Binders

This post is dedicated to Jen Bray, a colleague, who understands my need for binders. 

 

What are your thoughts about 3-ring binders?  (If you are sane, you have no thoughts about them at all...)  Most people think of binders in the school setting.  They are a useful organizational tool for keeping subjects divided and assignments organized.  But they have so many more uses than just for school.

If you were to enter our family room, you would see binders lined up on our bookshelves.  Each one has a year labeled on the side.  These are our photo albums, neatly arranged to quickly find an event, person, or memory.  Chris and I are both avid amateur photographers and taking, screening, printing, and laying out our memories are a hobby we both enjoy.  For decorating purposes, I choose white ones so as not to clash with our decor.  I also get binders with a clear insert for a cover page.  These fronts are especially fun to create a 'Best of 2011' collage.

If you were to walk across the room now to my kitchen desk area, next to the phone and Day-Timer, you would see several more binders lined up against the wall.  These store papers and information for various subjects like college, RMAC, vacations, etc.  Some people find folders do the trick, but for me, I like to be able to flip quickly through information stored in clear plastic sleeves.  Again, it is the 'information at your fingertips' that seems to delight me the most. 

Enter into either son's closets if you dare.  At the top you will see binders of their youth:  baby albums, school work, awards and accomplishments...all neatly organized to give to them at some point in their adult years.  Other uses for binders?  Financial records, important papers and documents...the list goes on and on.

At school, not only do my students have a binder for my English class, but my bookcase by my desk is lined with binders according to topic too.   I also have a private Italian tutor whom I meet with once a week.  Yup, you guessed it, a binder for that too.  And like a good student, I have my work divided by subject area...

It's hard to explain my enjoyment of binders. Maybe it is their permanence, their compactness, or their durability.  Lest you think I am a TOTAL organizational crackpot, I do believe that some things are best left in an old shoebox.  After all, where else should you put those old sneakers?

So, do you have any thoughts about 3-ring binders now?  I would love to hear them.