How I Cured Mommy Brain: My (semi) DIY Planner

I wish this was the post where I was doing the reveal on my Pinterest Monthly Project. However, a stomach virus knocked my flat off my feet recently so it got pushed to the back burner but it will be up soon. I did, however, manage to create another mini project for myself.

Life with three kids is driving me batty because my brain can't hold all the information required to rear them correctly. I found many things falling through the cracks with my purse full of post it notes with reminders, to dos, and bits of info. When I got my iPhone four years ago, I ditched my planner because my iPhone held everything. Lately, it just hasn't been working for me. It's so easy to snooze a To-Do list that pops up and then forget about it completely. And truth is, I'm really a pen to paper girl at heart.

I was all set to make my own planner and have it bound at Fe.dEx K.inkos because the store-bought planners didn't have what I needed. But I wasted all the printer ink when I printed the calendar pages for my planner wrong. Boo-hoo! Had to set Plan B in motion. I did a Google search and discovered there's a whole community of planner addicts out there. Let's just say I'm officially hooked now. 

I'm two weeks in and still working on customizing it to my liking, but already my brain feels lighter. I settled on the Martha Stewart Discbound Notebook (6.5 inches x 9) because the pages can be moved around easily without dealing with binding and such, the price was right at $18 and it fits perfectly in my purse. I was torn between that and the Arc customizable notebooks which come in leather and multiples colors but Martha won out because it had a built in elastic closure and seems like it will survive the scratches it will endure being in my purse.

Because I had no printer ink and couldn't remember the model of my printer while at S.taples, I went ahead and bought the calendar inserts. I love the two page monthly and weekly views. They are working out nicely and include enough room for everyone's schedules. The discbound punch cost a whopping $43 at S.taples so I ordered a $20 one (free shipping) from Levenger. This way I can print and punch pages I have printed which is working out quite nicely. (See how easily the pages pop out once punched?)

So far I have sections for Calendar, Bills, Meal Planning, Goals, Projects and Prayer. I already see that I'm going to add a few more sections I went ahead and bought the larger disc because I knew I'd have many pages--so glad I did.

So now every single thing gets written in my planner: school projects for the boys, every single school event, who eats in the cafeteria on what days, errands to run, everyone's appointments, ideas for blog posts...if it crosses my mind, it now gets written down.

And being the stationery addict that I am, I'm already looking to upgrade to a Filofax or a kikki-K.

Of course, I still use my iPhone for appointments and Siri reminds me of lots of things but my planner is my new go-to for to-dos.

How do you stay organized?