DIY Mommy Planner

     Okay, so its not this WOW kind of project but I choose to start with this because I think every mom needs a planner. If you are like me you hate the kind of planners you buy at the store and most of them can be really expensive. So I made my own awesome planner from a one dollar composition book. If you have seen pictures of art journals, its kind of the same concept. I like the interactive part of my planner. I listed the materials I used below for mine, but make this fun, don’t just copy what I did. Some of you might say “man that looks like a lot of time”, well it can be, but that’s whats so therapeutic about it. I work on it every night after the kids are in bed and all the chores are done as a way to wind down for the day. All the worry and fuss with the bills stays in the mommy book (as my kids call it), and writing down a to-do list for tomorrow is a great way to get all those nagging ” I need to get this done” thoughts out of my head.

 

What I used:

• paperclips
• post it notes
• composition book (of course)
• multicolored pens
• the thick black page clips (I don’t know what they are really called)
• and lots of stickers

 

  On the inside cover I attached some post it notes by basically removing the last sticky note from the bottom and sticking it to the cover, and attached the calculator with the black clip. I use the calculator for managing the family bills. On the very first page, I wrote down the things that I only want in this notebook. This serves as a reminder that only your worries (bills, kids, grocery lists, to-do lists, dinner menu, doctors appointments, etc) go into this mommy book. I have a separate book for journal writing if I need to rid my head of extra thoughts. Again, only update the mommy book at night before you go to bed so that you go to sleep with a clear mind. It works great for me so I recommend that you try it too.

 I use the paper clips to serve as a type of divider like you would place in a binder. The section in the picture is for the bills, each page is for a different month. On the backside of one page I stapled two envelopes, one for bills, and one for receipts. I learned a long time ago to keep my paper bills and receipts so that I didn’t have to pay twice when the utility company makes a mistake.

 

 The next section is my calendar. I love making my own calendars as opposed to buying one because it took me all of 3 minutes to make this and the average calendar is like 5$ depending on where you go. That 5$ can go into my craft fund so I’m not wasting it on a book of paper and pictures with dates that I can easily make myself.  Not saying I’m broke, I’m just happy to spend my money on other things!

There are two other sections to this mommy book which is the doctors section for a list of my kids medications, questions for the next visit and shot records, and the last section is my kids school information. Things like PTA topics, teacher notes that should be kept, sweet drawings they did at school and so on.  I do a new book every 6 months because they fill up fast. The old book gets placed in a shoe box in the safe with the other books and are kept till tax season. Once I file taxes I move them to the fire box in the attic for safe keeping for the next 7 years. After that the information is useless, but I like knowing that I am prepared if financial need for the paperwork were to arise.

D.I.Y Therapy

I finally did it. I have been working up the courage to start a blog for sometime now because I am so passionate about the way we live as a D.I.Y family. We call it D.I.Y therapy. I’ve always been the crafty type and I love making things, but when a sudden change in health caused me to have to quit my job and we had to begin living solely on my husbands income, we had to make some financial changes. We never were an “expensive” family to begin with, but we had to become even more cheap than before. I’ve always taught my kids that its not what you want but what you already have and that you won’t always get what you want but you will always have what you need. So when things started needing repairs around the house, clothes got small tears, favorite toys were broken, and a change in decor was desired, well, we did it ourselves instead of buying new or hiring someone to fix it.

I explained all that to help you understand why we have D.I.Y therapy. Things can get really stressful as a stay at home mom, as many of you stay at home moms might know. But they become extra stressful when the kids are sick or in my case, my middle son has an Autism Spectrum Disorder, which I’ll get into in a later post. We use crafting, making(as my two year old calls it), and decorating as therapy to relax or sometimes to help my son cope with his emotions when they are on overdrive and he needs an outlet more soothing. We get our ideas for what we will do for our ” D.I.Y. of the Day” from magazines, Pinterest, Facebook, and other amazing websites we can find online. The range of ideas is endless when the internet is at your fingertips. I suggest everyone with the crafty spirit like mine get into the D.I.Y therapy. Its the best form of relaxation I’ve found and the whole family gets in on it. So not only is it relaxing, its a great way to spend time together as a family.

 

Follow this blog to get some amazing D.I.Y Ideas, Tips and tricks that I’ve learned over the last 3 years of being a Do-it Yourselfer! I’ll be adding new posts everyday. Also, like my Facebook page to stay up-to date on the latest blog posts and other posts that I share!