Organizing Chaos - Planners and Lists

I think I will likely do this post as a 3 part post, as my planner is only a part of how I organize my life and care for my family. I put a couple different systems in place since my son was born 3 years ago. I now have a 5 month old baby girl and have found that the same systems are working to keep us all organized and on top of things, even through the sleepless nights and exhaustion.

I would love to have a beautiful, hand drawn, stickered bullet journal/planner, but mine is a little simpler than that. I have limited time available and one day I may have enough time to prioritize that, but for now I am happy with a system that works, beautiful or not.

My Planner

I use a planner that has both a monthly and weekly calendar pages. I prefer routines to schedules right now, as it allows me more flexibility while I’m home with two littles. If you’re a person who likes time blocking or more schedule based planning you may prefer a planner with daily pages. I am also terrible at colour coding consistently, but I do like how it looks so I often use colourful pens. Don’t let it fool you they have no meaning whatsoever!

I prefer a planner that is 5x8, I really like this size because it is just small enough to fit in my purse or diaper bag but large enough to leave room to keep track of everything. I also use notepads of the same size when I need additional lists to add to it. If you have the space and prefer a larger size that is fine, if you feel you need even less space, a smaller one would work as well, this is just my preference. I do recommend once you have chosen a size to also choose a note pad that is the same size or slightly smaller to make adding to your planner easy.

Using the monthly calendar

The first thing I do at the beginning of the year is take a few minutes to put in all the information I know will be needed, payday schedules, birthdays, anniversaries, any payments or days off I know in advance. I also write a short checklist in the notes section of every month that just lists the monthly bills I know I’ll have to pay, rent/mortgage, power/water, phone, car payments etc, so that I can check them off as they get paid each month. I also use the note section to write any birthdays that are upcoming the following month so that I can remember to purchase cards and/or gifts in advance.

I use my agenda for both forward planning and tracking. I keep track of all my children’s milestones, first laughs, new teeth, first steps, to be transferred to their baby books later. I keep all of our upcoming appointments, sick days and vacations here as well. I also keep track of anything I need help remembering, lately I have been writing down whenever anyone bathes. I know it sounds ridiculous, but we do not do daily baths for the littles, and as we are still in the thick of the baby phase it is actually really helpful for me to make sure I don’t miss mine either. It’s easy to do when you feel like it’s always a choice between that and sleep!

I use some bullet journal methods for tracking other things especially recurring things, for example I use a star to mark days when I feel really on top of my game, because on bad days it’s nice to see how many good days there have been too.

Using the weekly pages

The weekly section of my agenda contains all the same information as the monthly section, including all the days and schedules I input at the start of the year. I use this section for extra details and things I want to remember. If we did anything different or interesting I will add it here, if there was a new tooth I write which one. I write details from coffee dates and information from doctors appointments here as well.

If I have any to dos that have to be done on a particular day or if I have holiday or birthday baking or shopping to do I will schedule it here where there is enough space to include the details.

I am not a big meal planner, I actually really dislike it. I very rarely actually meal plan unless I know the week ahead is going to be particularly busy. I try to think at least a day ahead for what I will make the next day, and when I do my grocery shop I usually have a general idea of what we may have that week. More along the lines of I’d like porkchops than I want a specific porkchop recipe on Wednesday of next week. When I do decide to meal plan for a week or even just a few days, I use the weekly pages to do so. I also keep track of things like donations we may make and the amount we spent, or any unusually large purchases ( game system, computer, new furniture etc)

Not very fancy and pretty much how you would expect to use a planner. So many of the blogs about this are quite elaborate and make me feel like I need to learn how to use a whole new system. I just use my planner to keep track of my life, no special system.

Additional Pages I tuck inside

Master to do list

I usually just tuck notepad pages into the front of my agenda for any additional lists or info I want to keep handy, at most I may paperclip it to the front cover. I stopped keeping weekly to do lists shortly after my son was born a couple of years ago. I now keep one master to do list, split into categories, that I work off of for 2 weeks to a month at a time and then redo and refresh. Using a pretty stationary pad for this is nice, but even just plain white paper will do. The one pictured here was used a little longer than usual and got a bit chaotic!

My master to do list includes the running list, with reminders of what needs cleaning, doing or looking into, appointments and phone calls that need to be made, and other miscellaneous items. It also includes a section for long-term items, things like getting family photos which have been postponed due to the pandemic.

The other section I like to include is a list for each family member of things that we try to make sure there is time for, hobbies, interests etc. This is the only portion of my planner that is actually colour coded. For example my list includes things like reading, long baths and crafting. My toddler’s list includes things like one on one time with each of us, and working on colours and letters etc. We do not always get time for these, but having them listed out in a place I can see it is a good reminder to make time for the things we enjoy, and not lose ourselves in the day to day parenting grind.

Gift Card list

This is a new one for me, but has been working very well. I always forget to bring gift cards with me to the store, usually because I forget I have them. I keep a running list now of all the gift cards I have, where they are for, and how much they are worth. Now before I go shopping I can just check my list and if any of the cards can be used I bring it with me when I leave. It has made it much easier to actually use these, instead of letting them sit for ages.

Thank you card list

We have recently had a new little one, which means we have been getting a lot of baby gifts. I keep a sheet that is dedicated strictly to gifts we receive and who from so that I’m able to send out thank you cards as necessary. This isn’t a list I always use, but it is very helpful right now.

Workouts

I don’t find as much time for this as I would like but I keep things like workouts I’ve clipped or printed at the back of my planner. My planner is always accessible which makes it the ideal place to keep things of this nature that I don’t want to have to waste time looking for if I do manage to find the time to exercise.

Miscellaneous

Because I use a notepad that is the same size as my planner I am able to use this to change the things I am tracking or want to have nearby very easily. As I said before I usually just slip them in the front cover or paperclip them to the front page. This means I am not wasting pages on things I’m not using and I don’t have to worry about not having pages I do need. I often add things like seasonal bucket lists at the start of a new season or holiday. I will pop in a spring cleaning list sometime in March. I add a list to review our emergency preparations in June and September, so I can make sure we are ready for the seasons ahead. This gives me the flexibility I need to add only what I am currently using.

My planning binder

This is something a lot of blogs deal with on it’s own. Depending on how this evolves for me that may be something I consider later, but for now I think it fits well to address here, as it is not very elaborate. To avoid having to rewrite some of these recurring lists I keep a binder for storing things that will be reused. It is not a fancy scrapbook, just a binder with sheet protectors/pockets that I can store the pages in to be pulled out and moved to my planner only when they become relevant. I have one pocket for each season containing workouts, bucket lists, cleaning lists, and any special holiday items I want to reuse. I also have one for post partem care, including nutrition advice, care for common nursing and post partem issues and workouts. I have another for pregnancy with workouts, nutrition advice and other common advice, this one may not be used again, but I was glad to have it with my daughter.

I add pockets as necessary and remove them when their usefulness runs out. I am thinking about adding a travel pouch so that I can keep a packing list for everyone and for certain types of travel. I’m thinking a camping list, a comprehensive personal articles and clothing list, etc. My binder is not particularly decorative or fancy, it really is just storage for things I want to keep for future use, but it is exactly as efficient and useful as I need it to be.

That's it!

I hope this has shown that the main purpose of any organizational system is to be efficient and effective. A beautiful complex system of printable pages is not a bad thing, but it isn’t necessary if it takes up more time than is available. One day, when my babies are older and my time is slightly more my own, I will be able to focus on something more elaborate.

My current system isn’t beautiful, but it is effective and it lightens my workload instead of increasing it. Don’t let the beautiful hand drawn pages often shown on blogs about organization prevent you from putting efficient systems in place that work for your family.

In part 2 I will address my Command center and my basket system.

Until next time, be safe and be kind!