Week #5: Recipes & Cookbooks

This week's challenge in the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge is to organize my recipes & cookbooks.  Unlike last week's challenge, this one was much more of a challenge!

Exhibit A:

Yep, I'm embarrassed to admit it, but that's my recipe book.  Some recipe cards are in their proper location, but most are just laying haphazardly in there, along with recipes printed out from the computer as well as recipes from magazines.  I think it is safe to say that my recipe book is a BIG OLE' MESS!

Here is my problem.  I really, really, really do not want to have to write out every recipe (that was not on a recipe card).  For example, I found a delicious Cheesy Italian Tortellini recipe from a website, however, it is printed out on regular paper.  No way do I have time to print out each & every recipe on to a recipe card.

So I decided, that although I love my little recipe book, I had to go with something bigger.  

Why hello there 1 1/2 inch black binder!  

This, I decided, was going to work MUCH better for all of my recipes!

I decided to use plastic page inserts for both my printed out recipes as well as my recipes that were already on recipe cards.  I just took out the little page inserts that the recipe cards were in & inserted them into the big inserts.

And then I separated the recipes into categories, using simple page dividers.

Next, I needed to decide what to do with my millions of cooking magazines laying around the house.  

I really didn't want to have to keep storing them until I needed a new recipe, then taking another 15-20 minutes searching for the perfect recipe.  So I decided to just go through them all, once and for all, and rip out the recipes that looked tasty & that I wanted to try.

I added a page protector to the front of my binder where I put all of these recipes that I want to eventually try.

If after I try the recipe I like it, I will put the recipe in it's own little page protector & add it to the appropriate category.  And if I don't care for it, I'll just toss the recipe in the garbage.  Easy peasy.  

And that, my friends, is my newly organized recipe binder.  MUCH more organized & MUCH easier to access all of my yummy recipes!

Next Week's Challenge: Recycling