binder with sheet protectors and stuck plain white labels on each one, in the upper right corner. I slid the paperwork for one item into each protector (with a couple exceptions, which I’ll mention in a moment). Then I labeled each one with whatever term I’d use to look for it. For example, I’d look under “vacuum cleaner” for the vacuum cleaner, so that’s what I wrote. I’d look under “Corelle” for the Corelle dishes, so that’s what I wrote.
When there were several, I wrote the additional information in smaller handwriting on the label. We had three telephones, so I wrote “telephone” on three of the labels, but I wrote “G.E. corded” on one, “cordless” on another, etc. Then I put the pages in alphabetical order by whatever was on the label.
There were a few things I lumped together. One example is Pampered Chef products. I have multiple kitchen tools from Pampered Chef, and they all come with little bitty slips of paper with the care instructions on them. I put all of these together in one page protector, under the heading “Pampered Chef”. Likewise for multiple (identical) air purifiers.
Sewing Pattern Index
This one doesn’t require page protectors. I don’t know about you, but I think that folding used sewing patterns back up to fit them into the envelopes is worse than refolding a map! Here’s what I did to organize my sewing pattern:
I bought a couple of fileboxes (the plastic kind from Wal-Mart that are made to hold lots of hanging files). You could use an actual file cabinet, or whatever your patterns will fit in.
Then I bought a bunch of 9×12 manila envelopes, 1 per pattern. I put each pattern in an envelope, first writing the pattern number (and a letter/letters representing the company – S for Simplicity, M for McCalls, NL for New Look, etc.) on what is the upper right corner when you turn the envelope sideways. Then I filed them in numerical order. I plan to eventually cut the (original) envelopes in half and glue them (with glue stick ’cause it doesn’t wrinkle up) to the outsides of the manila envelopes.
I then have binders (plural because mine contain other stuff, too. You could just use one) with index pages. These pages are in categories. For example, one for outerwear and accessories, one for interior decorating projects, one for shirts, etc. (Some of these now have multiple pages.) There are several columns here – one for special notations so I can mark for maternitywear, holiday stuff, etc., one for a description, one for the pattern number, one for the size, one for the pattern type.
The description is just what it says – a description of the pattern. The pattern number is that number I wrote on the top of the envelope – S2103 or NL5677 or whatever. (The reason for the letters is in case I have patterns from two different companies with the same number.) The size is the size, including size grouping. I mean, 6-8 girls or 6-8 womens or one size or n/a (for teddy bears, slipcovers, etc.). The pattern type is only applicable if you have other patterns – like crochet patterns or plastic canvas patterns – along with sewing patterns. I keep crochet, knitting, and sewing patterns together, and just mark that index with K, C, or S so I know which type it is. This allows me to skim down the list if I’m looking for a crochet pattern, specifically.
One nice thing about the envelopes is I can keep homemade pattern and patterns printed from my computer filed with the others and they’re a uniform size. I picked out letters for them (I think X for patterns that I printed or copied and R for patterns I made), but leaving those letterless would be another option.
Fabric
While we’re on the topic of sewing, Organized Home has a fabric organizer notebook form you can print out. (They also have cover inserts for the binder itself if you’re interested.) Each sheet has space for three different fabrics and gives you places to list the source, width, fabric content, and notes, as well as a space for attaching a swatch of each. (I use staples.) If you used a fairly large binder, you could combine this and the above pattern index into one notebook.
Scrapbooks
Maybe you’ve seen those really nice scrapbook-style photo albums – the Creative Memories type. I really like them, and I think the principles for preserving the photos are important. They’re too expensive for me, though. I buy some of the non-consumable stuff from them, like the cutters, but not the albums, stickers, paper, etc.
Instead, I use plain old three-ring binders or nicer ones created for photo albums (it depends on the album) and archival quality page protectors. You can usually find those page protectors at Sam’s Club something like $10 for 100.
Then I buy acid-free stickers, paper, etc. from Wal-Mart, Michael’s, Ben Franklin, Target, or wherever I can find them reasonably priced. (By the way, a lot of the printer-type paper now is acid free. Check it out, ’cause it’s cheaper sold as printer paper than it is sold as special “scrapbooking” paper.)
I actually make my pages one-sided, so they can be moved, so I can use two different colors, and so that if I mess up one side I haven’t messed up two pages (!), but I put them back-to-back inside the sheet protectors. My family thinks my albums look really nice (although they aren’t nearly as creative as some I’ve seen) and they’re far less expensive than they would be if I used all Creative Memories-type supplies.
Organizing Papers
Yes, I actually use binders for keeping papers, too, like normal people! (I just thought I’d throw that in, in case some of you were wondering.) I actually have organized this website in one. There are pages for miscellaneous notes, like what colors I used and a sort of flowchart of the site.
I also have a page for each page, with the filename, a list of pages that it links to, what template I used for it (if any), what additional files it needs to display properly, etc. It helps me out a lot because, believe it or not, this site has more than 70 separate pages. [Update: Now over 2500!] It doesn’t look like that much, but it’s a lot for me to try to keep straight.
A standard three-ring binder can make a really good household organizer, too. You can make up your own forms and calendars, or you can print some really nice ones out from around the web (both free & paid).
I also keep homeschool stuff, projects in progress, cooking information, music, and my poetry in binders, just to give you a few ideas.
[…] before it was even a “post” – on my “static” site, about some of the things I do with 3-ring binders. I use these for seemingly everything; they are a key organizing tool for me. One of the uses I […]