I LOVE LOVE LOVE to organize, or maybe it's just the thinking about organizing that I love? Either way, I get giddy every time I sit down to plan a new project or schedule out my week. It's really odd and something my husband has been amused over quite often.
I spent 7 years in a corporate finance job where I had access to (and an excuse for) all the newest organizing gadgets! Franklin Covey was literally my favorite store. Since I started staying home I have slowly and hesitantly given up all of my lovely planning binders and unused pages and forms.
Now that I am blogging on a regular basis and have two kids to raise, I have discovered a new "need" for my planners and kicked myself for getting rid of them all. However, our one-income budget will not support my FC addiction so, this past week I had to get creative.
I actually mentioned to my husband that I planned to get an organizer of some sort and I could see the look in his eyes - thinking "uh-oh". So, I decided to take my frugality to one more step, just in case he doubted my efforts.
I found an old small-size three-ring binder we had lying around (we have 2 identical ones actually) that happened to also have sturdy tab dividers in it. I also had a notebook full of lined paper that was largely unused despite having had it for SEVERAL years (that's another addition I have - office supplies!) and two smaller steno type note pads. I got out our three-hole punch and adjusted the holes to match the small binder. I used power point to layout a planner page exactly as I needed it you could use any program you are fmailiar with (even excel). My notebook is the perfect size for a half-sheet of paper so I was able to make 2 pages from each piece. I then used small sticker-labels to label my dividers on both sides.
The best part was that I get to be creative in planning my pages and they can be different every time I print them. I took a lot of pleasure in this particular part of the process because I was always wanting MORE from my pages. They never quote met my expectations (at least that was the justification for buying more before my old ones ran out!)!
I LOVE my new planner and I feel SO good about doing it this way. My husband was impressed with me! Here are the photos.
I realize this is not a natural or organic idea/act but I am re-purposing things I already have around the house (I only printed the pages new, everything else was lying around doing nothing!) so in my defense I am saving a bit of unnecessary production, waste, fuel, etc!
I spent 7 years in a corporate finance job where I had access to (and an excuse for) all the newest organizing gadgets! Franklin Covey was literally my favorite store. Since I started staying home I have slowly and hesitantly given up all of my lovely planning binders and unused pages and forms.
Now that I am blogging on a regular basis and have two kids to raise, I have discovered a new "need" for my planners and kicked myself for getting rid of them all. However, our one-income budget will not support my FC addiction so, this past week I had to get creative.
I actually mentioned to my husband that I planned to get an organizer of some sort and I could see the look in his eyes - thinking "uh-oh". So, I decided to take my frugality to one more step, just in case he doubted my efforts.
I found an old small-size three-ring binder we had lying around (we have 2 identical ones actually) that happened to also have sturdy tab dividers in it. I also had a notebook full of lined paper that was largely unused despite having had it for SEVERAL years (that's another addition I have - office supplies!) and two smaller steno type note pads. I got out our three-hole punch and adjusted the holes to match the small binder. I used power point to layout a planner page exactly as I needed it you could use any program you are fmailiar with (even excel). My notebook is the perfect size for a half-sheet of paper so I was able to make 2 pages from each piece. I then used small sticker-labels to label my dividers on both sides.
The best part was that I get to be creative in planning my pages and they can be different every time I print them. I took a lot of pleasure in this particular part of the process because I was always wanting MORE from my pages. They never quote met my expectations (at least that was the justification for buying more before my old ones ran out!)!
I LOVE my new planner and I feel SO good about doing it this way. My husband was impressed with me! Here are the photos.
I realize this is not a natural or organic idea/act but I am re-purposing things I already have around the house (I only printed the pages new, everything else was lying around doing nothing!) so in my defense I am saving a bit of unnecessary production, waste, fuel, etc!
Check out WFMW posts at our other blogs BeCentsAble and CentsAbleBaby
8 comments:
Great tip-I'm going to try this
great idea- I do something similar but I like yours better.
The Happy Housewife
http://happyhousewife.wordpress.com
Great idea. If only I were computer-knowledgable enough to use a spreadsheet program. Is there some kind of generic form available somewhere?
WTG! I love planners and office supplies, too. :)
I have been thinking about doing something similar but wasn't sure how, I mean I actually have an old planner like yours that is on my desk at home but I wasn't sure what to do next. Thanks for inspiration! What types of pages did you create for yourself?
I do something like this with a home management binder and a meals/recipes binder. Thanks!
A site with many free useful forms is http://donnayoung.org or http://donnayoung.org/forms. There are calendar, homeschool planners, all sorts of free pages.
You may want to check out this Web site - http://www.diyplanner.com/
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