Setting up a finance control center in your home or office is a terrific strategy for staying on top of your family or business finances.  It should not be only a record of what is spent, but it should include your calculations for what will likely be spent in the coming year(s).  This binder or manual should be a go-to for all of your own questions regarding what you can afford and how long it will take to reach your financial goals.

• Find a binder that works for you. I love Mead’s Notebinder, but any binder will work. I would choose one that has at least a 1″ spine width, but don’t use a binder that is too bulky and cumbersome.
• You will also want to collect tabbed dividers so that you can separate your finance binder into sections. The easier it is to find the information you need, the more chances your finance binder will work. Another solution is Avery NoteTabs. These tabs are writable and repositionable so you can move them around or use the same one if you need to refresh the page.
• Consider the sections of you finance binder. Some labels that I use are Register, a label for each fund (e.g. Auto, Childcare, Clothing, Grocery, Utilities, Travel, find out more here), banking, loans, etc.
• Create a section for bank information and include names of financial institutions, addresses, contact information, and any other details that would be worth having at a glance.
• Label your binder clearly.
• Begin to fill your binder with pages that are useful and worth keeping.  ListPlanIt.com has all the Financial Planning pages you need.
• You can also add pouches to hold receipts, a page to record prices on your favorite items, a list of things you are saving for, or anything else that might be useful in keeping your family or business in the black!!

ListPlanIt.com has all of the printable pages listed above and much, much more to create a home or business finance binder that is organized, easy to use, and easy to customize.  Be sure to also check out our Home Management Binder instructions, while you are at it.

What pages do you keep handy in your family or business finance manual?