Planner Organization

I normally buy my planners by school years instead of calendar year, so since I just bought a new one that started in July, I thought I would finally share how I keep myself organized. This planner has been extremely important during the home building process because I've had a ton of meetings to keep track of.

I have tried all sorts of planners and have even made a couple myself, but I’ve found that the simpler the better.  I don’t like all the extra fancy things added to planners.  All I need is a monthly calendar and a weekly calendar to keep things straight.

I purchased this calendar at Target for around $10.  You can normally get them on sale during back to school sales, but they sell out very quickly and don’t normally restock, so I always buy mine early.

The front cover is clear so that you can add pictures or writing to the outside.  I plan on adding some decorative stickers to the front.

I found that the easiest way to keep my planner organized was to color code items.  I use the Papermate Flair pens because they don’t bleed through the paper and they’re pretty inexpensive.

On the monthly calendar page I just keep generic information about what is going on so that I can see it a glance.  If I want more details about something I have to flip to the weekly page.  

On the weekly page I include what the activity or event is, where it is located, what time it is at and any other pertinent information.  That way it’s all in one location and I don’t have to track down an email or invitation to find out where we are going.

Even though it’s simple, I’m completely lost without my planner.  It has all the important information I need for every day in it.

What kind of planner or calendar do you use to keep you and your family organized?