Life Story Binder Part 2: Materials

Remember my idea to make Chris a Life Story Binder?  Well, I've finally got all the supplies I need and am ready to start putting it together!

My goal price was to spend $20 or less.  Let's see if I was able to accomplish that!

Price List:

• Shutterfly Photo Prints : $4.06 (I received 50 free 4x6 prints through a promotion and only had to pay tax and shipping)
• Photo Album Insert Pages : this plan backfired.  The 4x6 photo pages available at Target do not fit in a regular 3-ring binder.  Plan B is to make scrapbook pages for which I already have the materials!
• Binder : already owned!
• Sheet Protectors : already owned! (Costco sells 100 for $10 which I will be getting if and when I need more!)

Total Cost : $4.06 
I came in $15.94 under budget!    

I really lucked out by already owning most of the items I needed.  My wallet is happy and I'm ready to get cracking on this project!  I plan to do a little at a time that way I don't become overwhelmed and want to stop working on the binder all-together.  

I've also been tweaking my suggestion list here and there so I can make sure I include everything that I want to.  The one part I am most excited about is including Chris's Family Tree from ancestry.com.  He's worked hard on it for a few years now and is always so excited when he finds something new about his family.  

And, because he is so into video games (especially World of Warcraft), I want to include a section with pictures of him and his guild members, stats about the character he plays, and notes about the Guilds he has been in.  I'm expecting this part to be a huge surprise because I don't think Chris would ever expect me to be knowledgeable about his game and I already know I'm going to have to figure out some unconventional and crafty ways to get some of the more vital information. 

Those are just two of the ways that I tweaked my list to include things about Chris that I find special and endearing.  Most of the other categories are from all things simple's original suggestion list.  

Stay tuned to see how everything turns out!

Life Story Binder

I was cleaning out our computer room closet today (that's a whole other story in itself) and came across a few things from Chris's college days.  They had been stuffed in a box and thrown in the closet with the rest of our junk, abandoned and forgotten.  I've come across a lot of his stuff lately, and have been stashing it in different places in the house until I thought of a way to organize it for him.  

We've been talking about how we need to clean out our garage (a project for this Sunday) and I just know that we'll find a lot of special memorabilia from his past when we do.  The first time we cleaned out that space I found a ton of stuff, but I wasn't too big on organizing then so it just got put back into boxes and was stored.  I'm excited to go through all of it again and try to sneak stuff back into the house so I can make him a present out of it all.      

Today I found his college transcripts from Embry Riddle and the University of Southern CA.  There were also a few things from when he worked for Boeing, some pictures from High School, and notes he'd written while in class to his friends.  Without me going through all of our his stuff, those papers probably never would've seen the light of day again.  

So, I put my crafty brain to work and tried to think of a good way to put all of these things together for him.  

I had come across something on Pinterest a long time ago called a Life Story Binder.  I loved the idea but didn't look into it any further because I just didn't think it was for me.  But as I was looking at Chris's papers, I realized that might be just the thing I want to use to organize them! 

What is a Life Story Binder?
"It's a place to gather and organize documents, photos and/or journaling that pertain to your life or the life of a family member." (source)

What do you need to get started?

• 3 ring binder (starting out bigger (like a 2" ring size) is always better so you have room to add on as needed)
• sheet protectors (80-100)
• Life Story Binder suggestion list (Kim from all things simple has already put together a list for you!)
• Return Address Labels (optional)

I probably won't have this ready for Chris's birthday in October (I have a feeling it will take a while) but I'm hoping to have it ready for Christmas.  I think this will be a fun project to do and I'll also get to find out a little bit more about his past (fun for me!  Not for him.)

Now for the best part.  I'd like to ask a favor from my readers (well, those who knew Chris and grew up with him).  If you have any pictures of him (with the story to go with it), would you mind sending me the digital copy of it?  The pictures/stories can be funny, serious, or any kind in between.  I think it would be fun to put a section in that is from those who love him and know him best.

After looking at Kim's suggestion list I've come up with what I want for my book (plus or minus a few things).  You can also see what I have and don't have here (the don't have is in black) .

If you don't have a picture but want to share a funny story you can leave it in the comment section or contact me through my e-mail.  You can find that on the side of my blog.  

Thank you!

Recipe Binder

I love using items that I already have on hand to make my life easier.  In our apartment, we have a ton of unused binders.  Does anyone need a few for school or some craft project?  Come see me...I'll hook you up.  ha!  I constantly tease Chris about the number of binders we have and I never thought I'd find a use for all of them.  Thankfully (due to pinterest and the blog iheartorganizing) I've found plenty of uses over the past year and now you can find them all throughout our apartment.  Most recently, I have completed (for the moment) my family binder which makes finding things so much easier!  Today, I decided to remake my recipe binder because things needed to be added and fixed.

I started out with a handful of recipes (my husband is a picky eater) so it was always hard for me to find new things to eat.  I've slowly been expanding his palate and I think it's been going pretty well.  I've gotten good at sneaking healthier ingredients in our food and Chris is none the wiser (although, if he reads this blog I'm screwed).

Thanks to pinterest, I've been able to find great recipes that we can try and nine times out of ten we love the new recipe.  So, since I've been adding a lot of new food to our diet I figured it was time to expand my recipe binder.  The first thing I did was make categories and sub-categories:

1.  breakfast

2.  soups

3.  salads

4.  breads and muffins

5.  main dishes

(a) chicken

(b) beef

(c) pork

(d) steak

(e) vegetable

(f) pasta

6.  slow cooker

(a) chicken

(b) beef

(c) pork

(d) soup

7.  side dishes

8.  sweets

9.  drinks

Then I printed out a table of contents, used two 1 inch strips of colored paper to outline the sides (it needed some color!), and went on a search around the apartment for leftover dividers.  To be able to find the different types of poultry (in the main dishes and slow cooker categories) I took colored cardstock and placed those in-between them.

After my table of contents, I have two sections that precede the recipes:  

1.  Weekly Recipes

2.  Grocery Shopping List  

I love these two sections because it's so easy to get to the recipe I'm making that day, and it has all the ingredients I'll need for the week in one easy-to-get-to place.  I also made a family meal planning calendar last year and try to plan my meals out for the coming month.  That helps me to know exactly what I'll need when I go to the grocery store and I also know if I need certain bulk items during Costco trips.  This usually cuts down my trips to the grocery store significantly and I am all about saving time and money.

So, do you like to keep your recipes on index cards in a box or do you like the idea of a binder?  And as always, happy crafting!

Family Binder Update

Two posts in one day?  This is absolutely unheard of!  Especially from me.  But, I promised I'd come back and post a few pictures of my ever evolving family binder.  So, here I am!

I actually enjoyed this project.  And my most favorite part of all was putting all 124 DVD titles into my Microsoft Access spreadsheet (and those were only the DVD's we have out at the moment.  We have a lot more packed away).  Doing this made me notice that my collection of "girlie movies" (as Chris and many other men call them) are slowly being consumed by the more "manly" action/adventure movies.  I think I may need to up my monthly movie budget by a little bit and start collecting some of my favorites!  Don't get me wrong, I am definitely an action movie kind of gal, but I love my romance movies.  Especially on a cold rainy day!

Wow, that was a little off topic.  :-)

I guess you could say I'm a list maker.  Yep, I love my lists.  Whenever we go on a trip I make a list a few days in advance of all the things we're going to need and then double and triple check I've crossed everything off before we finally walk out of the door.  That's why, I  was very happy (ridiculously so) when my oldest sister gave me a travel checklist for Christmas.

If you don't have one...I suggest getting it.  It's awesome!

Lucky for me, this little dodad saved me some time today since I didn't have to make my own custom pack list for my binder!  However, I could easily customize one so that I know exactly what I need to take with me on trips!  Instead, I sat in front of my computer and typed up a few different lists.

I am super proud of my DVD list.  Notice that they're categorized by Blu-Ray, Standard, and Standard/Blu-Ray TV Shows.  Hmm...that probably sounds a bit geeky...

To the left is the list of the doctor's we go to,  hours of operation, phone numbers, etc.  On the right is a list of our allergies.  There's plenty of space so it can be updated along the way if I need to!

This little paper is going to come in handy so we can remember the special events in our families lives!  I'm hoping to never forget another anniversary or birthday with these babies!

I already had an address book that I made on Microsoft Access (it was a school project that has definitely come in handy!) so that was able to be crossed off my list (yay!).  I highly suggest using Microsoft Word or Access to do most of this stuff.  I still need to do an automobile maintenance checklist but I figure I'm in no rush.  I also didn't decorate my papers because (1) I didn't want to waste ink and (2) I don't really see the need!  I'll get a cute decorative binder from Target to make it look more snazzy!

Family Binder

A little over a year ago I read a post by a favorite blogger Jen over at iheartorganizing about the idea of a family binder.  She had come up with a simple and convenient way to keep all of her families important documents and information in one place, and I loved that idea.  I'm pretty positive that Chris could care less where everything is in the house because he is one of those people who likes an organized mess (is there really such a thing?!), so I took it upon myself to work on this project!

I had already started a binder about the time I read the original post but I never finished it.  I'm the type of gal that likes to start something and then come back to it months later with a disappointed look on her face because it wasn't done right the first time.  *sigh*  I guess I need to up my motivational drive somehow....suggestions?  :-)  Anywho, my friend Amy recently posted on her blog about the binder she made for her growing family which, coincidentally, gave me the drive to get off my butt and work on my own binder!  There's nothing like the push from a friend!  (Thanks Amy!)

I went back to Jen's original post to see what all she had put in her binder as well as what Amy did in hers to see where I needed to start over!  I found this helpful post that had lists of categories that anyone could use!  Here is what my list looked like:

1. Movie Inventory
2. Cleaning Checklist
3. Important Contact Numbers
4. Travel Checklist
5. Idea/To-Do List
6. Home Inspiration/Paint and Fabric Swatches etc.
7. Credit Card and ID Information
8. Calendar
9. Medical Information
10. Insurance Information (Medical, Car, etc)
11. Auto Maintenance Log
12. Allergies
13. List of Family Birthdays and Phone Numbers

Everything in purple is what I want (at this moment) in my binder and the blue is what I will add later on.  I can already see Chris rolling his eyes at the movie inventory portion, but I've always been uber picky (not the word he'd use though!) about my DVD's and the way they are organized.  I may have a few OCD tendencies....  

Anyways.  The next step is to further compress the list into better (more productive) categories.  Here is what I'm thinking at the moment:

1. Personal Information 
1. Our marriage license
2. Birth Certificates
3. Passports
4. Contact Information (work numbers, address, etc)
2. Medical  
1. List of Allergies
2. Doctor Information 
3. Address Book
1. Including Family Birthdays!
4. Auto Maintenance Log
5. Insurance Information

As always, this could change.   I mean, I am a woman and therefore am able to change my mind....right? 

One more thing I should point out is that this binder will be able to grow with you and your family.  Good thing too since we're always growing and changing!  You can add and take out whatever you need, whenever you want.  I also suggest using page protectors so you don't have to constantly use the printer for new pages (ahh...the saver in me is so happy with this idea!) and nice colored dry-erase markers to write with!  As always, happy crafting!  :-)