How I Keep My Life Organized

A few weeks ago I posted on Twitter and my Facebook page about how excited I was to get my new planner in the mail and I couldn't wait to use it. I had a friend private message me and ask if I was saying those things as a sponsored post or if I really meant it. I told her that I had no connection at all with the company and just loved their products so much and told her how easy it made keeping track of all the many activities we have going on at our house. So this post is really how I feel about their products - it has changed my life and made day to day life so much easier.

Do you have trouble keeping track of all the many things going on in your life? Soccer games, ballet recitals, piano lessons, job deadlines, when the school science fair is, which weekend to take a quick road trip to see family, meal plans for the week, which day you volunteer at the school.....and the list goes on.

I seem to forget which day the library books are due and if I go to the grocery store without a list I forget what I wanted. It's a nuisance and I had searched for ways to stay more organized in my day to day life. I carried around a little pocket calendar, but there was no place to take notes, make lists, or write down all of the different things that were going on during the week.


Last Spring, another blogger mentioned how much she loved her Erin Condren planner. I went over to the website and checked out the LifePlanners. It seemed as if they were made for me. They were having a sale, so I ordered mine that day. I was able to pick from about 30 different covers and found one that had one of my favorite quotes. I didn't have long to wait until mine showed up in the mail.

Not only was my LifePlanner included, there were inspirational quotes, postcards, these cute oversize stickers, and it was packaged in such a welcoming box. I love the colorfulness of the cover and how I was able to add the name of my blog to it. You can have your name on the cover instead, a quote, or the name of your business.

So it's totally cute and there are fun extras, but does it help me keep track of all my daily activities? Let's take a look inside and see.

Each month has a full monthly calendar. The individual squares have plenty of space to write down notes for special days so you can look at the whole month with a glance. There is a column on the right side where you have room to take longer notes. I have noted my birthday, anniversary, my oldest daughters robotics class, and a few of the fun "national days" throughout the month that I thought we would like to celebrate. Who doesn't like National Dessert Day or Dictionary Day? Okay, maybe only book nerd like me are excited about Dictionary Day.

Here is a view of the weekly page layout. As you can see, there is a column on the left for notes and then each day has it's own column with three sections: morning, day & night. Underneath each day are a few lines where you can write even more things for that specific day if you need to!

I like to make lists, jot down ideas, write down my meals for the week, keep track of our after school activities, and make note of goals for the week. This planner has plenty of room for me to write down all of those things!

The planner comes with these colored blank stickers, so you can color code different activities or assign each person in your family a different color so you can keep track of what they are doing during the week.

How do I use this? I have one color sticker for each different type of blog post I write - light purple for crafts, dark green for blogging posts, light green for books, yellow for recipes. I use the turquoise stickers to keep track of my own "fun" activities, teal shows my church assignments, hot pink shows the activities for my oldest daughter, dark blue for my husband, dark purple for my youngest daughter, and meal planning gets tan. There are still other color options I can use if other things come up too.

I can keep track of all the many things going on in our life with this one planner. It has been such a help to me so I make sure our different fun family plans or other obligations aren't forgotten about. I carry my planner in my car when I'm out and about in case I think of something to add to our grocery list, or an idea for a blog post, or see a sign for a local event I think the family would like.

Need larger space for taking notes or sketching out some ideas? There are 20 lined blank pages in the back as well as another 10 decorated unlined pages too.

I love my current planner so much that when I started to see posts by people reviewing next years planner I had to read them. For the 2016 planner, you can choose the vertical layout (like I have) or a horizontal layout. If the life planner isn't for you, there are many other options to choose from: the regular notebook, the deluxe notebook, teacher lesson planner, address book, wedding planner, notes, invitations, and more!

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway for store credit at the Erin Condren website. It was so hard to narrow down which products I wanted to order! I ended up buying a 2016 LifePlanner, a coloring and sketch book, and a set of pens that won't bleed through the pages. It came with extra postcards and stickers too. I love the new watercolor cover to my planner and the quote that is on it for next year.

Are you interested in buying your own planner, notebook, calendar, coloring book, or any of their products? You can visit them using this link and look through their fun items. If you have been looking for a great product to help you organize your life, I'm sure that this would be perfect for you.

What do you use to keep yourself organized? I'd love to read about your tips in the comments!