family binder

The Family Binder: Keeping Important Information Accessible

Abby H.Leave a comment

Previously, I had written about our family binder, but it has been almost 10 years since I put our family binder together, and I figured it was time to update it and write a new post.

You can find my old post here, and a lot has changed in that time.

  • I have two kids!  I have a teenager!
  • Most of my bills are paid via auto debit.
  • I have gone paperless with most of the bills.

I still want to be able to have my life together if there is some sort of emergency. This Binder is “The House is on Fire- Grab this and the kids and the cat!!” type of information. This is one of the things I would grab if there were a natural disaster like a wildfire. It’s part of my Bug Out Bag packing list.

Here are the updated sections that I have in my family binder:

Home information:

  • I have a copy of my homeowners’ insurance policy. The declarations page shows the policy number, the amount of coverage, and contact information for the insurance company in case I need it.
  • Once a year, I print off a mortgage statement which shows all of our information from our mortgage, just in case I need to get a hold of it, but usually I just contact them through their website.
  • One other thing that you will only need in your family binder if you live in a condominium/HOA is a copy of the HOA Master Insurance Policy for your housing group. My mortgage company requests one every year, and when they request one, I am also sent one that I keep one of those in my family binder.
  • Copy of my deed. I have needed it exactly twice in the 10 years. I’ve owned a home, but it is always good to have one and know where it is.
  • The CC&R’s and bylaws for my HOA. Again, it’s not every day that I need these things, but in case of some sort of emergency, I know where they are.
  • The deed to my parking space. Where I live, we have a deeded parking space, and it is our exclusive use area. If someone parks in my parking spot and does not leave when I ask them to, I can have them towed, and the parking space deed is what I show to the tow truck driver when he shows up.

Vehicle Information:

  • The current year’s vehicle registration information. I keep the registration notice that they send us in the mail. I need it when I file the taxes for the next year,
  • The title for each of the cars, and proof of insurance for both of the cars. The declarations page shows the policy number, the amount of coverage, and contact information for the insurance company in case I need it.
  • The Vehicle section is also where I store paperwork regarding work that has been done to our cars that has been covered by a recall, or paperwork for extensive vehicle repairs (usually anything over $1500).

The Important Stuff: This is the paperwork that we need to prove who we are.

Everyone has their own pages in this section. This includes birth certificates, Social Security cards, and passports.

I have copies of our identification cards/driver’s licenses, and copies of school ID cards for each of the kids. This is also where I keep their vaccination cards and printouts from the doctor showing their vaccinations. Because when they were younger, I would frequently forget to take their yellow vaccine cards with me when we went to the pediatrician. In addition to vaccine cards, I also have photocopies of everyone’s insurance cards as well.

Everything Else

Most of the rest of this is kept as a note in my phone, but I also print it out and put it into my family binder about once a year when I update other things like insurance and vehicle registration paperwork.

Utility Companies, including the name/type of the utility company, our account numbers, and their phone number in case I need to call them. For us, it is just water and power. Our HOA dues pay for our trash pickup. But I also have the name and phone number of the garbage company, as well as our HOA contact information in case I need either of those for some reason.

Because we do paperless billing and automatic bill pay every month for the majority of our bills, I do not receive a paper bill, and I do not store copies of our paper bills. That is why I have contact information for everything and account numbers. Most everything we have online access to, such as our utilities and our mortgage statement.

Your family binder should be the thing that you grab if your house is on fire.

As somebody who has lived in Southern California their entire adult life, I have seen a lot of natural disasters, mostly in the form of wildfires, and I know people who have had to evacuate with less than an hour’s notice.

My family binder is a 3 inch three-ring binder, and it has dividers for each section, and most everything is stored in a page protector. Some of the items are three whole punched and directly placed into the binder, like my deed, the rules and regulations, and CC&Rs for our HOA, because those are multi-page documents.

But for things that we need to keep in pristine order, like original birth certificates, baptismal records, and Social Security cards, those go in heavy-duty page protectors.

Managing a Household with Neurodivergencies (ADHD, ASD, etc.)

Abby H.

Earlier this week my friend Sam posted on Facebook, “Neurodivergent Friends what are some tools you use with others that help you with daily life, communication, relationships?”

A few friends posted that they needed help with meal prep, day-to-day stuff, and as y’all know, that’s my bag, baby!

Both my kids are Neurodivergent (ADHD/ASD and ADHD), and their dad has ADHD (combined type/ C) and because of that, we’ve had to make some adjustments to our daily life and how we function. And while our processes and schedules may not work for everyone, hopefully, these tips give you some idea and hope if you need it.

Some of these directly affect/benefit the kids, and some make my life easier, which in turn makes their lives easier.

Having an accurate(ish) pantry, fridge, and freezer inventory. I have made my own sheets in the past (using Canva), but the ones from Organized Home are great.

Meal Prep and meal planning (this includes using Dream Dinners once every few months). This frees up time each night to read, hang out, bathe, and get kids ready for bed.

Meal Prep can be as easy as cut up veggies, fruit, pre-portioned foods, and easy meals or side dishes prepared in advance that only need to be heated up to avoid wasting money eating out because “there is nothing to eat”. Also having one night for take-out. And I have a whiteboard that lists our meal plan for the week- I try and post it weekly on Instagram.

The Snack Box- I also organized our fridge and pantry to be more ND-friendly. Stuff that should be eaten (healthy food like fruit, cheese sticks, yogurt, etc.) is at kid eye level in clear packaging and is labeled (I use expo markers on my Rubbermaid containers), and I have a “Snack box” in the pantry that is available 24/7 for hungry faces. It’s got individually portioned shelf-stable snacks and meal components. And on days when I am too tired/rushed to cook we have “Meal of snacks” where I serve a variety of snacks on old-school sectioned cafeteria trays- fruits, veggies, crackers, cheese, cookies, and a drink (juice or iced tea is a hit).

We have a list of snacks on the fridge so the kids know what there is to snack on. It is a visual list (I drew it), and when we are out of specific items, I cover the picture with a piece of posit note.

Calendars– in the kitchen, and one in each bedroom. I update them weekly, plus the grownups use the calendars on their phones and we have a shared family calendar. Kids get reminders each day in the morning and afternoon of any appointments or events that will take place during the day. The visual and auditory reminders really help cement the appointment in their mind.

Visual reminders– next to the front door at eye level there is a sign that reminds us we need: cellphone, wallet, keys, and garage door opener. It’s laminated.

Visual schedule– this is mainly for the kids. I drew up a daily schedule using words and pictures. I wrote a post about it here.

Lists– Everyone has a “Care tasks” list each week that includes appts, returning borrowed items, and tasks to do throughout the week. You can read about my weekly Care Tasks here. 

Larger font digital clock with day of the week, date, and what part of the day (morning, afternoon, evening, night). The kids can read a clock, but it can take time to engage their brains and count by 5’s, but the “old people clock” as it was marketed on Amazon helps them instantly and helps a lot with the “is it time for xxxxx yet?!?!”

Using your phone to stay on top of details- I saw this on Facebook in a group and I’ve started doing this. If you have an iPhone, there is a notes section in each contact. I’ve seen them used to keep track of favorite fast food at various restaurants, favorite foods/drinks, clothing sizes and brands, favorite colors, birthdays, and anniversaries. It’s such a game changer.

The fidget/stim box– we have a plastic box full of fidget/stim toys for everyone to grab when they need to focus. And everyone has some in their room too. This includes headphones to cut down on loud sounds (I buy the landscapers kind from harbor freight). We have 3 pairs in the house and two pairs in the car. For those not familiar- fidget toys can help calm the body so the mind can focus.

Some favorites include pop-its, hand strengthening eggs, fidget cubes, fidget spinners, stretchy tubes, pop tubes, and stress balls (the kind with Orbeez are super satisfying). Amazon sells really great fidget toys mutli-packs.

Medication Boxes- We refill our medication boxes each week (both AM and PM).  The three of us take our meds together each morning at breakfast time. Our medication boxes live on the kitchen counter, along with our pill minders: Jon Cena and Skeletor.

Stuff has a place– The kid’s shoes and backpacks are always by the door during the school year, ready to be cleaned out and refilled each night. My car keys and purse live in the same spot, the pool key has a special spot. The extra toilet paper and paper towels are always in the same spot (under the front bathroom sink). These are just a few examples of the ways that we remind ourselves and create routines. Creating routines can give us a sense of normalcy and be calming.

The Family Binder– One last thing that doesn’t directly “help” the kids but helps the family, especially in times of emergency is the family binder. I’ve had one since 2010 in various incarnations. I have a really old post about it here.  It’s basically my brain in paper form. It’s got all of our important papers, insurance info, important phone numbers, policy numbers, warranty information, receipts for expensive/valuable stuff, copies of most recent IEPS, copies of diagnosis paperwork, lists of everyone’s meds, doctors info, etc. Think of it as all the info you’d need if you lost power for an extended period, your house burned down, or there was a tornado.

There are a lot of other things that we do in our home to help the kids- keep them safe, regulated, and happy. The stuff listed above is just a small sample. Everyone’s home runs differently. And this was and continues to be a lot of work. The examples above are continually changing, and evolving in our home, and are a combination of 11+ years of hard work, learning, and failing. Some of this stuff I did to try and get organized in my late 20s, even before I was married and had kids.

 

 

Family Binder: Important Info at Your Fingertips

Abby H.

The other day I was talking to a friend about how we store all of our information now that my computer is on the fritz/being repaired.

I mean, Most people have everything stored on their computer or on the cloud/external drive, which is great, but if your computer goes out… Are you really going to access everything via your smartphone? That was my plan originally, but after like.. oh, say 8 hours of that, I posted on Facebook, asking my friends if anyone had a spare computer or laptop I could borrow. Because don’t you know it, the computer died… 2 days before school started. When I was taking an ONLINE CLASS!!

My friends Michael and Amanda are generously loaning me their laptop, and it’s much easier to do homework and write.

IMG_3895So, how to store all the important stuff… I’m bringing back The Family Binder. It’s a 3 inch binder, with section dividers, heavy weight page protectors, and plastic folders. We’ve has one for a long time, and as we moved more to paperless bills, it got used a lot less, and became a good way of storing a copy of our monthly budget, important papers, passwords (so many passwords, you guys!).

As you can see I’ve decorated the front of the binder with photos, the Brandon Bird SVU Valentine’s Day card Mr. Husband got for me years back, sonograms of the kiddos. You can make it as plain or fancy as you’d like.

IMG_3901I use some of the pages from the household notebook section of Organized Home.  I love the holiday printables from Organized Home the best. I’ve been using them since 2010, and they really help us stay on budget and keep track of all of the shenanigans that the holidays bring!

Additionally, I have extra sections for vacation planning, important papers (marriage license, vaccination records, copies of prescriptions/ list of all of our medications, birth certificates, kids social security cards, insurance id cards/policy information, and a copy of the deed to our home), and vehicle maintenance. IMG_3896I have a folder tucked in the front pocket of the binder for the big kids educational/medical stuff like his most recent IEP, Regional Center correspondence, and copies of his medical diagnostic paperwork.

I know a lot of you are reading this thinking that most of this information can be accessed online or via your smartphone, but think about when you will most likely need to access this binder… In an emergency. Not the time you want to drain the battery on your phone trying to figure out what your homeowners insurance policy number is, or your insurance agents phone number.  I also keep notebook paper in the back, in case of an emergency. If nothing else, it’ll keep the kids entertained!

If you want to make your own Family Binder, you can put as much work into it as you’d like. I made ours while I was pregnant and nesting with the big kid. So I went to town with with laminating sheets, scrapbooking stickers, decals, paper, and all kinds of doo-dads. I even made a family binder for my Sister-in-Law and her husband when they got married.  Just make sure that you store extra empty page protectors in the back- you never know when you’ll need to add more information!

I keep ours in a safe, easily accessible location, in case we need to leave the house. Living in San Diego County, it will most likely be a wild fire that causes us to leave home. We live too far inland and up high enough where rising flood/excessive rain water won’t touch us.

Talk back: If you have a family binder, I’d love for you to share photos in the comments or post pics on Instagram and tag me: @hewesfamilyfun  using #familybinder.