I have tried so many planners! I have used Erin Condren, Happy Planners, ones from Wal-Mart & Target. I’ve tried no planner and only using google calendar. I’ve tried bullet journaling and bullet planning to really customize what I needed for my brain to stay organized. Honestly, I could use all of them over again because there is something about having a physical planner that helps my brain!
According to the Scientific American: A study found that when students wrote by hand, electrical/EEG activity across many interconnected brain regions (movement, vision, sensory, memory) was higher than when typing. [By Audrey van der Meer and colleagues (NTNU)]
I’m sure it only gets worse when we are texting or swiping our fingers instead of physically writing something down! Having memory issues as a mom is not unheard of – we are trying to manage everything. We have to get kids to the right locations, at the right times, almost every night of the week, for each kid. We have to plan breakfast, lunch, and dinners. We have to make sure there is enough food to follow through with that meal plan. We have to make sure we have enough cleaning supplies, keep up on car maintenance, and home projects. We have to create a budget and track our finances. We have to keep the house clean. (Honestly – that one just about kills me.)
I’m sure I’ve left something out. Oh yeah! We have to take care of ourselves! Eat enough protein, exercise, drink enough water, meditate, read, do skin and hair care, nails, and get enough sleep. If you feel overwhelmed – I don’t think it’s your fault! There is so much to manage.
Taking the time to journal through emotions is the best way I’ve found to clear enough space in my head to manage my life. I basically brain dump everything in the morning and then turn to my planner.
This planner is exactly what works for me after trying planner after planner! I could not find anything that made space for everything I use on a daily basis. I ended up basing my planner off of a teachers planner but I only teach two kids so I didn’t need a lot of the charts and graphs for attendance in the back. (Do people use those anymore?)
I made my own. I took all my favorite pages and put them together. Now the whole school year is obviously going to flow flawlessly because mama is organized.
I wish that’s how it went!
Here’s what I put in the planner in order:
- 12 Month Goal Boxes
- Habit tracker
- Monthly spread
- Vertical weekly pages (my favorite!)
- Bullet journal page
- Weekly homeschool tracking pages
- Monthly budget plan
- Expense tracker
I needed something small enough to fit into a purse/bag and not weigh me down too much – cause I need a lot of my brain to be on paper unfortunately. It’s a little bigger than a 5×7.
12 MONTH GOAL BOXES
These squares are to break down my yearly goals. It’s easier for me to focus on one or two goals at a time and then build habits off of those. I break down my goals here and break them into actionable steps. From there the logical next step is to put those action steps on the habit tracker.
HABIT TRACKER
Only one page and it has the whole month on it. I want to be able to change what I’m tracking over time so it’s a fill in the blank habit tracker. There are also more habit spaces than I can actually accomplish at the moment so I can build my habits as the year goes on. (Habit stacking from Atomic Habits. It’s amazing.)
Honestly this helps me remember what my goals are every single day because I am seeing and reviewing them every night or morning! I can make actual progress rather than theoretical ideals. I love seeing me get closer and closer to accomplishing what I’ve set out to do.
Now – do I do each habit every single day…? Well, I try to. Haha
MONTHLY SPREAD
This is a regular monthly spread with a note/quote area on the right hand side. Nothing special. Because of how I am using my weekly pages – I think I am going to use these pages to keep track of food. I have bad allergies and need help figuring out what meals work and which ones cause lots of problems! I love that now that I have found my system – I can use it to analyze the areas in my life that are not working as well. Unfortunately that’s food right now.
Basically, all of that was there to say – USE your calendar to ACTUALLY make your life better. Find pain points in your life and find one category to keep track of. That’s the start of change. Or don’t do that and use it like a monthly page – you do you! 😂
VERTICAL WEEKLY PAGES
These are the bomb. Too millenial, maybe? These pages have a giant checklist underneath a couple empty boxes to put quotes or notes in. Each day has five separate categories.
- Gratitude
- Exercise
- Daily
- Cleaning
- Meals
I use this gratitude section to write five things I’m grateful for each day. The goal is to see how long I can go without repeating one! We’re halfway through September and I haven’t repeated it yet!
Having all of my household to-do’s in one area seriously helps me get things done.
This is a picture of the inside of my planner! You can watch a flip through here!
BULLET JOURNAL PAGE
This is the perfect place to take a few necessary notes, usually while I am talking with insurance companies or jotting down new homeschool ideas.
WEEKLY HOMESCHOOL TRACKING PAGES
Titled with the main subjects we are focusing on this year and put down each of the boys’ names so I can track what lessons, books, projects, music, or places we travel. I’m afraid that I will forget and because we homeschool that will be bad. I don’t think anyone but me will care – BUT I have it for my peace of mind.
MONTHLY BUDGET PLAN
At the beginning of the month there’s a section to plan what we think our income will look like and how much is going to fixed bills and then a section for the variable categories as well. The back of that page has what was actually spent that month. It’s evident from the front and back what went according to plan and what didn’t. HOPEFULLY, this will help me be a better steward of our money.
EXPENSE TRACKER
I tried a few expense/budget planners before I decided how to put these pages together as well. These pages are a little different than normal pages. There’s a column for the date, amount, type of transaction, category it falls under, and a column for how much is LEFT to spend in that specific category. I have never seen an expense tracker with that little column and using it will make all the difference in the world! I’ll be visibly seeing exactly how much is left in each section.
Why write down your expenses??? Just use the app! My friends, I cannot. If I type it into my phone it’s like my brain says that it’s malleable. That there was no REAL, tangible part of that transaction. When I write them down it makes it real to me. I have to see it.
If you want to get organized and this sounds like it could work for you, check out the planner in my shop! If you have any ideas or would like your own customized planner, please reach out to me. If I can help at all – I’d love to!
These were what I found to be my necessities! I need space to put expenses, homeschooling, cleaning, working, exercise, meal plans, and what we’re doing all in one place. I’d love to hear your thoughts about what makes a good planner for you. Maybe that will go in the next edition!
Don’t be a stranger! I’d love to hear what your favorite ways to stay organized for the school year.
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