Plan 2 Plan Part 1: Daily Planner

I got a question this week on Instagram that I get often; What is your planning routine?  I thought this would be a great topic for a blog post as I find it interesting seeing how others keep themselves organized.  For me, I have found that breaking everything down into 3 sections helps me stay on track.

 I use a daily planner, I use a family binder system and I meal plan. My daily planner contains the day to day details of our week, it contains notes on what's going on at home, work (school), my blog/Etsy store and meals.  The family binder contains all the details of the family life, for example my 4 children attend four different schools.  This binder contains each of their academic calendars, activity schedules, team rosters and participation responsibilities (snack/chaperone schedules).  This binder also contains important phone numbers for doctors, insurance and close friends and family.  For meal planning I use a notebook and my giant recipe collection to plan our dinners for the week.

Today though, I thought I would just talk about my daily planner.  Like many out there in the planner community, I use the Erin Condren Life Planner.



This is my third year using the Life Planner and I use it primarily because of the way the weeks are laid out.  Each day is separated into 3 sections, morning-day-afternoon.  I do not plan that way but I find it easy to change these sections into Home-School-Blog.  



The HOME section is where I plan all of our family activities, practices for the kids, days off or travel notes.  I usually will record any doctor appointments on a sticky flag to make them stand out as I did in the summer pages above.  The SCHOOL section is for my work notes.  I plan classroom prep, lesson plan and keep reminders for anything having to do with my preschool class.  The last section is for my BLOG.  In this section I plan post ideas, anything pertaining to my ETSY store and any special social media info.  At the very bottom of the page I list what we will have for dinner each day.  Breakfasts at our house are kept simple during the week and we usually pack lunches everyday so dinner is the only meal that needs planning.

Since I do not plan for the weekends, this is where I usually attach my shopping list.  I keep my grocery list and my Target/Home Depot/Michaels list together here.  When I go to the grocery store I take a picture of my list with my phone so the original is always in my planner.  This is a very useful system because on those weeks I don't have the time to meal plan I can refer back to any week and have that weeks meals and shopping list ready to go.


I use an Erin Condren Snap-in-Dashboard as my cleaning routine reminder.  Like everyone, I have a weekly cleaning schedule that I try to follow each week.  The snap-in-dashboard is perfect for this use as I can pop it in and out each week.


So that is how I use my planner each week.  I usually sit down on Sunday morning and do my planning.  Some weeks are better then others but I find the more I plan and the more lists I make the better my week goes.  But like any system, its only as good as you are using it.  It does take a bit of effort in the beginning to get in the habit of planning out your week, but if you stick to it I know that you will feel better prepared for what comes at you.

Next time I will share the Family Binder system that I have been using and loving for over a decade, you won't want to miss it!

I love my followers, please be sure to add your picture to the followers list to the right and leave me a comment to let me know what planning system you use!  

Love your life!

I am linking with the following wonderful blogs  I Should Be Mopping the FloorA Stroll Thru LifeCoastal Charm Plucky's Second Thought


XOXO,
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Back To School

The Back-To-School season is such a busy time in our house, as I am sure it is in yours.  August marks back-to-school time for us.  It is the month marching band camp starts, my boys pack up and get back to college, and I get back in the classroom to get ready for the coming preschool year.  Time goes so fast and never as fast as the last month of summer!  


By mid August we pack up the college boys and get them back to school.  This part is never easy.  It doesn't matter how many times we drop off a child at school, its always a bit of a sad goodbye.  Maybe not for them but always for me.  I love having everyone one home for the summer.


We have been involved with our high school's marching band for more then a decade. Each of my kids have been a member at one time or another, drums, tuba, baritone and saxophone.   We have a very talented hard working honor band that begins practicing their halftime show the first week of August.  The days are long and hot and we go through buckets of sunscreen and gallons of water.  We donate lots of snacks and can't wait for that first halftime show!




Once the gang is where they need to be its usually time for me  to get back in the classroom and get it all ready for my new set of preschoolers.  This year was particularly challenging as our school had some upgrades done and although I am thrilled with the results, major clean-up was in store.  The first staff meeting is always fun, seeing everyone and getting our students lists.  Once we sorted through the piles of supplies in our classroom, and arranged all of our centers it was time to get the bulletin boards up.  I love doing the bulletin boards, I know its a silly thing but decorating the bulletin boards helps me get in the school mind set.  If you follow me on Instagram, you have already seen these beauties!

Our art center board is ready for all those preschool masterpieces.

This hungry caterpillar watches over our reading corner.


The preschool safari board greats the little ones as they enter the classroom everyday.

These last few weeks have been busy and time may go by way too fast for my liking but I love the routine that fall brings to our lives.  Life seems more organized and we all know how happy that makes me.  Welcome Fall and welcome new beginnings and the adventures that a new school year brings!

Are your littles back at school yet?  Let me know below and don't forget to subscribe!

I am linking with the following wonderful blogs  Plucky's Second Thought  rchreviews  xoxo Rebecca French Country Cottage Tatertots and Jello



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