Our Home Management Binder - December 2013

I consider my self to have failed managing or shall we say, updating our home management binder. You see, when we moved out earlier this year, we did not move straight to our own house because it was still under renovation. Meanwhile we were staying in our temporary place, the binder was sealed and packed and remained unopened until we moved into our own house.

The binder is right on the right, you can see the blue plastic zipper as I placed it upwards along with some of our family pictures and plastic containers for dressing table organizers. Excuse the blurred image as you can see the shadow of my hand taking this picture.

As we moved in and starting new in the new house, it is clearly the opportunity to utilize this binder to its optimum function. 

The cover of our binder

We need to evaluate how to use this binder since I learned about this system from bloggers who has different culture from us. They use the binder or they call this command center since the house is only occupied with family members. Here we live with our domestic helpers so it may be unsuitable if we put this binder in public area within the house. If we do decide to keep this in the public area, such us our living room, we may have to omit the personal information such as our bank accounts. The helpers may not speak English but I don't think it will take much time for them to understand the contents of the binder. How hard can it be to comprehend the expense tracker, right?
I'm thinking that we need this binder as a keeper of general information around the house. Some of the category we already have serves as a keeper of our general information.

Let us review the ones we previously had :

1. The stationery and 2013 year calendar

The stationery pocket holds a calculator, markers, and pens (black and red). The calendar was from http://printables.yourway.net/

Of course we will still use the stationery holder and we will change the calendar to 2014 yearly calendar. I have one from the same source but I am considering to use the one I found here. Please do visit the link, it is one magnificent read.

2. Monthly calendar

From the month of June, I did not put anything. Obviously, this is the time the binder was untouched in our moving boxes

I have mine from here

I put my schedule, my husband's, and Baby No.1's activity in the calendar. This calendar only serves the purpose of giving general information of our activities. It allows me to remember what is happening each day. I have my detailed schedule in my own agenda. My husband doesn't own any kind of agenda so I think it will be helpful if I put his in this calendar.

3. Account tracker

I found mine here

My intention is, just like the title, to track all of our account, meaning our bank accounts and credit cards. I may have to change the detail a bit since we closed some of our credit cards.

4. Expense tracker

You can get your copy here

I would like to evaluate the use of this section since I have a hard time writing on this format. 

5. Baby food diary

I download mine from here

I started using this form when Baby No. 1 is 7 months old, when she was starting to eat solids. I did even make it to the first month. Bad, bad mom. Again, I found it hard to write in this format and I did not have the perseverance to discuss what my baby had for the day with her sitter. We will use this kind of table for Baby No. 2 in March and hopefully this time I will do better.

6. Monthly bill payment

I'm sorry I forget where I download this form. I used other format and leave this one blank just to show you. And I'm sorry the blurry image, I printed it when the ink was low in our toner

This table already serves its purpose as a reminder. I left out the image of the table I actually use since it clearly shows you, the reader, our monthly payment. Basically, it has the deadline of our monthly payment, along with the name of the bill. We only tick off the table on the right once we make a payment.

7. Plastic pocket

The plastic pocket & the divider I use

I use this plastic pocket to file any bills that needs to be noted in the above category.

At this point I am considering that I may need to change the binder altogether since I am reminded that one of the major reason this system is not working for us is my reluctance to write in this big of a format. 

I also find that with this kind of binder, it will not look as neat as if the content is full with even paper size. 

I would like to have a neater look for our binder next year

Having reviewed our binder, I realized the harsh truth, the kind of binder we are using right now is not suitable for us. I will not have those lovely binder I have seen around the web, I need to come up with one that we can actually utilize.

So, I have less than a week to 2014 to decide which category that will go into out home management binder. I need to keep in mind that we need a system that is truly beneficial to us, rather than for the sake to have a lovely binder which we cannot use in the end. Stay tune as I need time to do my homework.

How to Keep Your Devices Manuals

When we bought appliances or devices or gadget, they come with packaging and manuals. I used to keep all those packages, considering that if I ever have to sell them, I will get better prices if they come with their original boxes. The I realized that I have never sold any of my gadgets, I just gave them away to our helpers who rarely asked where is the original packaging. I then made up my mind that I will not keep those boxes anymore since they tend to pile up everywhere around the house and gather all that nasty dust.

But I think it is a different story when it comes to the manuals and the warranty cards. I collect them in case I need to find some information regarding the appliances or the gadgets. We do not have many things that come with manuals and cards so I still save them in the plastic pocket like so.

The plastic pocket to hold all my manuals and warranty cards

If the pockets become inadequate, we will categorize the manuals.
Since we do not have many, this is sufficient for the moment

Since our working area has not completely done, I keep this pocket in the cabinet in our bedroom, along with my paper stock, my Project Life items, and the expandable plastic folders that keeps the copies of our important documents.

I also try to find the soft copy version of the manuals. So far, I have only collected four which are the manuals for my cameras, for the new fridge, and the iron.

I put the manuals in my IBook for easy read

Should the manuals adding up, then I will consider to have them categorized. At the time being, i find this system serves us just fine.

And The Winner Is

Before moving to the new house, I have shared with you the home appliances I intended to buy here. In the end, these are the things that made it into our home.

It turns out that we did not need to purchase a new microwave since my mother-in-law gave us one as a gift. This saves us a lot. (Thanks, Mom!) I like the white color it brings in front of our brick wall although this is actually an old model. You can tell from the turn knob.

So far we do not have a problem with this baby. We use it only to warm our meal. 

As for the rice cooker, you know I really dislike how most home appliances look here. They look as if they are all made from plastic. The flowery pattern and the bright color just does not meet my taste. I have narrowed down my choices and already decided where I will but it from based on the above table. I changed my mind once I found this one.

http://www.starcosmosgroup.com
(I think the manufacturer should improve their product image, seriously)

Since I do not need any fancy feature and I dislike any pattern on my home appliances, this seems to be the perfect choice. It does what a magic com should, it cooks rice and it keeps them warm. That's it. No fuss.

I intended to buy it on-line but in the end, due to my procrastinating habit, I ended up buying this baby from one of our local supermarket. One online shop is running out of stock, the other has two weeks delivery time. Price difference is around IDR 85,000

Cook or warm, that simple

Excuse the 'blah' image, I tried to fancy it up a bit, but somehow it just did not work

We have not yet buy either kettle nor toaster. I am now considering whether or not we need the kettle since these days I cannot see any kettle features that may benefit us. Toaster will probably serves us better. 

What do you think? 

Moving In..

Okay I have to admit, the three months maternity leave did not go as I planned. Trying to catch up on my Project Life? I did not even print any of the photos. Planning the next birthday party for my babies? Have not thought about it since the beginning of my leave. Designing and decorating for the new house? We moved hastily with the project still on-going on the first floor, leaving me overwhelmed with the task of cleaning and moving our belongings in.

My Project Life binder and all my scrapbooking supplies, jammed in their new place, unpacked and just sitting there

So the plan I scribbled for Richelle's Project Life and for this blog is just going to be another complementary image in this blog. Ironically, if you see the image below, I have the intention to put the title of 'If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail' for one of my post. I think in my case it is more appropriate to change it into 'I Succeeded to Plan but Fail Nonetheless'

Although it does not score big in Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, I will definitely consider moving house as one of the most stressful life event. It may not apply to single people, but with baby and toddler, I think I was overwhelmed. Still am, perhaps. 

I do feel better now I have the time to write this post. I even feel better to be able to move photos from my camera. Such a rare thing a me-time is these days.

Tomorrow I am planning to take photos of the chaos around the house and maybe, if Baby No.1 has mercy on me, I will be able to list down the projects I need to tackle. 

Good night, everyone. 

This is Where We're Gonna Dine

I am giddy excited to see the progress of our new home. My adoration and respect for my dear husband to finally completed our new house. He is the sole designer and project manager and I proudly say he finance the project on his own.

Remember that brick wall I showed you in my first post. Now it is considerably 90% complete along with the floor and ceiling. 

Our future dining room, captured from the living room. Love, love, love the brick wall along with the pendant light and the black door at the back. Please excuse the mat and tools rack on the right, working is still under progress

The brick wall for dining room backdrop. The pendant light was a nice feature and give a homey ambiance to the cold brick

The brick wall goes all the way to the wall on the second floor. My husband applied clear coating to sealed the brick wall surface.

Again, excuse the poor quality of the images since we took them around 10 PM. The place is quite a mess during the day since there are still a few workers working on the house. By taking the images at night, my husband would like to show me the ambiance with the lights on which if I imagined correctly, he has done a remarkable job and we are so proud of him.

Another thing I would like show are the details on the black door at the back and the kitchen at the right side of the dining room. But then again, they alone each deserves a different post themselves.

Sneak peek of the upcoming post, my love on our back door and kitchen

Baby Richelle's Pink Owl

As I have posted earlier here, we have to plan what are we going to give our relatives and friends when Baby No. 2 turns 1 month. Although there is a traditional standard to what were supposed to be give, we choose a more functional gift, something that can be use for quite sometime.

With Baby No. 1, we gave a medium-sized white towel with pink ballerina shoes embroidery. My sister-in-law's friend made these for us. 

The white towel covered in pink tulle fabric with pink ribbons on top 

A white towel with pink ballerina shoes with Baby No.1's name on top

For Baby No. 2, I thought I had the luxury of choosing a wide range of souvenirs. It turned out I underestimate the product lead time. I thought I can get small souvenirs like these

Unfortunately, either the site does not ship internationally, or the shipping and taxes cost more that the items itself, or the product lead time plus the estimated delivery date takes more than 30 days, I found myself considering our local resources. 

I surfed the net high and low and I found this:

I contacted them by email and following up by Blackberry and this nice young lady named Nini guided me through the whole process of ordering. The fact that ones I was interested in takes one month to assemble due to the availability of the boxes leads me to a pink owl theme Nini has designed for the souvenir. It consist of a mug and a fancy owl packaging.

Honestly I have to say I love the way these babies look. They are just lovely for a one-month-celebration. And Nini perhaps already made my life easier by setting the theme for Richelle's first birthday next year. Don't you think it is just lovely if Richelle's first birthday theme matches her one month celebration gift? 

A Little Change of Plan

I have posted earlier the water dispenser I wish to purchase and the comparison I made. You can read it here. 

Last night my husband assessed our inventory and we realized that we already have two units of fridge. The new one certainly goes to the kitchen and the old one goes to the second floor. We have not yet determined whether we wanted to put the old fridge in the kids room or we want to have it in ours. We bought that fridge right after I gave birth to my eldest daughter. Its main purpose is to store my expressed milk and after 6 months, I also store the baby food there too. 

Anyway, I am preparing to buy a smaller unit of water dispenser and this is the comparison I made so far. 

The table has more items because I found that there were more option from local brand with a very reasonable price for top loading water dispenser. I actually would like to compare more than what I already put in the table but I don't want to confuse myself in the end so I settle with these five options. Can you guess which one I am aiming for?

And Today I Decided to Buy This

When you deal with domestic helpers, it is no wonder that you will face some silly domestic conflict. Mine starts a couple of days ago and in order to settle this ridiculous matter, today I bring home this baby.

www.philips.co.my - Philips HD1172

Again, this is a buying with impulse, because I need it right away and we were happen to be going to a mall where they have an electronic & appliances store. 

I bought it merely because the others looks too colorful for my taste and it looks like they were all made of plastic. This one has a graphite plastic handle which made the total look is forgivable. I bought it for IDR 220,500

www.philips.co.my - Philips HD1172

If you check to this site, the product feature is described as follows:

Easy gliding on all fabrics

• Non-stick sole-plate coating - The soleplate of your Philips iron is coated with a special non-stick layer for good gliding performance on all fabrics.

---

Reaches into tricky areas

• Button groove speeds up ironing along buttons and seams - The button groove makes ironing along buttons and seams fast and easy.
• Pointed tip for ironing tricky areas - The uniquely pointed tip allows you to iron even the hardest to reach areas.

---

Full control

• Iron temperature-ready light - Indicator light goes off when the required ironing temperature has been reached.

When I was in the store trying to make up my mind, the other one I was also considering is one from Electrolux. 

www.electrolux.co.id - EDI 120

This one is cheaper IDR 204,000 but I really cannot get over the blue plastic plate which is not any better from the rest of the iron the store is displaying. Even the steam iron which cost double from the one I bought comes in those plastic look. These household manufacturers better come up with a better product design in the future, don't you think?

Colorful plastic  dry iron, I can not get over the look. Seriously?

At the end of Confinement

I am following the Chinese tradition of 'zuo yuezi' which literally means sitting the month. According to this site, it is the month where after childbirth, women are not allowed to leave their homes, take a bath, wash their hair, exposed themselves to cold water, cold temperatures and wind, or ingest ice water or 'cold' food (raw vegetables, salads, or fruits). Having losing blood after delivery, women are in cold stage therefore they need to consume 'hot' food to restore balance, like chicken, ginger, Chinese wine, or soup.

At the end of sitting the month, on the 30th day, comes the first important event for the newly born baby, the one month celebration. According to this site, during the celebration, families give relatives and friends gifts which usually includes red-dyed eggs. They are chosen because eggs are the symbol of changing process of life and their round shape is the symbol of harmonious and happy life. Red is the sign of happiness in Chinese culture. Relatives and friends will give presents in return which include things that the child will use like foods, daily materials, gold or silver wares. The most common present is ang pau which is money that is wrapped in a piece of red paper.

Rachel and Richelle receives their gifts before their one month celebration. It is a custom here that relatives and friends come to visit right after the baby was born and they bring the babies gifts like one mentioned above.

Gift me more!

I want to have these wrapping paper in Richelle's baby book as memorabilia, so I cut the better areas where wrinkles the least

Wrapping papers, already cut into small sizes to fir Project Life pockets

This one is a favorite, we love love love shopping in this store, mommy's heaven!

You can guess which store I'm talking about from that infamous little lady logo

What's inside the box

Do my husband's friend mistaken Richelle for a boy? What an odd choice for baby girl gift!

Now the hard part will be determining what we should give for our relatives and friends. Although I have my choices, it seems that it is possible that we are not getting them exactly on the Richelle's one month celebration. Another flunk on my site, duh! Stay tune and get the chance to see my choices of souvenirs.

A Little Organizing on the Way

This week, Richelle is due to her first doctor appointment after being released from the hospital as a perfectly healthy newborn. This month, big sister Rachel is also due for her immunization. Although Rachel and I have been a loyal customer for one of the most well-known women-and-children hospital chain, due to some uncomfortable situations we encountered during my stay in one of their hospitals for Richelle's labor, my husband and I decided that it is best that we change to a hospital that can cater our need more. 

I wish I had my camera with me when we visited the hospital of our choice for the first time. Excuse my lack of energy, I was only a week post-partum that day and I cannot imagine carrying my camera with me along with both girls. 

It was also come to my attention that our medical records need re-arrangement. I mean, the medical record books have been lying in the bedside table drawer all the time along with some transaction receipts. 

Although it is better to have the arrangement once we settled in our new house (everything seems postponed until the house ready, doesn't it) I think I will start with a baby step of determining the system I will use for keeping the medical files of the baby. 

So I turn to one of my favorite site here to find me a guidance. Toni of A Bowl full of Lemons keeps her family medical records in a filing system along with financial, house, automotive, and other documents as follows:

http://www.abowlfulloflemons.net/2013/06/filing-system-organization.html

Because I want to discuss about the medical records only, I put how Toni divide the red 'zone' as follows:

Red Category - Medical & Pets
- Paid doctor bills
- Benefit summaries (Not sure if we have one here nor do I understand what it means)
- One medical folder for each family member
- Prescription
- Vision
- Dental
- Vet
- One folder for each pet

I understand that there is not any single rule on how you are supposed to organize your medical records. You have to customize to meet you and your family needs and we have to remember that every member of the family has specific needs.

So I think this is how I am going to categorize our medical records :

- One big folder or filing box to gather all our family documents
- Each family member has their own folder which we are going to have four folders:
(1). Daddy
(2). Mommy
(3). Rachel
(4). Richelle
- Each folders has four sub-folders:
(1). Medical records 
(2). Medical bills
(3). All prescription drug information
(4). Test result (if any)

 Although I like the way it looks in Toni's post, we cannot find the same nor the similar products here. So I will browse around should I find products here with similar function and appealing looks for our medical records. 

Until next time.

Blush - Title Page

So I finally started Richelle's Project Life album. Since I only bought the mini kit of`Project Life Baby Edition, I am trying to use other product in the title page. 

I already put the title page with the products shown above 

But then I did not get the chance to finish until that night I had the time to scribble and make sketches for Project Life and I come to this idea of having solid color paper and black and white photos of Richelle in the title and ending page.

Since I am still within my 40-days-of-rest after giving birth to Richelle, I'm not allowed to go out of the house. Therefore, it may be a while for me to post the actual title and ending page. I think I will go straight to the third-closest mall from the house because I need to print out the photos and I also am planning to get a new chipboard letter stickers for each month title.

Looking forward to the end of this month.

Upcoming Appliances

Still in the subject of house appliances, from this site I still have to purchase the following items :

II. Counter-top Appliances and Accessories

www.shutterstock.com

1. Toaster or toaster oven

2. Mixer

3. Coffee maker

4. Kettle

I find the list is not really applicable since I do believe we can use rice cooker (or magic jar or magic com as you may call it) more than we use toaster.

I really dislike the look of rice cooker and its kind, with the flower or the ornament along the appliances body. I settle with one in a bold color if we cannot get anything in white or stainless steel finish.

And as we hardly ever use mixer, we might as well buy a kettle first before buying a mixer or a coffee maker.

So I come up with a new list that is more suitable to our needs and budget, which are :

1. Rice cooker / magic jar / magic com

www.aroma-housewares.com - Aroma 20-Cup Digital Rice Cooker & Food Steamer

P.S I have no idea where to but an Aroma house ware in Jakarta, I put the image above because the item looks good. Why can't the local brand here make one looks like that? Or the very least, having a worthy product photography.

For purchasing this items, I'm preparing the following table:

My guidelines in buying rice cooker / magic com, sources mentioned above

2. Kettle 

www.electrolux.co.id - Electric Kettle EEK 3100

image source www.phillips.co.id

3. Microwave

Price source mentioned above, image source from each brand (www.sharp-indonesia.com & www.panasonic.com)

I think there is a pretty good chance I am going to buy all my necessities to one of the price source mentioned above because it has the best bargain

4. Toaster (if budget permits)

I know that sometimes images from each brand or manufacturer do not represent the real items since they may have photoshop-ed the image to make it look more appealing. Hey, they have to make a sell, right? How can I not wanting something like this in our kitchen :

www.uncrate.com - The Egg & Muffin Toaster 

I will skip the small appliances like cooking implements, kitchen utensils and tools, tableware, and bake-ware, and goes straight to :

III. Floor Care and Cleaning Items

1. Vacuum cleaner

When we found bumps on baby Rachel, we suspected there was bugs, mites, dust, you name it, all those nasty things on our spring bed. My husband settled for this vacuum :

www.raycop-europe.com

Although I was not familiar with the brand, when they claim that they are the first anti-bacterial cleaner that kills between 93.5% to 99% viruses and bacteria, well, I'm sold. Anything to protect your baby's skin, right. 

This vacuum is hand-held, thus make it quite difficult to cleanse other than mattresses, pillows, and upholstered furniture. Should we find spare in our budget, I would like to have this baby :

www.newsroom.electrolux.com

I have seen my in-law uses this baby and I find it quite helpful. I have read the review in Amazon where most people find the battery disappointing. Like I said, only if we have spare budget.

2. Broom and dustpan

3. Floor mop, scrub pail, scrub brush, and cleaning rags

For the last two items, I think I just go with whatever products available. What is important though is how we are going to keep them nice and tidy like this : 

I'm terribly sorry I forget where I download the above image. I saved it to my IPad and totally forget to take note. Please confirm should the image has copyright

And for the small cleaning items, the following images of cleaning caddy should be very inspiring.

http://www.abowlfulloflemons.net

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com

Wish me luck on the new house, guys!