Beginning Again

Enough with the sad posts!  Today, I'm beginning anew!

Everyone likes to start in the New Year by sweeping out the old and I'm starting a little late to sweep in the New Year, but today's the day!  If I'm going to be a domestic goddess, then I'll be the best I can be.

I started off my day by looking at my calendar/planner and realizing that it's not working for me.  I have my calendar for appointments, a to-do list, a menu planner and a shopping list.  This isn't working for me.  I need one place to look for everything.

My first attempt was to colorcode my calendar.  Epic fail. Too many colors and too much written for my little brain to decipher.  I started thinking that maybe my calendar was too small.  So I typed a separate to do list broken down my weeks, months, etc.  This was great, but it still didn't break down my tasks on a smaller, daily basis, which is what I need.  First, with my Fibromyalgia, I have to break tasks down to a manageable level.  Second, looking at a big task overwhelms me and I don't get it done.

My next step was to look at Pinterest.  The sheer number of planners was enormous.  I decided that I really wanted a week at a glance.  The daily was too bulky and the monthly was too small.  Ok, that narrowed it down a little.  But the number and variety of weekly planners was still too much.  The more that I looked, the more I realized that none had exactly what I wanted.  I wanted a section for appointments, a separate section for to-dos, yet another section for shopping lists as well as my menu planning.

Since I couldn't find what I wanted, I made it myself.  Went into Excel and played around until I got the columns and rows lined up to do what I want.  The I prettied it up with nicer colors.  I printed out 52 weeks, and will take it to Staples tomorrow for them to spiral-bind it for me, which won't cost much.  Did I mention that I had leftover pink paper to print it on to make it prettier?

I also printed a pretty cover with a graphic I stole from a friend, and voila!  my own planner that has everything I want on one sheet.  Yes, it's too big to carry everywhere, but I don't need to do that anymore.  I have notes on my phone.  But on here, as I'm planning my weekly meals, I can remember that I need to buy a bulk lot of ground beef on Thursday, payday.  And I won't forget dogfood.  I won't forget to pay my bills or plan my meals on Mondays.


If you're not happy with your daily or weekly planner, try making your own!