Back to school time (or the new year) is rolling around, and you think to yourself. You know what, THIS time I am going to find the perfect organized mom planner, and this time I will really stay on track with it. 

So you go, buy a pretty planner from HomeSense and excitedly write down EVERYTHING you possibly can the moment you have the time. 

Wow this feels so good, I have everything off my chest. I am really going to be an organized mom now! Then after a couple days, a couple weeks, or a couple months you all of sudden realize you stopped using it. 

Can you relate? I think this has happened to almost everyone at least once. 

Let’s take a peek at what are 10 features of the perfect organized mom planner that will ACTUALLY make a lasting difference in that busy mom life of yours. 

What are the 10 essential best features of the perfect organized mom planner?

You are not going to like this answer, but it depends. Gahhh, I know. I wish there was a one size fits all planner out there, but if there was. Every Mom would be planning up a storm and be happy doing it. 

AND no-one would need help finding the perfect planner. Nobody would change their planning styles/habits, and everyone would be perfectly organized all the time. We all know that’s not how it works!

So, what should YOU look for IN a planner to ensure it is going to be the perfect organized Mom planner for you?

It should…

Make you feel focused:

Your planner needs to make your life feel easier, simpler, and give you daily clarity.

Be easy to use:

Open it up and write stuff down. That’s what a planner is for. You shouldn’t need an hour every day in order to fill it in to its fullest potential.

When you are a busy Mom, trying to get organized we need to think simple but impactful!

Never make you feel overwhelmed:

This is SO important. If it makes you feel overwhelmed, and doesn’t encourage SMALL, positive changes then it isn’t doing you any favors.

Don’t buy a gigantic planner that requires you to plan out EVERY single part of your life (finances, goals, habits, growth, physical activity, work schedules, meal planning etc etc etc) IF that isn’t YOUR personal desire to track all those things.

This also applies to digital vs physical planning methods. Someone who is easily distracted by social media on their phone, probably isn’t a good candidate for digital planning methods.

Because you will probably end up scrolling instead of using your time wisely, then feel frustrated in the end when you are surprisingly STILL unorganized.

If you don’t budget, don’t have a desire to budget, or don’t want to learn to budget right now…then do not buy a planner with a budgeting section.

It will not be used, it will cause overwhelm, or cause you to have less focus for the things you DO want to track/record & plan

Be easy to read:

I think a good planner meant for daily planning/organization should make it easy for you to quickly open it up and find exactly what you need to find at a glance. 

As pretty or plain as what suits your style:

Some people love having an all-in one planner that comes with ‘decorative elements’ where-as some people like simple black-white, or a simple layout that can is built upon with stickers & accessories. Everyone will be different with what they like here. 

Flexible:

I don’t mean physically flexible. It needs to be ‘flexible’ in the sense that it will still function WELL for you even if you accidentally don’t use it for a week, or don’t write down everything perfectly. It needs to allow you to use it each day to the extent that your mentally capable to.

Encourages habit building:

Connected to an easy framework that inspires a systematic approach to BECOMING organized, not just getting organized

Help you look back:

It’s going to help you to look back at your life months, or a year later and think ‘wow…despite all the…xxx…that was thrown my way this year. I still stayed really on top of planning, and it really has changed my entire outlook”

Help you look inward:

As well as upward if you utilize your planner for Spiritual Growth as well), to slowly make the changes you have always wanted to make in your life

Grow with you:

When we create habits, and slowly change ourselves. Our needs for what we ‘plan for’ change as well. For example – when you first start a journey towards healthier eating. You may need many visual prompts and reminders to keep you on track with your meal goals each day.

But once that becomes such an ingrained habit into your daily routines and systems you may find you don’t need to track it anymore. 

How to get organized with a planner

1. Buy the planner that is right for you 

Here are some questions you can ask yourself before you buy your first planner, while also taking into account the 10 essential best features of the perfect organized mom planner listed above. 

• Decide on your unique planning needs
• Pick the perfect format – paper, vs digital
• Do you care about portability and looks (reference )
• Do you like hourly layouts for planning each day
• Do you literally just need a calendar to start with and a couple daily planning pages
• Do you just want to plan one week at a time?

2. Use the planner daily

• Set aside some time the night before to fill it in for the next day (this will become a habit)
• Write things down that you need to do/remember as soon as they come to mind
• Check tasks off as you complete them for some extra motivation
• Incorporate your daily productive mom routine into your plans and the way you use your planner. Make your own productive mom routine here →

3. Stay flexible

Be willing to change your methods as time goes on.

• You will find that the planning system you choose to start with, will not always be the planning system you stay with. 
• As your habits you want to work on, and the goals you set change, so will your planning methods

Follow these steps to begin the process of learning how to get organized with a planner. Once your using a planner consistently, you need to then learn how to stay organized with a planner.

How to stay organized with a planner

Once you have the ‘perfect’ planner for you at this time in your life, you need to actually use it, and keep using it in order to actually stay organized. 

Because being organized is a process, it is everyday small decisions/actions that move us towards changing our mind/habits/families/homes towards BEing organized. 

So do these things to stay organized with a planner

• Promise yourself that you will keep using it every day. Even if your planning to have one of those ‘chill’ days at home
• Write things down as soon as they come to your mind
• Consider having a notepage at the back of the planner for those random brain dump type thoughts that pop into our heads, that don’t necessarily have a certain ‘date’ or timeframe for completion attached to them yet. 
• Make a commitment to yourself, to use your planner as an opportunity to build habits that will create lasting change in your life

In Summary: the perfect planner for busy moms will have these 10 features

1. Make you feel focused: 
2. Be easy to use: 
3. Never make you feel overwhelmed:
4. Be easy to read: 
5. As pretty or plain as what suits your style: 
6. Flexible:
7. Encourages habit building:
8. Help you look back: 
9. Help you look inward: 
10. Grow with you: 

And most importantly, the perfect organized Mom planner will make it easy for you to get organized and stay organized if you use it consistently. 

Because the best way to BEcome an organized Mom is by first organizing ourselves. An important piece of this is by learning how to become an organized mom using a planner effectively and consistently.