My New Planner

You may recall when I posted this idea from The Oxford Place Diaries in a Too Cute Not To Toot post recently.

I'm always looking at new ways to plan my day so I decided to read through this post. At first, I thought it was a little crazy but the more I studied it and thought about how to apply it to my life, the more I realized that this is just what I've been looking for to be my "daily planner".  Now, last fall I got on the Erin Condren planner craze.  I will not lie, I think that planner is fun, easy to use and a great idea . . . if you have lots of stuff to write down.  All I really use is the monthly planner - not the planner as a whole.  I have also found that it is a little big for me to carry.  I'm a small purse kinda girl so I have to carry it in addition to my purse.  With this new plan, I'm going to go back to just the month-to-month small purse calendar eventually since everything I need for my days at home are in my new files.

 First up, this is the "new" corner of my desk.  It houses three binders - our Budget Binder, our Summer Plan Binder, and my Too Cute Project Binder.  I was able to get rid of the desk file and other things that just filled my desk.  This makes it so much more roomy.

 The way that this system works is simply that you create a file folder for each week of the year - yes, 52 separate file folders.  Each File contains the same basic information.  The photo above shows two files - the Manila File Folder is my planner for the upcoming week.  On the cover is the June Calendar so I can have a quick glance at the month and anything that is upcoming.  The second, patterned, folder holds all of the information for this weeks summer activities with the kids.  I did purchase labels for the file folders and all they say is "Week of June 4-10"  Yes, my week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, at least when it comes to planning. For now, I am using a binder clip to hold in the left side and I stapled everything to the right side.  So, what is inside this weekly planner? Let me show you!

 There are two sides to the folder.  On the left side is my daily planner.

 I know it is hard to read but the long skinny column on the left hand side is my day- starting with 7:00 am and ending at 9:00 pm since I seldom have anything earlier than that or later than that in a day.  The 4 sections on the top are my routines - my morning, afternoon, and evening routine and also my kids routine.  This allows me to always keep those routines in my face but without having lose paper everywhere.  The large section in the middle is the To Do List - where I write down everything from phone calls to what bills need to be paid that day to paperwork I need to complete.  Finally, the full section at the bottom is my Weekly Goal Section.  As you now, I set goals each month.  In this section, I write down what specific item I want to complete on that day.  For example, with my declutter project - I want to complete 30 minutes in the basement and 15 minutes in the kitchen on that day.  I rotate the top sheet to the back each day - so yes, they all stay in the file. The Right side of the folder is my weekly information.

 The top sheet is broken down by day and I have entered things that repeat such as doing the zone cleaning for that week, spending 15 minutes deep cleaning the zone room, taking out the trash and changing the sheets.  If I have tasks that I need to do on a certain day I could also list them there (such as dentist appointments or hair cuts so I don't forget about them!)  Are you with me so far? 

The second page is more of a reminder page for me - it includes a list of what things I need to clean weekly in the bathroom, kitchen, and weekly home blessing.  Eventually I will list monthly chores here that need to get done but I haven't gone that far yet :-)

 Next comes the detail cleaning list - I just printed this from the Flylady site for now - eventually I will make it more mine but I was trying not to over think this when I created this plan.

 Behind that is my list of goals for the week - these tie in to my monthly goals but I write down specific things I need to get done this week to accomplish those goals. 

Then I included the list of things for our summer activities - it allows me to see what I need at a glance.

Finally, (oops I forgot to actually staple it in the file!) is the zone challenges for the week.  This allows me to see what zone task I need to daily without having to log into the computer to get it done. 

This is my file drawer in my desk.  The front folder holds the current months file folders; behind that are my Monday-Friday folders where I file things that need to get done throughout this week (one of my afternoon routine tasks is to go through the days file). My disclaimer on those files is right now they are very full - this week I plan on getting them caught back up and "slim" again!  Behind those files are the future files - I have created them through the end of December as of this point (I should state they are empty - I will fill them as I get to them.).  Then I keep a file folder with some extra copies of my worksheets.  Currently, I am not making a lot of advanced copies just in case I need to make some changes.  Eventually I would like to be able to print out about 3-4 months at a time so I can just pull them out.  Finally, the set of files in the back are by Month (Jan-Dec) - they are for scrapbooking.  This is where I file photos, ticket stubs, programs, etc that I want for scrapbooking.  When I'm ready to do that particular month, I can just grab that file and everything is waiting for me. 

I do plan on keeping each weeks folder and it will go into the back of the years folders.  This will allow me the freedom to look back at things as needed. 

I've tried all sorts of ideas to get my routines in front of my face daily - papers taped to cupboards,  laminated sheets on ring clips - but they all were bulky!  This is simple and just lays on my desk.  It gives me a place to file invitations right into the correct week without having to remember where I put them. 

Enjoy!