Who needs a Homekeeping Binder?  From: CLEAN MAMA
Anyone who wants a central place for family and/or home information. What Information Should Be Kept In a Homekeeping Binder? Any information that would normally be floating around on counters, drawers, or in your brain.

Where Should I Start? Start by making a quick list of areas/categories that could use organizing in your home – if you have more than two or three, a binder is a great place to contain your information.

Not Sure of Categories?  Here Are a Few: meal planning cleaning in case of emergency while we’re away home maintenance calendars school information budget + bill paying blogging gift giving holidays shopping contacts – family, friends, service companies. The Categories In My Homekeeping Binder? calendars, cleaning, meal planning, budgeting, listmaking, and blogging.

What Kind of Binder is Best? Any 3-ring binder will work – if it’s cute, I’ll be more apt to use it.  If you’re like me, pick out something cute.  My binder is from Target and coordinates in my kitchen.  You could also come up with a plan, have the pages printed out at a copy shop and have it bound into a book.

What Else Makes a Binder More Functional? Post-It notes pens, pencils, highlighters, dividers, pockets, three-hole punch, plastic sleeves and laminated pages. All pages do not have to be in a protective sleeve, but using a three hole punch can be an effective way to punch a stack of papers in a neat and quick fashion.

A simple tool pouch (found in the school/office supply section) keeps tools handy so you aren’t searching for the supplies you need. Home maintenance and cleaning checklists?  The perfect place to keep them is in a homekeeping binder – easy access and not on a counter or table.

What Else? You have to USE your binder and it has to be designed to work for you or else it’ll be time and money poorly spent.  Think through your categories and what will work in your home. Tweak your categories and printables as you go until you get a system that you love.  I’ve been using a Homekeeping Binder for at least three years and it has morphed and changed with our lives, but the time that I have taken to organize it has been so worth it in time saved hunting for information.

Household management is a skill everyone should learn. Knowledge of such things as home organization, house cleaning, laundry, and chores are essential for a happy home life, but it can be daunting when you are first starting out.

Here are 10 steps for cleaning the kitchen in 5 minutes or less:
First, set the timer.

Then get a game plan together and work the plan.

Ready, set, go!

1. Dirty Dishes – Gather all dirty dishes from around the house (*ahem*) and bring them to the kitchen. Move fast!
2. Trash – Pick up all the trash off the counters (see how much you can carry at once) and throw it away.
3. Refrigerator – Grab everything that goes in the refrigerator and put it where it belongs. Try to make it in one trip.
4. Cabinets – Gather everything that belongs in the cabinets and put it in the correct location. Again, try to make one trip.
5. Utensils – Pick up all dirty utensils (forks, spoons, knives, spatulas) from the counters and sink to put in the dishwasher’s silverware basket.
6. Cups/Glasses/Mugs – Gather all drinking glasses to put on the top shelf of the dishwasher. Try to put similar cups beside each other but don’t get too hung up on it. Remember the timer is on!
7. Plates – If you have more than one size plate, start with the smallest size and load them in the dishwasher. Then work your way up to the larger sizes.
8. Everything else – Grab all of the big items (pots, pans, strainers, cutting boards) and either put them in the dishwasher or wash them by hand.
9. Start the dishwasher – Only if it’s full of course.
10. Wash and dry the counters – Wipe down the stove, microwave, and any other appliance that’s dirty with one hand and use another rag to dry with the other hand.

Stop the timer. Check to see if you cleaned your kitchen in under five minutes.

Celebrate if you did!

Now you can leave your sparkling kitchen with your wash cloth and dish rags, put them in the laundry basket and enjoy the rest of your day. While you’re on your way out, take anything else that doesn’t belong in the kitchen and put the items where they belong.

Home Ec 101:
Skills for everyday living
Find 'How To' tutorials on cleaning, cooking and much more
Clean Up Your Act:
How to Clean the Bathroom
How to Sweep the Floor
How to Mop the Floor

Get Cooking:
How to Menu Plan
How to Fry an Egg

Look through your cookbooks (Betty Crocker is one of my favorites) or on-line: http://www.bettycrocker.com/ for inspiring recipes.

When you subscribe to Grocery Shrink Plus, you will be emailed an expanded menu including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the week.  The plan includes recipes plus an action plan for each day to help the week’s cooking go smoothly.
The meals include variations for those on gluten free diets, or those who must avoid dairy products.

Find inspiration and recipes.

House Cleaning List 
Price: $0.99

Available instantly for your Android device

No vacuum-the-fridge-coils deep-cleaning pointers, just a basic plan to get your home neat―in under 30 minutes a day. Kitchen

• Clear out and wipe down the sink
  
• (5 minutes).
  
  No piles of dirty dishes! Move them into the dishwasher, and wipe the sink with a sponge.
  
  
• Wipe down counter tops and stove
  
• (1 minute).
  
  Clean splatters and spills with a damp cloth or sponge and an all-purpose cleanser.
  
  
• Wipe problem spots on the floor
  
• (2 minutes).
  
  You can save a full-floor mop for the weekend, but use the same cloth (once you’ve finished with the counter tops) to quickly clean any spills or sticky spots, which will attract dirt and get more noticeable if left alone.
  
  
• Fold or hang dish towels
  
• (30 seconds).
  
  Even if they’re clean, a jumble of dish towels on the counter can look messy. Take a few moments to fold or hang them.
  

This book was written in the 90's but her advice is timeless. The late Anne Oliver owned a finishing school and wrote an etiquette book for the débutante set.

If you are new to Jane Austen, I would recommend this DVD first.

I love this Spiced Chai Tea instead of coffee in the morning. You can pick up a big two pound tub at Sam's Club if you are nearby (or buy six tubs on-line).

I love the loose leaf tea from, "The Tea Bag Lady."  Be sure to try the, "Moroccan Mint."

This is an easy to use, inexpensive glass tea pot from Ikea. 

Great snack to have with your afternoon tea.

How Afternoon Tea was 'Invented'
by Jane Pettigrew
The English ceremony of Afternoon Tea dates back to the 1840s but rather than being 'invented', it actually evolved out of the rituals and routines that had surrounded tea drinking in Britain before that time.

The English started drinking tea in the late 1650s and as both the brewed beverage and the dry loose leaves were extremely expensive, it immediately became the drink of the royal family and the aristocracy. Wealthy gentlemen drank their tea in London's coffee houses and upper class ladies bought very small amounts of loose leaf tea and drank the brew at home with their friends and family.