Planner Love {giveaway closed}

I’ve alluded recently to how I’ve been overwhelmed lately.

We have a lot on our plate.  Lots of places to be, appointments to keep, deadlines to keep track of, and Andy travels fairly often so it just kinda complicates things.

Two major reasons for feeling so overwhelmed was that:

1) I had so many balls to juggle and try to keep track of.  I was regularly forgetting something…or remembering 15 minutes before we had to be there.  It’s not that each thing was a huge deal…it’s just that it was one of about 600 little-ish things to keep track of.

2) With two kids who see specialists, we often make appointments 6+ months in advance.  Getting a phone call from the cardiologist the night before reminding me of his appointment the next morning at 9 a.m. is stressful.  To say the least.

I knew I needed to start writing things down.

Stat.

I tried the electronic Google calendar that would be synced to my iPhone.

FAIL.

I need to circle and highlight and star…and namely CROSS OFF things.  It wasn’t working, and it felt like another to-do just to enter in the information.

I tried a wall calendar in the kitchen.  But the little boxes were too bitty for more than one or two items and many days I have more than two things going on.

I’ve always been a fan of paper calendars, and used them all through high school and college.

When I saw Julie’s Erin Condren calendar in it’s pretty colors, I knew it was just the ticket.

Now, it’s not cheap.  And if you know me, you know that’s out of character for me.  I make my own laundry detergent for goodness sake!

But a good planner, that you’ll be motivated to use…that has all the features you need…that is sturdy and heavy and well made…that yes, is pretty…worth its weight in gold.

You can choose from a huge variety of fun and colorful covers.  Personalized.  Of course.

The fact that it’s pretty and has good design makes me motivated to use it more than a plain black daykeeper you buy at Target for $8.

I know that may sound ridiculous to some of you (namely my engineer husband), but for a lot of you, you totally get this.

I want to use it.

It’s big and thick.  This isn’t a planner you’ll be carrying around in your purse, but it also won’t get buried under a stack of papers or hidden in a drawer.

::cough::

Happy stickers make it a grown up version of the sticker books you grew up with as a kid.

It’s fun!  I go out of my way to find excuses to doodle and write in it.

Am I pathetic?  Maybe a little.

Encouraging quotes sprinkled throughout.

I mean, why not?

My favorite part is that it’s laid out week by week.

There’s plenty of space to write.

Mine sits in a cookbook holder on my kitchen counter.

Part of my new morning routine is to sit down every morning and look at what I have scheduled for that day.  Then wherever there is extra room, I write out my to-do list for the day.

Bitty things.  Reminders.  Stuff I’ve been meaning to do for weeks.

What I’ve found is that, I just need to get the information out of my head.  Then I don’t have to remind myself it’s in there.  I know it sounds silly and simple, but it’s made a HUGE difference in how I feel.

And it doesn’t hurt that they tossed in a few extras.  :)

The good folks at Erin Condren want to give one of you a $25 gift certificate to anything in their shop!

If you don’t get the need for a fancy planner, do not fear!  They have SO MANY awesome things to choose from!

I’m in love with these address labels.

I’d love these gift tags to say “Gibson Kids”.

And I may or may not be seriously considering these for our Christmas cards this year.

If you’re dying to buy something, feel free to use code 2012OFF for 10% off your order!

How can you win?  You have up to TWO entries!

1.  Either like LifeRearranged on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or subscribe to the blog.  You only have to do one and you’ll only get ONE entry for this part.  Leave me a comment in this post telling me you did!

2.  Be a fan of Erin Condren on Facebook and leave a comment saying something like “Life Rearranged sent me!” on their wall.  Be sure to leave a separate comment in this post letting me know you did!

I’ll pull a winner on Saturday, October 15th!

{Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.  I bought my own planner and because I love telling you guys about my new finds, I thought a giveaway would be fun!}

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jeannett

I'm a mom to four. A wife to one. I believe in story. I love telling you about mine and would love to hear yours. There's really no sense in wasting our suffering and not sharing in each other's joy. We're all in this together...even if it doesn't always feel like it.

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