Mom’s and Dad’s are beyond busy, let’s be honest you can work from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed and still not have it all done. I have a tendency to be a free spirit, scheduling and keeping things organized does not come naturally to me. Yet I have learned over the years if I don’t keep things organized and keep to a schedule I feel overwhelmed and like I am constantly living in survival mode. It makes me feel extremely unhappy as I feel like I am not getting enough done and I find my patience running thin with those I love.
I have tried many planners and organizers over the years to varying degrees, for the last few years I have used Apple’s calendar App. I do like it, but I find it looks cluttered when I do my time blocking and I tend to turn this feature off. Time blocking is when I break my daily schedule into time blocks. For example here’s my typical Monday:
I wake up at 6am, from 6am-7am I do my miracle morning (more on what that is in this post),
7:00-7:30am I do Pilates
7:30-8:30am I get the kids ready for school
8:30-9am I take them to school and get home
9am-12pm I clean our home
12pm-12:30 I make lunch and eat
12:30-2:30pm I work on my blog
2:30-3:15pm I run a quick errand and pick up my girls
3:30-4:30 we do homework and get backpacks organized for the next day
4:30-6:00 I prepare dinner and clean kitchen
6:00-7:00pm We eat dinner as a family and clean the dishes
7:00-8:00pm Give the girls a bath and spend some time together
8:00-8:30pm Put the kids to bed
8:30-9:00pm I prepare lunches and get kitchen set up for the morning, take any meat out for the next days dinner
9:00-10:00pm My husband and I watch a show, read or just spend time together
10:00pm-10:30 pm We get ready for and go to bed
As you can see I don’t plan every minute with what exactly I will do but I schedule the time to work on certain projects or tasks around my home. With Apple’s calendar my time blocking can look a little cluttered, especially when I am trying to look at my month as a whole to plan when we are available. I knew I wasn’t loving it but wasn’t sure what to do. That’s when I stumbled upon the planner I am using this year. I love it! Not only is it pretty, hey I can be girly sometimes, but its so practical and lets me organize myself the way I like.
It has goal setting pages that help you not only set your goals, but map them out and break them into smaller goals.
It has a traditional monthly calendar that allows me to see my appointments and plans at a glance, but it also has these great planner pages that allow me to plan my week by time blocks.
It also great pages for organizing your priorities for the week, appointments, tasks, and an additional page where you can write down your memories from the last week and record what you have been grateful for. If you would like one too, follow this link and get $5 off! Let’s get more done together this year!