Jumping On The Band Wagon

January 2015 I sat down, made a list of goals, and tried to put them into action. One HUGE thing on my list was organization. We are a hot mess around here most days. Forgetting the lunches, field trips, permission slips, baby sitter days. I could go on. Working full time, balancing a full time family, and having a husband who works insane hours is down.right.hard. I look at SAHM and jealousy creeps up. If I just had more TIME. If I had one extra day off per week, would I be dropping the ball as much as I am?

One of my work friends bought an EC Life Planner in January. I remember thinking she was insane (love you NS!) But really, who are these people that spend $60 on a planner. Woah Nelly, I don't have that kind of money. So, I bought this cute looking planner from Wal-Mart for $6 and tried to make it work. I tried so hard. I used washi to try to divide the columns. I tried to use different colored ink to plan my days. There was just zero room in this thing to plan anything. I ended up using notebooks and making lists and forgetting all about my planner. It sucked. It wasn't worth the $6 I paid for it in the end, because I stopped using it by February.

Flash forward to April. EC offered all of her life planners 40% off. I could do that. With the $10 referral coupon that made the planner $20, plus the $9.95 shipping. Oy. I purchased that baby and never looked back.

Some how, I jumped on the EC band wagon. I perused her web-site looking for more. I planned. Followed Planners on IG and Facebook. Some days I think I spend more time looking at what other people are planning, rather than spending my time taking care of my own.

But let me say this, it really was life changing. Laugh. How could paper bound together with a metal coil really change your life? Let me count the ways...I could keep track of things. I knew in advance when a meeting was. I knew not only that the kids had games, but where they were and what time and at what field. I wrote every.single important task down, even weeks in advance. I didn't lose permission slip forms or forget that my husband was working late. I knew what we were eating for dinner. I even looked up the weather and wrote that down to plan my kids outfits! Before, I would look at the weather at 5 am and pick out clothes for my kids to wear. I was a jumbled mess. Somehow, in all of this I found a little more balance.

Do I think a $60 planner will change your life? Eh, probably not. But taking the time to plan out your days will. With the precious time we have with our kids, that made all the difference.