January 19, 2012

My “Me” organization planner

It is already mid January. I have my 2012 calendar in front of me marked with my important dates for the year: birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, trips, holidays. A few weeks ago I was telling you how I need to be more organized and to manage my time well. Right after I wrote that post I dived in and searched and searched and found lots of helpful information about the two topics. Then it hit me…I needed a “me” organization planner.

 

I have had a standard weekly planner for over 5 years (I love planners) along with my trusted yellow notepads and random note taking on envelopes, napkins, and random papers that had my to-do list, my blog inspirations, if I paid cash somewhere, etc. What was happening was that I would write it somewhere and then forget about it. Then when I find it days, weeks, even months later it might not be relevant anymore. I was very disorganized in that aspect.

 

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There are lots of great planners out there that I would love to have but unfortunately I am working on a budget here and cannot spend $30 to $50 for a planner so I made my own. 

 

orangize planner

 

Currently my planner has five categories:

 

  • To-do: a monthly calendar, a daily to-do list, my house project list and other crafting  project list, a “specific” project list
  • Personal: a weekly menu planner, my weekly exercise schedule, my personal goals
  • Money: monthly bills and monthly balance sheet (I do this on Excel on the computer as well but for fast recording this works great), business expenses and magazine subscription list
  • Blog: weekly calendar, blogging goals, blogging ideas,
  • Notes: I just added notebook paper so I can add notes, inspirations as I go.

In the very back of the planner I added plastic cover sheets so I can store extra printed out copies for easy access or simply store random papers/receipts.

 

What I like most about my planner is that it is customized for me. I can add or remove a section or print outs. For example I do not have a cleaning schedule in there because my 1100 sq ft home is cleaned every week by me. Yes, I do it! Every week I clean the bathrooms, the floors, the kitchen.

Now onto the print outs:

 

Free Printable Weekly Menu Planners

                Free Weekly Planner Printables

 

Free Printable Weekly Blog Planners

 

This website has lots of printables. I used the meal planning, blog calendar and customized the weekly planner to my own needs.

 

 

This is the monthly calendar I use at the beginning on my planner. I love the pattern and it’s a different color each month.

 

blogging ideas printout magazine subscription print out

 project description printoutbusiness expense print out

 

These are simply printouts that I created myself on the computer using Microsoft Publisher. All you need is a little patience and time.

 

To motivate myself even further I am in the process of adding a quote for every section of my planner. Here is what I have currently for my to-do section:

 quote

 

planner  

The best part it cost me $15: $10 for the binder; $5 for the tabs and the protective sleeves and I can keep on using it year after year. Well there you have it. My “me” planner. I have been feeling very organized for the past week and actually getting things done. Do you use a planner?

 

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I am linking this to Chic on Shoestring DecoratingSomewhat simple, House of Hepworths, Whipper Berry, I heart naptime, Skip to my Lou,

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6 comments

  1. good job Megan.
    Antoinette

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is great! I love making to-do lists and need to get them organized. A "me" planner might be the trick!

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  3. These are great! I have been trying to get more organized and I love all the inspiration here. I have stumbled this post. Vicky from Mess For Less

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  4. This is Fabulous! I have a life planner which I love but you are correct it is pricey! Great way to keep everything you need in one spot. I may have to look at starting to make one for next year. Yes I'm a major planner- planning for 2013. haha! I did make myself a blog idea book for the year though using one of the templates you shared above! Visiting from SITS :)

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  5. LOVE it! I'm using a Mom Planner along with doing a Meal Plan Monday on my blog. When the meal plan for the week is posted online, I send a link to my husband so he can see what we'll be eating!! :)

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  6. I love that planner - my fav color! Can I ask where you got that? I see its a 3-ring binder which would be perfect - but that color is awesome!!!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments. I do read them and appreciate them. Have a wonderful day!

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