Parents have a lot to do with very little time. Pockets of time. 5 min. 10 min. 15 min. An hour is a luxury.
The Story Behind the Planner
Juggling cleaning, cooking, errands, priorities, exercise, and family time was getting overwhelming and my planner wasn’t cutting it.
I loved my Day Designer Planner from Staples. It helped me prioritize my time and remember key things that were important to my day. I loved the long to do list section. It was my go-to reference.
However, I found myself filling up a lot of the page in the margins with activities for my boys which I would inevitably move to the next day or two if we didn’t get to them. I’d have to flip back and forth between days to see what I’d missed the day before. I wanted a place that I could reference tasks for the month that I wanted to get done.
The planner didn’t help me organize all the different areas of my life. I had to have a list of activities to do with my kids and plan on a separate sheet of paper because I ran out of room on my planner page (I don’t do well thinking of ideas to play or trips to take on the fly). I needed a go-to list of activities for the day that I could try when my mommy brain was fried, something I didn’t have to think about and we could just do. Having a big list is nice but sometimes you don’t have time to go through it and get all the stuff you need when kids are jumping on couch cushions, wrestling, or running around chasing each other (or is that just at my house?)
I had lists of cleaning tasks, workouts to do, tasks to do for blogging, things to read, and educational videos to watch.
I had a lot of lists.
It wasn’t working.
How the Family Fun Planner is Different
Most planners aren’t geared towards time blocking for people with small windows of time. They aren’t geared towards prioritizing and organizing the different goals you may have for your life at the daily level and tend to focus on yearly or monthly goals as a whole. Or they might be perfect for time blocking but miss out on what a parent might need in addition.
I needed something that would help me be efficient with the time I had and help me reach my goals in all area of my life, one task at a time. I could read for 15 min. Clean for 15 min. Do a goal related task in 15 min. I needed a planner to help me do that.
So I created my own.
I created a planner to help parents get the most out of the precious time they have so they can focus on making memories and creating meaningful connections with their children.
My Test Run and Feedback
I’ve been using my draft copy since December and I love it! I get more done, have more fun with the kids, feel less stressed, and more organized. It’s made a world of difference for me. I even used the habit tracker and can now say I’m a flosser. Yay.
Want to try it out? I have two sample spreads for the week.
Tell me which one you like better.
One has a reference column which I use for more to-do tasks. The other doesn’t and gives more room to write in the other boxes. I love the extra space to write more things to do but some people might find the extra room for the columns more appealing than a reference list.
Do you want the 15 minutes for me for self-care? I don’t use it but thought some people would. I like the 15 min goals section. I was thinking of making it two 15 minute goal sections instead.
(I haven’t figured out how to change the color of the button. It just says vote if you hover over it.)
Let me know what you’re interested in by taking the poll here.
Loading ...I plan on including an exclusive section in the planner with family day trips for each season specific to the Upper Valley. Let me know if this is something you’re interested in by taking the poll here.
Loading ...Which cover do you like better?
Loading ...
I would love your feedback before it goes to the local printer.
Come join me on feeling more organized and having more time for the good stuff.
