How to make a home binder: what goes in it and what does not

A home binder answers a single question at the worst possible moment: what do I need to know right now? It is not a filing cabinet and it is not a scrapbook. Anything that does not help you act quickly can live somewhere else.

Most binders fail in one of two ways. They are so ambitious that nobody finishes them, or they are so thin that they help with nothing. Five sections is the amount that gets used.

The five sections, in the order to fill them in

Start with the first and stop whenever you like. Each one is useful on its own.

If something goes wrong
Where the water, gas and electricity shut off, which way each turns, and who to call first. Ten minutes. Do this one tonight.
Numbers you look up
Filter sizes, bulb types, paint colors, meter numbers, trash and recycling days.
Who to call
Plumber, electrician, heating and cooling, roofer, and their phone numbers, plus anyone you would use again.
What has been done
A running log: date, what was done, on what, by whom and what it cost.
Dates that cost money
Warranty expiry dates, the insurance renewal, and, if you rent, the lease and the deposit.

What belongs, and where it comes from

Shutoff locations
Why
Speed in an emergency
How to get it
A walk of the house with a flashlight
Filter and bulb sizes
Why
No more guessing in the store
How to get it
Read them off the item once
Contacts
Why
A lookup, not a search
How to get it
Write each name and number the first time you use them
The log
Why
Answers when it last happened
How to get it
Fill in after each job
Warranty dates
Why
Claims fail on missed dates
How to get it
Copy from the paperwork

Goes in	Why	How to get it
Shutoff locations	Speed in an emergency	A walk of the house with a flashlight
Filter and bulb sizes	No more guessing in the store	Read them off the item once
Contacts	A lookup, not a search	Write each name and number the first time you use them
The log	Answers when it last happened	Fill in after each job
Warranty dates	Claims fail on missed dates	Copy from the paperwork

Making one in an afternoon

5 things to do

Take a flashlight and a pen and walk the house once, kitchen first, then utility, basement, attic and outside.
Fill in the emergency page before anything else.
Write down what you find without organizing it yet.
Put the pages in the binder in the order above.
Set a date to add one thing a week, not to finish it.

Ticks are for this visit only. Nothing here is saved anywhere.

Paper and app together

A paper binder is easy to hand to someone, and it works when the power is out. It is also easy to lose track of, and it does not tell you when the filter is due. An app is the opposite. The two together are the best of both: paper for the emergency page and the numbers, an app for what falls due.

If you have just moved in, the first week after buying a house is the best time to start, because you can still see every label. For the log itself, see a home maintenance log that actually gets used.