Nothing is safe as I purge-purge-purge this January! The latest to get tackled was my recipe binders and cookbooks. After years of adding recipes and collecting cookbooks that I never used, it was time to simplify and give my cookbook shelf some attention. So today let’s take a closer look at the finished product. I am also including a free printable below so you can organize your own recipe binder.
I have had a 3 ring binder to collect recipes since we got married- you know back in the dark ages before Pinterest. While I do love Pinterest for recipes, there is something about a paper recipe that I prefer and I also have lots of hand-written family recipes to file away. Over the years, I even added a second binder to accommodate the added recipes. But the reality is I probably only used about 1/10th of what was in the binders. So I decided to streamline and remove any recipe that I no longer use (or have never used!). I was able to get rid of an entire notebook!
I also ended up donating a pile of cookbooks that do not inspire me or that I no longer use. Here is my purge pile.
Once I had the remaining recipes sorted, I made a list of the categories I would be using. Here you can see the categories:
Breakfast
Apps
Main Dishes
Side Dishes
Soups/Salads
Dessert & Drinks
Holiday
I already had the binder, dividers and clear sheet protectors, so this project cost NOTHING for me! The best kind of organizing, right?
Once I had my tabs decided, it was easy to organize the recipes and get them filed in the right spot. (yay for no more wasted time hunting down recipes) The holiday tab is a new one for me, but where I plan to put the treasured family favorites for holiday specific (such as my mother in laws cornbread stuffing) so that I can easily jump to that tab and find those recipes during the holidays.
I also made a list of recipes that were family classics that I realized I didn’t have a copy of. As I mentioned, these were things like my mother in law’s coveted cornbread stuffing and my mom’s delish carrot cake. Admittedly, this process of organizing took longer than 20 minutes since I added lots of extra steps like collecting recipes and making pretty pages for the binder. However, the extra steps were so worth it to me because I now feel inspired when I reach for this binder instead of scattered and spending way too long hunting down what I am looking for.
In addition to the new tabs, I also made some cute print outs to use as divider pages. Aren’t they darling?
I am in a huge rut when it comes to meal planning! Organizing my recipes has definitely reminded me of a few old favorites and given me a spark to try a few new things. I also have room for a few new cookbooks, so I may add a couple that I have had my eye on to help with meal inspiration.
RECIPE BINDER FREE DOWNLOADS
If you would like to print your own recipe pages- I am offering mine as a free printable download. This collection includes 9 pages total: a COVER PAGE, DIVIDER TABS, and 7 CATEGORY PAGES and will print out on 8×10 pages.
To access these free printables, just subscribe to the SOUTHERN STATE OF MIND RESOURCE LIBRARY . You will receive a welcome email with the password to access the library.
If you already subscribe to the blog, the password is included down in a gray box in the body of the email you received this morning.
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Here is the final before and after of my cookbook shelf:
BEFORE!
AFTER!
That Joy of Cooking book and recipe box is my mother-in-laws from when we downsized her. The black binder is her grandmother’s hand-written recipes from the 1930’s. I did an entire post on this treasure and even offered a few as printables. You can read about that here.
It always feels good to tackle a spot in the house, even as small as a recipe binder!
Click HERE to catch up on all 20 Minute Organizing posts– or you can also see them below:
20 Spots in 2020/2021|| 20 MINUTE ORGANIZING
1/20 & 2/20: Under Bathroom Cabinets
3/20: Master Closet Winter Purge & Spring Spruce
4/20: Cleaning Locker
5/20: Spice Drawer
6/20: Family Travel Emergency Kit
7/20: Purse Organizer Insert
8/20: Athleisure Refresh
9/20: Nerf Storage
10/20: Wrapping Paper Drawer
11/20: Christmas Ornament Storage
12/20: Recipes & Cookbooks
Happy Organizing! xoxo-
Heather
I was just looking at my “box” of recipes last night, thinking I needed to purge and organize…..but it looked too daunting of a task and I just wasn’t ready to take it on. Here this morning…..seeing these beautiful dividers, I am inspired!
Thank you, Heather – these are awesome, just like you!
Yay! So glad to hear that this timing was good for you and you feel inspired! It really is the little things, and updating this binder brought me joy! Good luck sorting yours too.
Always full of excellent ideas!
Riddle me this…. what did you do with all the recipes on little pieces of paper or on “recipe cards”? Did you also put those in the binder?
I am having trouble accessing the printables as I am already a long time subscriber. I cannot find the gray box with the password. Please advise. You have inspired me to do as you have done.