Family Mission Statement for Family Management Notebook

It is so hard to believe that it is almost school time already. It seems like the kids just took summer break. We have been scrambling to get supplies, trying to get back on our “school” schedule, and reexamining our lives.

One thing we always do around this time of year is refresh and revise our life management notebook. It is essentially our life in a binder. I keep all of the most important information in here so that it is within reach at all times. School time is always a great time to revise it because it seems things are changing most at that time of year: child’s grade, extra curricular activities, and the kids always seem to grow 3 inches over the summer, don’t they?

Inside of our binder are the following sections:

• Daily Planning, Goals and Calendars
• HPC Church and Ministry Information
• Grocery Shopping, Recipes, and Menu Planning
• Home Making and Home Maintenance
• Debt Snowball and Financial Planning
• Education and Extra Curricular Activities
• Hobbies and Crafts
• Quick Reference Sheets for Kids, House Rules, etc.

For next week I have a series scheduled to walk you through each section of our life management binder. I will go over how we use the entire system and provide the printouts to go with it. You will be able to customize these printables. All you need is Microsoft Word or the free open source software called: Open Office.

It is my firm belief that the first step to any life management binder is a family mission statement. This week I want you to take a few minutes with your spouse to discuss the purpose and mission of your family. Once you and your spouse have a good idea of what you would like to include in your statement then write down the topics. For example, Ryan and I chose the following:

• Faith
• Family
• Finances
• Education
• Gifts and Talents
• Health
• Frame of Mind

Once we knew what we wanted to include in our mission statement we called a family meeting. From there we had the kids contribute their thoughts on each topic and we crafted our hearts into one cohesive mission statement.

Here is ours:

We will love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind. We will blend together as one to be an example to and compassionately serve others. With our finances we are blessed so that we may bless others. We will never stop learning and teaching. We will use our gifts and talents for His purposes. We recognize that our body is the temple and we will keep it clean. We live by this motto (Brennanism): To be a keeper of peace and thanksgiving is to be the guardian of joy.

Before you begin to create your household binder, I encourage you to sit down and write out your mission statement. Once you have it done, or if you have one already then I would love for you to share it. Then, next week we will begin to put together our binders.

I suggest the following supplies to create your binder:

• 1 1/2 to 2 inch binder
• printer paper
• printer and ink
• binder dividers (or make your own with my tutorial on Friday – cardstock, mailing labels, and large circle punch or scissors needed)
• originals or copies all important documents – social security cards, insurance cards, birth certificates, legal documents, marriage license, shot records, etc)
• recent photos of children – head shots (for info on how to get great shots learn from Tracy’s Mommytography Workshop and/or visit Darcy’s 31 Days to a Better Photo series)

Next week we will begin our series on creating a custom household binder. If there is anything in particular you want to me to address or a question you want answered be sure to comment and let me know!

For more on the topic of family mission statements visit:

• Simple Mom: Back to Basics
• Passionate Homemaking: Developing a Family Mission Statement