Yearly Plan

If you have you own business, or you have to plan "only" you family life to organize, you will need a plan for the whole year.

Yearly Plan Insert

For this reason I created in my Filofax the Yearly Plan inserts. There is one page for every month. In the PDF I have the possibility to fill out a field for all boxes with the theme I want to use it. There are boxes with list and also without list.

What themes should they be?

• Birthdays 
• Holidays
• Marketing 
• Which pattern I will release
• Which zone to focus to organize in the flat?

How to use it?

It worth to plan for the whole year! Fill out your themes, save the file, and print it out. That write in, what you want to do in that month. As the year is going you can print more pages - for the next year!

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The 17 dividers

Do you know the a 43 folders system? You have one for all month and 31 for the days. I don't want folders. And 43 divider? No way. If I plan, is enough for me to know, which week I want to work on one project.

This is my solution

One divider for every month. I bought monthly sticky markers for them.

In one of my Filofax were numbered dividers. I use from them the 1-5 for weeks 1-5 in every month.
(Find a tutorial about creating the pockets here.)

How it works?

Actual month is the first, with the 5 weekly divider. The divider has a pocket to store little scraps of paper. Where I have repetitive tasks, I wrote it here. 

 bills to pay in every month comes to second week

If I get something, I will need later, I put to that month, if it is the current month, to that week. Think about reminders from school, invites for party. 

Email for holiday course of my daughter (goes to February)

As I make my plan, I put the project planner pages also here. Why is that good? You will find such things as bought concert tickets month before. If you get and idea for the next christmas, make a "Christmas project planner" page, and put to December. Or to November, if you have to do before! If you use a folded page, you can fold into every page that has something to do with it. Ideas for gifts, receipts, eg.

You may want also put after every month divider a to do list, for miscellaneous ideas, to dos.

I have a post it now on April divider with a deadline.

Sometimes I have to wait for something. I write on the page, until when? And I place that project to that time. I send sometimes submissions to magazines with pattern ideas. As I sent it, I write it on, and the expected datum for feedback. Then I place it to that time. If it it over, probably it is not accepted. I know how much longer they send my submission back, I write that time also on the project page, and the whole packet moves on. If that time has come and I didn't got that back, I can write an e-mail, if I got it  back, I can archive the project. If that is accepted, I will be told when I have to knit the sample and write the pattern. I can then build it to my plan.

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Sample Project: Christmas planning

What all do you have to know for planning the Christmas?

1. Infos
List: gifts, menü, etc - these are detailierte infos - they have to go to  the projects section/Christmas project. Take notes here, ideas, and checklist! Write everything done. A list about people you want to give something. Ideas, what. No ideas - you have to find out! It generates a task (go to planner page....) What you want to eat? If you can, hole punch the recipe too. Internet? Link it! From a book? Write on the title and the page! It generates task! You have to make a grocery list! Go to project tasks. Grocery list goes to infos.

2. Appointments
When you have to where, whit whom? Appointments go to the Calendar.

3. Project tasks
And what you have to do? Its place is on the planner page. The planner page is a todo list. Without ideas and details. So you wont loose the track what to do. Break it done to doable actions. Can you do "organize Christmas? No. Say:

• buy the Book for Jenny "How to be happy".
  
• Find out what to buy for Tom.
  
• Call Eva, when we can met.
  
• do grocery shopping (place your list in Projects section!)
  

When you plan what when you will do, these todos wont be vanish between the lot of notes.
A trick, what I use on the todo list: if I have additional info/note for a task, a write a symbol + there.
These three section I think the most important in a planner. But there is more depth you can use: Planning!

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How to organize your planner?

Lot of people uses the planner as a calendar, maybe an address book extra, and thats it. That is not too much to organize. But if you use it for planning too, that can be a big question, how to organize all the things that you write in?

I believe, that it can be work better if it is simple. You have to find a simple logic, that works for you. I saw videos, where different segments of the life were the different segments in the planner. Work, home, blog... It wouldn't work for me! I'm working home, and make parallel housework, kids stuff. I need to see everything in one place. But how, that is impossible?? No, it isn't.

Let's have a look, what type of things are in a planner.

1. things you have to do in a specific time. Appointments. Deadlines. Kids school activities. - For this purpose you can use the calendar. It is not important, which one, monthly, weekly... A calendar. Where you have enough place to write things in that in a definite time happens.

2. To do-s, tasks. Things you have to done. They are lists, and I find it simple, if they are together. Not all tasks in a mixed list, I use tematic lists. I call them projects, maybe not a perfect name, I found not better yet. If I would have a tab for kids stuff, and one for home, I would probably forget something....

3. Infos. Things I have to know. Addresses, insurance numbers, it can be simple identify as an information. But ideas, notes are also information, or not?

All things can go to one of these categories. Are you unsure, where it belongs? Question it: It is a date? It is something I have to do? Or it is something I have to know? It can be a very good guideline to organize your planner. Don't mix this things together!
If you have all these things, can be started planning using all this infos. By me it is the 4th part: planner system, where all things come together, with cross references. So I wouldn't be confused about a lot of informations at the same time, I see only what I need to.
Next time I will give a sample for this logic.

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What is all about?

I'm a home work-at-home mom, with 3 daughters. I was always a crazy chick, but as I get children, moved from my country to another and started my own business, I found, that I can't manage my life. I've forgotten appointments, never got a lot of things done, and feeled always overwhelmed, tired, disappointed. As we found out, that my middle daughter has ADHD, I went also to a psychiater, and... I have ADD (attention disorder deficit), and makes sense, why is so hard to me to organize our life. I learned a lot via internet, and bought my first Filofax. And the second. And it worked! Then we started also our Family Organizer too. This blog is about organizing the life of a work-at-home mom and a family. Planners, projects, daily routines, time managements, and everything that comes into my mind connected with this topic.

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