I need a planner

Every Christmas I use my special handmade planner, it is amazing, I have records of all the presents we’ve previously bought, all the recipes I use, my card lists, even the shopping lists (held on One Note on my PC which I reprint every year).  The family are trained to pick it up as we leave the house, if I’ve forgotten it, but it is our lifeline over the festive period to ensure Christmas runs smoothly.  We’ve been using the planner since 2005 and it’s great.

So why do I use the planner, to make sure I do everything and don’t miss anything out. Then why don’t I follow on this idea and create one for the rest of the year. 

This is going to be my first step in my year of “Organisation”, there is no point starting anywhere else, I need to have somewhere to keep the lists of food in the cupboards, fridge and veg box, and to plan the meals for the week that the whole family can refer to. An easy starting point in my mission.  I’ve done some research, found lots of useful sites and will be getting my crafting things out today to make a start. I’ve got new toners for the printer (I don’t want to leave it empty or I will be very unpopular).

I’m going to print my inserts before making the cover, I can then work out the size to ensure that the tabbed dividers fit.

Organised Home

OK, so this is what I need ALL year to keep me organised.  I started looking yesterday and have found a great starting point on the Organised Home website. This explains the Household Planner and everything that could be included, ideas for the dividers, pages to be downloaded and printed.

I also found the planner below with some great pages.

Brenda Arnall’s planner

This is the front of a lovely planner that Brenda Arnall has made on her blog. I love the look of this, there are lots of templates available to download, you need to go near to the bottom of the November pages to find all the details, but very easy to follow.

I want to keep the binder flexible, so will use some bookrings to hold it together and then tie on lots of ribbons (same method as my Christmas planner). I do need to make it easy though to add pages, so will remember this time to use a standard hole punch so that the holes are all in the correct place.

I suppose I could use a standard A5 ring binder, but it doesn’t feel “mine” in the same way.

I will print her pages on paper, I don’t want the planner to become too thick, if producing a bound book (what a great present for someone) then I’d use card and my Bind-it-All.

Martha Stewart

There are also loads of excellent tips on Martha Stewart’s website. I’ve also added her calendar’s into my outlook, so that I can choose to do or ignore her suggestions for the week. Simple things like checking smoke alarms etc.

Time to have some fun at the same time as getting organised.

Enjoy