I am learning to prioritize my life so that I have time for my family and friends. A planner helps with this!
The Three Planners I Use
You are probably thinking “Why in the world does she need 3 planners?!” I don’t blame you. But I have different areas of my life in which I need some place to jot down ideas, dreams, goals, and steps. So I will show you the planners I use to help with these.
Home Life
Blue Sky Weekly and Monthly Planner 8.5″x11″
This has been my all-time favorite planner for the basics of life. I do alot of cooking, folks. With feeding 8 of us three meals a day, plus company or taking a meal to someone else, it seems my life is about 1/3 in the kitchen. I don’t say this to complain, but it is a fact that we moms will spend much time with food. Add into that errands, housecleaning, laundry, and little kids . . . and a planner comes in handy.
I am the kind of person that does not like to think about what to cook for the six hours prior to actually cooking the meal! It hurts my brain. Ok, that was a sorry excuse, but it is true in a way. It stresses me out to be thinking “Oh dear, I didn’t plan for supper – what am I going to whip up quickly?”
So now that I have tried several planners, I have finally found one that holds enough room to list my errands for each day, plus my menu for breakfast, lunch, and supper. I like to sit down and plan these out for a week ahead of time, then it makes it easier (and probably cheaper) when I do my grocery shopping.
This planner also has a monthly calendar and phone contacts page. You can purchase the smaller version, but for me the 8.5″x11″ is what I need for this crazy life of mine. Or maybe I should say, this crazy brain of mine!
You can purchase it for $14.99 on Amazon
Business/Blog Life
Erin Condren Deluxe Monthly Planner
2018 is the first year I will be using a planner for the business and blogs. And I am pretty excited about it!
This planner comes with many features, including customization. I was able to pick which design I wanted, (Be Strong and Courageous design), the colors for the cover, and I could even have my name printed on the front. I also chose to have extra lined pages in the back – just because I knew I would need extra space to write down ideas, etc.
I wouldn’t want this one for my daily home life schedule. Instead, it is designed more for businesses and blogs – a place to put ideas and goals and steps to get them to fruition.
Mine came in the 7″x9″ size for roughly $30.00 plus shipping. I think the extra pages I added in cost a bit more, but they will be worth it. You can purchase them on Erin Condren’s website.
School Life
Now this planner is not for all my kids’ schoolwork goals. It is only for the music class that I teach on Wednesdays. I teach grades 2-8, 40 children in all.
So I needed something to write down lesson plans for each class, as well as records for participation and grades. The planner I chose is Elan’s Hardcover Combination Plan and Record Book 8.5″ x 11″. I like that it gives me plenty of room to put in the various segments of each lesson for each music day.
And it comes with a hard cover so that it doesn’t get bent with me carrying it to and from school each week!
You can purchase it on Amazon for $19.95.
I honestly wish I had used a planner more when my kids were younger. Especially for the menu planning part of life.
But in some ways it seems life was simpler with a whole bunch of littles. When you are in that stage, you don’t have time for big goals – life is full of interruptions. And lots of soft cheeks and slobbery kisses. I wouldn’t have traded those days for anything . . . they were precious and the memories still are to me.
However, now it feels like I am doing more away from home – running errands, teaching, helping on committees, etc. And a planner helps keep my mind focused and my priorities where they need to be!
My motto is this: If I have the work in my life planned out . . . then I can thoroughly enjoy the fun with my kids, my husband, and my friends.
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