I received a complimentary copy of The Complete Book of Home Organization in exchange for an honest review. My favorable opinion of incredible organization resources is 100% my own. 🙂 This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
It has probably happened to most of us. You click over to a blog with every intention of reading one simple post and then going about the rest of your day. Except while you’re reading said post, a link to another post that looks amazing catches your eye, so you pop over and read that one too. The next thing you know, a few hours have gone by and you’re still sitting at the computer reading inspiring post after inspiring post and swearing that if you and the blogger knew each other in real life, you would totally be BFFs. 🙂
This very scenario played out for me a few years ago when I discovered Toni Hammersley’s blog, A Bowl Full of Lemons. We all know that organization makes me giddy, so when I stumbled upon her blog that was chock-full of stunning organizing goodness, I just couldn’t help but get lost in it! Well, imagine my glee, then, when I found out that Toni was taking her organizing talents one step further and publishing an organizing handbook… The Complete Book of Home Organization, to be exact.
I couldn’t get my hands on this book fast enough! I literally squealed with delight when the mailman delivered it. And as I flipped through its pages, I was in organizational heaven. 🙂
There are tips and tricks for organizing every nook and cranny in your home! Each section is highlighted by gorgeous photographs of beautifully organized spaces, most of which belong to Toni herself.
The Complete Book of Home Organization also includes an organizing challenge for each “zone” of the house. Toni walks readers through each space step by step, helping to create the most effective organizational systems for every area of the home.
I gained so many incredible ideas and had many, many “aha” moments while reading the book– I can’t wait to start implementing some of them in my own home! There was one idea in particular, though, that I had to put to use right away.
You see, I have always dreaded meal planning time. It always takes me forever to decide what meals my family will have over the coming weeks because I can never seem to think of things to make, I feel like we’re eating the same things all the time, and I just didn’t have a great system (or any system!) for coming up with my list.
As I was reading through the pantry section of The Complete Book of Home Organization, I came upon Toni’s suggestion of creating a recipe binder. Brilliant! My recipes were stored all over the place– on Pinterest boards, in files on my computer, in various folders in my kitchen cupboard– they were a mess! A recipe binder would help me corral all of my favorites in one place so that when meal planning time came, I could just grab the binder and instantly have tons of meal ideas at my fingertips. AND when it came time to actually make the meal, I had the ingredients list and instructions ready to go!
But if I was going to create a pretty recipe binder I couldn’t just keep it all to myself, so I decided to share it with you too, sweet readers!
{Click here to download your FREE printable recipe binder!}
The printable binder includes the pretty cover shown above, as well as cover pages for 14 of the most common recipe categories and a blank cover page to customize to your own liking.
To assemble my binder, I simply printed my cover pages on white card stock and slid them into a clear sleeve with a tab like these ones. I used my label maker + clear labeling tape to create a label for the tab, popped them into a binder, and I was ready to add my recipes! {Desserts first, of course! 😉 }
I love that I have all of my recipes organized in one place now– it makes meal planning and prep so much easier! Thank you for the idea, Toni!
For more amazing organization inspiration, be sure to pop over and check out The Complete Book of Home Organization. I promise you won’t be disappointed!
{Psssssttttt…. I’m actually giving away a copy of Toni’s book over on Instagram this week as part of my new organizing hashtag challenge, #justorganizeit ! Be sure to hop over to IG to see how you can win!}
Happy organizing, sweet friends!
I received a complimentary copy of The Complete Book of Home Organization in exchange for an honest review. My favorable opinion of incredible organization resources is 100% my own. 🙂 This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.
Ahh!! I just jumped over to Amazon to check out the book and it looks amazing! So bright and beautiful and so many organizing tips! I’m going to stop over to IG so I can check out this giveaway! Thanks Abby!
Ps: I love your floral background for your printables photos! Is it gift wrap?
Hi Christene! Yes, the floral background is gift wrap! Hope to see you on IG for the #justorganizeit challenge! Have a great evening! ~Abby =)
I love the recipe binder. It is so beautiful!
Fab designs, thanks
This is definitely better than the recipe cards I have everywhere.
Now I have to consider it. Thanks for sharing.
I love this idea! A good friend gave me a beautiful tin recipe box for Christmas and I’m so excited to corral all my favorite recipes in one place!
I can only seem to find a paperback copy of the book. Are there hardcover ones available?
Hi, Jennifer! The book is just available with the flexicover, which is a higher quality soft cover. I hope this helps! Have a great weekend!
~Abby =)
I love how your recipe binder turned out, just beautiful, having it all your recipes in one places makes all the difference!
Thank you so much, Morgan! It really does! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
~Abby =)
Where do you buy your notebooks? Like the one here?
Hi, Sandi! This one is from the See Jane Work line, and I found it at Office Depot. I have links to a bunch of my favorite binders at the bottom of this post: https://justagirlandherblog.com/simplify-home-binder-tour/ . I hope this helps! Have a wonderful day!
~Abby =)
I made a recipe book for my niece as a wedding gift. It is an inexpensive vinyl photo album that holds two 4×6 photos to a page. I found this album at a dollar store. I bought pretty printed 4×6 recipe cards and hand wrote special recipes to be inserted in each photo pocket. The really special part of this recipe book is I asked other members of the family (hers and his) to write their favorite recipes and sign the cards I gave them and return the cards to me. If the recipe was handed down through the family, I wanted each contributor to write that on the card; such as “great-great-grandma Lona’s sugar cookies”. I also included measurement conversions and cooking tips. I hope that one day she will pass it on to her granddaughter with even more recipes added.
What a beautiful and special gift! I’m sure she really cherishes it! Thank you for sharing the idea, Kimberly!!
~Abby =)
I received my copy on Friday and I LOVE it! I plan on lending it to my 18yod (if) when she moves out.
Thank you Abby for all your wonderful printables!
Isn’t it fantastic?! I feel like I want to reorganize everything now! 🙂 Have a wonderful week, Nancy!
~Abby =)
Abby, what font did you use to write the recipe headings? I’d love to fill in the blank pages one using the same font as I have a few different categories I’d like to make, such as the Instant Pot. Or, could you make one titled Instant Pot? Thanks!
Hi, Jennifer! The font is called Sugarbush, and I bought it at creativemarket.com . There should be a blank sheet included in the printables so you can make any other headings that aren’t included in the pack. Have a great day!
~Abby =)
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! I know this will come in handy on all of those busy nights! This will also make a great gift for the college student that is living in their first apartment!
So glad it was helpful for you, Colleen!
~Abby =)
Is it possible to tell me the name of the font that you used for the recipe binder and where it came from.
I just printed all the cover sheet pages and I apparently do not have that font on my computer. The words came out all garbled. I really like your binder and would love to use it.
Thanks for all the work that you put into this.
Hi, Rhandi! I’m so sorry it’s giving you trouble! The font is called Sugarbush, and I got it from Creative Market. I also just emailed you the recipe binder file directly to see if it will work for you that way. With a PDF, you shouldn’t have to have the font on your computer for it to work, and I know a lot of other people have been able to access the binder with no issues, so I’m not sure what’s going on! I apologize again for the inconvenience. Hope you’re having a wonderful week!
~Abby =)
You are very kind to share your wonderful discoveries. I have 2 recipe binders that are in desperate need of overhauling so this is perfect timing. I have too many recipe for just one, so I have one for Savoury and one for Sweet, which works really well. It’s going to be my special job for the next school holidays!
Yay! So glad it will be helpful for you! <3
~Abby =)