The Calming Effect of a Daily Planner

So, I finished watching the 'Woodstock' documentary, and loved it so much. I was only 5 when the decade ended, but had I been about 10 years older? I would have made a great hippie. For most of my life, I was the original spontaneous, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants gal. Always up for a party, stay up all night and pay for it all the next day. Marriage to my first husband reined me in a bit, since he was a no nonsense finance man, but I still loved going wherever the wind in my hair took me.

Until I had children.

AFter I gave birth to Brendan, and surveyed the shattered bits of my former life lying strewn around a house also littered with baby paraphenilia, I took stock and adapted. I think most people do. I still loved a good time, but now I had a purpose to set some goals and achieve them. I will never be a 100% organized to the teeth Martha Stewart type, but I'm still light years away from where I was back in the 80's. Ah, the 80's.

Anyway, one of the tools that has helped me add order to my life has been a daily planner.

How did I buy my planner? Second hand, of course. I don't believe mine was ever used. I got it for $5 at a consignment store in town. Chocolate brown with gold hardware, yeah.....it spoke to me. As for the calendar and 'to do daily' pages, I got them at Goodwill. A thrift store is always a treasure trove of unused planners.......for 50 cents. I have quite a good selection awaiting me in the months ahead, and I won't have to spend a red cent at Staples or Office Max. Have you put off buying your own planner because of their prohibitive prices? Yeah. Office stores are NOT the most thrifty places to shop!

I have the 'month at a glance' pages, and then the 'daily' pages. I have plenty of blank paper for notes, and also an address section. My planner is small enough to keep in my purse, and it has a plastic holder inside for stamps, a nail file, and business cards. My planner also has a section for my checkbook. I keep a list of monthly bills to pay in my planner, and when we get paid, my checkbook and my list are right at my fingertips. Most bills are paid online, but the last hold outs that demand a check are easy to keep in my planner, too.

How does my planner calme me? Today, I am anticipating making a dinner for Claire's play cast and crew on Monday night. Gestating in my mind, the whole thing is stressing me OUT. So, I sat down with my planner and started writing out the whole meal.........how much to buy, how many I would be serving......right down to the last questions I need to ask the lady in charge. BOOM! It's out of my head, onto the page, and.......mmmmmmm. I'm breathing easier. I know exactly what to get and make. No more stress.

Does it seem a bit simplistic? Yeah, reading it now, it does to me too. However, my planner works. Whenever something hits me and I don't want to think about it yet, but I do down the road, I write it down and file it for later. Speaking of cast dinners, last Spring when Claire's school performed 'Legally Blonde,' several moms and I served a fabulous Chinese meal from a restaurant in town. Because we want to repeat that dinner this year, I wrote down everything having to do with the dinner.......from the name and phone number of the restaurant, to the dishes and amounts we ordered, to the tablecloths and decorations......right down to the number of serving utensils we'll need. It's all there, waiting to be a huge help to some frazzled mamas who are not only dealing with the day to day of our girls being in a school musical, but also juggling schoolwork, getting ready for the prom, and, oh yes, that's when the money for Claire's summer camp is due, too! I always forget, but NOT THIS YEAR!!

Try a planner and see what happens. It calmed my life, and it will yours too!