Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol. 28): Daily Planner Goal Sheet (Free Printable)

By bobbi
August 26, 2014
6 Comments

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

Not on Pinterest? No problem. Link-up your own creation to inspire us so we can pin in to our own boards. It can be a recipe, sewing project, Catholic craft, homeschool project, organizing/ homemaking tip, themed birthday party, whatever you’d like.

Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open for 10 days so there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately. 🙂

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The link for the pin to this post is here.

You can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

Lately for the Pinterest Parties I’ve been doing recipes but today I am doing something a little different. It’s the kids’ first day of school and we have been busy preparing uniforms, picking out new lunch boxes and buying school supplies. The air is filled with anticipation and the aroma of “bouquets of sharpened pencils.” (Name that classic rom-com!) Ever since I was a kid, this time of year has always been my favorite. Even as an adult, I still get giddy as I walk through Staples and chose a new notebook or planner and matching accessories. Yeah, I know. Nerd. But I can’t help it.

The new school year is also when I review over my current planner and try something new. This is especially important to me since I have been working so hard to accomplish my August 2014 Goals. I love my 2014 planner and it has served me well. However, the one draw back is that it is too big and bulky to carry around in my purse. That was fine when I spent most of my days home but now that the kids are all in school and I will be busy with upcoming school fundraisers and helping Andrew’s class as a room mom, I need to carry my planner with me. So while I am still in the process of changing over to something new (more of that in another post) the one constant I have been using with my weekly planner is a separate daily sheet of the day’s goals. I searched all over for one that was perfect for me and couldn’t quite find it so I finally just created one myself using Word. It is simple but it has the info I want and it is colorful enough to keep my attention. 😉

Ideally, I get up early enough to say morning prayer before the munchkins are up. Sometimes it’s 15 minutes quietly on the couch and sometimes it’s two minutes as I’m late jumping in the shower. Either way, I read over and think about the day’s prayer/reflection. Then I chose a concrete act I can do to put into practice my spiritual resolution of the day.

The time and effort you put into this will vary, depending on your season of life. There were many days when my resolution daily resolution was to try and take a 3 minute shower before Brian got home. You know what your life looks like right now. Challenge yourself but be realistic. God knows where your heart is and the crosses you are bearing right now. For a mom with a newborn her goal may be to stay in bed a few minutes longer and catch some ZZZ’s to make up for a sleepless night. My goal would be the opposite right now. Get my butt out of bed and stop lingering on my pillow. 😉

Next I review over my weekly planner and fill in the places I need to be and people I need to contact. Then I see what items I simply MUST do that day – ie. Pay the electricity before they shut off the lights or fill out that permission slip before my kid is banned from the field trip. This also includes household things I need to get done – ie. Get a load of whites done because no one has any underwear left or clean out the fish tank because the water is so mucky I can’t see Anakin Fishwalker in the tank. If I finish all my “must do’s” then I can tackle some of the “should do’s” next. (Although I have yet to actually have that happen.) 😉

I also included on my sheet my a food/exercise/water/vitamin journal, even though I am terrible at keeping track, a prayer section to remind me to make sure I slow down and reconnect with God (instead of browsing Facebook) and my notes section.

There you have it. I know there are many people who hate TO DO lists but I am too scatterbrained not to write it all down. Plus I have a tendency to be a little ADD and doing five things at once but never completing anything. This helps me to stay focused and finish the task at hand before starting something new. My goal sheet may change as I continue to work through the introductory pages of Lara Casy’s Powersheets (another future post!) but for now, it works well.

If you’d like to download a copy of my goal sheet, please feel free to do so! I have two PDFs for you.

This is Goal Sheet 1 with the bird and blue writing. Download it from Google Drive here.

This is Goal Sheet 2, which is the rainbow chevron version. Download it from Google Drive here.

Well, that is my creative share for this week! What have you been up to? Add your link or if you don’t blog, share in the comment box! 🙂

POSTSCRIPT – Of course on the day that I post all about how I am following my daily plan, I happen to sleep through my alarm (darn cold medicine!), I skip my morning prayer (other than a few desperate invocations), I barely get the kids to school before the gate is locked, my breakfast is logged in as “a cold chicken nugget and half eaten piece of toast left on the table,” I have a load of errands that keeps me out of the house until the afternoon and when I finally do get around to looking at my goal sheet I see a munchkin drew all over it before he spilled his juice on it. God likes to keep it real, people. So when you feel like nothing is going according to plan, don’t sweat it. That’s life. Work with what you can and work around what you can’t. 😉

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Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.) 😉

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

An InLinkz Link-up

A Look at My 2014 Planner

By bobbi
February 4, 2014
4 Comments

I have always loved planners and have always had one. Whether I was a young girl making lists in my Hello Kitty notebook or single and working or staying at home with babies. I have had various sizes – pocket, compact, standard, and binder sized. Each year it changes a little to accommodate my needs.

Last year I posted about my home management binder, my finance binder and my meal planning binder and they have pretty much stayed the same. However, I did get rid of my old planner and started new with a Martha Stewart Discbound Notebook. It worked so well last year that I am using it again this year.

When looking for planner sheets that work for me, they must be colorful and inviting or I’ll get bored and never use my planner. I have found my favorite planner sheets from Jen at I Heart Organizing.

Here is the monthly calendar view.

I like to color code events and appointments with washi tape. I use red for special occasions and outings. Green for school. Blue for doctor and other appointments and orange for birthdays. Sometimes I will also use flags or the Martha Stewart tear drop stickers. It depends on my mood that month. Although I like it colorful, I don’t like it too busy or it just gives me a headache. LOL. 😉

If you aren’t into washi tape, there is also this cute Masking Sticker Set. Each sheet has precut strips and dots you can add to your planner.

This is the weekly view. There is a long column for each day where I keep track of all my To Do’s. For my bookmarker I used one from my Project Life kits and punched holes with my Discbound Punch.

I bought the planner pages that came with a menu section so I could keep track of the week’s meals.

I also love the Discbound because, like a binder, you can add anything you want after you’ve punched holes in it. However, I prefer it to a binder because you can fold it back like a spiral notebook, rather than having to keep it open. I was a little concerned at first about the papers coming loose and falling out but I use thicker sheets so it hasn’t been a problem at all. For my weekly pages I use 32 lb white and I recently started using cardstock (65 lb, white) for my monthly calendars. It has worked perfectly.

I bought two packs of Martha Stewart Discbound tabs and used my own label maker for the months. I like to follow the school calendar so I go from Aug to July. With my 4 extra tabs I have faith, home, blog and projects.

For my dashboard, I keep flags, posts, stickers and my mommy calling cards in the pockets. To keep the sticky pads in place I added glue dots to the back. The ordered the personalized coversheet.

On the other side of the coversheet, I added this collage of the ones I love the most.

The last page of my planner is a plastic pocket where I keep things like stamps and address labels.

This is a photo of how thick the binder is with the standard MS discs. I bought the larger silver MS discs and hated them. I tried the larger Levenger discs (2″ I think) and they worked well but it made the notebook too big. I switched to the 1 1/2″ discs and they work great. I have extra room but it isn’t too big for me.

Now, although my planner is not too big on my desk at home, it is not ideal to carry around in my purse. Last month I decided to get a small planner that I can keep in my purse to take notes while I am on the run and to keep track of my daily appointments.

I thought about getting a Filofax but it was out of my budget and I did not like the plain planner pages that came with it. Instead I bought this Lily binder in aqua from Franklin Covey.

I chose the Her Point of View planner pages.

So far it has worked well. It fits perfect in my purse. I keep track of my schedule. I have space for any To Do’s I think of away from home. And I have a blank page to jot down notes. Plus, it is so cute. 😉

Lastly, my favorite item to go with my planners is still my traveling office. 🙂

If you are looking for colorful planner pages, I also recommend The Rainbow Planner from A Bowl Full of Lemons. I have many of her smaller planner kits and they match my current planner wonderfully. If you don’t want to spend money on planner pages, you can try this one from iheartnaptime.net. Or you can check out this list of free planners put together by Jenny at Plain Grace.

UPDATE: Looking for other planner posts? Check out these:

Operation Clean and Organize: Vol 13 – Home Management Binder Part 2

By bobbi
July 5, 2012
4 Comments

Taming the procrastinating, ADD, mess cat within me.

This is Part 2 of my Home Management Binder post. (You can read the Part 1 post about my daily planner here.) As I said, I divided my information into five categories/binders:

My Daily Planner
Main Household Management Binder
Meal Planning/Shopping/Pantry Binder
Finance Binder
Blogging Binder

Main Household Binder

For my household binder, instead of starting my own sheets from scratch, I turned to one of my favorite organizing gurus – Jennifer at iheartorganizing.blogspot.com and ordered her Family Household Binder Kit. I have already used a number of her worksheets in the past and have been very happy with them. I received the personalize cover and spine as well as numerous household worksheets and lists. (I blocked out our family name to privacy. ;-))

I purchased Avery Plastic Dividers with Slash Pockets (11903) and divided up my main binder into eight categories.

1. Important Info

Financial, Medical, Insurance info

Contact List of Important Numbers

Important Dates (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Baptismal Dates etc.)

Babysitting Notes (Info for our babysitter, when we finally get one!)

2. Cleaning

Cleaning Checklist

Home Maintenance List

Master Home Project List

3. Auto

Maintenance Log

Warranty Info, etc

4. Travel & Outings

Travel Checklist

I already had a travel list made on my computer, although I haven’t updated it in awhile. (It’s been a long time since I’ve carried a separate video camera.) Here is a sample.

Outing Ideas

Favorite Places to Visit

For the places we like to visit often, in a plastic sheet protector I keep the place’s map, info and notes on things like our favorite spot to picnic or trails that are stroller friendly.

5. Books & Entertainment

Media Inventory

Library Log

I keep our library receipt in the divider’s pocket and in the log I keep track of how many books, dvd’s or mags we’ve checked out and when they are due back.

Book/DVD Check-out Log (Items we’ve loaned out.)

6. Holiday & Party Planning

Party Plan List

Holiday Gift Giving Worksheet

Gift Ideas & Notes

7. Pet Log

Fish Tank Cleaning Log

8. Blank Monthly Calendars
Okay, that’s all I have time for at the moment. I’ll post about my Meal Planning Binder next.
Feel free to leave your comments and tips!

UPDATE: Here is Part 3 – Meal Planning & Finance Binders.

PS – This post may contain affiliate links.

Operation Clean and Organize: Vol 12 – Home Management Binder Part 1: My Daily 2012 Planner

By bobbi
July 3, 2012
No Comments

Taming the procrastinating, ADD, mess cat within me.

(This post has become so big that I need to divide it into sections. I’ll do the first section today but since the bulk of the work is done, I’ll hopefully post the other 2-3 sections by the end of the week.)

I have been hearing numerous blogging moms talk about their Home Management Binder. It sounded like the perfect thing I needed on my quest to get more organized but the task seemed daunting! What was I supposed to put in it? When would I find the time to make up lists and logs? How can I make it pleasing to the eye so I’d be more likely to actually use it? Well, it took me a while but I think I finally have a system down that will work well for me and my family.

My next big problem was fitting everything into one binder. Rather than having one huge binder, I found it easier to divide my information into my main large binder with the bulk of info and then three smaller binders with specific categories – Finances; Meals, Food & Shopping; and Blogging. I use these smaller ones most often and keep them in the spot where I need them. (ie Food Binder in the kitchen area. Blogging Binder on my computer desk.)

Lastly, I debated whether I should give up my regular planner for a binder To Do List. I tried out a few but wasn’t satisfied. I didn’t want to give up my planner so I tweaked it a bit instead. I’ll break it down below.

Daily Planner

I have been using a planner for as long as I can remember because if I don’t write it down, I guarantee that I will forget to do it. You can see my trusty black and gray planner at the right hand corner of my desk.
For the last couple of years I have been using a Franklin Covey Wire-bound Planner, the Perspectives Weekly style. I liked that the headings are left blank so you can title them for each day of the week (combining Sat & Sun) or divide jobs in categories. I also like to record any spending I did online so I could make sure to subtract it from my budget.

However, I have reached the point where the two pages for one week is not enough room. By Wednesday, I would use up all the space. My planner runs for the school year so I needed a new one for July 2012-June 2013. I decided to switch to the Botanica One-Page-Per-Day Planner.

I love having more room but it did make my planner considerably bulkier. It wasn’t a big issue since it is always on my desk but I needed just a small calendar or notebook for my purse to record appointments and notes when I’m on the go.

I picked up this small calendar/notebook at Target for a few dollars.

It has the months of the year in the front and in the back there are grid and lined pages for notes or drawings. It is perfect to jot things down or write appointments that can later be transferred to my master calendar.

To personalize it a bit, I added some décor.

Tomorrow I’ll show you the next binder. 🙂

UPDATE: Since first writing this post, I have switched planners. I now use a Martha Stewart discbound with iheartorganizing planner pages. Here is the new post – A Look at My 2014 Planner

OTHER POSTS –
Part 2: Main Household Binder
Part 3: Meal Planning & Finance Binder