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The New Year is a fresh start. Who doesn’t love planning out what they want to accomplish?!?
My favorite part of the New Year is purchasing a new planner. I have to find the perfect one. I need the boxes to be just the right size and the week starts on a Monday with the weekend days together.
You know what I mean!
Then I get out (or purchase) a pack of colorful pens. Time to make a key for which colors mean what. Then the final step of filling it out!
Today let’s talk about how you can take steps with your New Year’s planning to make this your family’s most organized and successful year yet!
Goals/Themes
What do you want out of this year?
People have set goals and New Year’s resolutions forever. Some stick with them, but most do not.
Lately, I have seen the growing trend of a theme or word for the year. For example, Health or Calm.
Health could mean setting goals such as going to the gym, the most cliché of the resolutions, but it could also mean reducing the number of times you eat in restaurants and increasing the number of hours you sleep at night. It could mean taking walking instead of watching TV. Health is more than just going to the gym. This is what separates a theme from a resolution.
Calm could mean meditating every morning. It could include getting out of the house earlier so you are not stressed about running late. It could mean having more lazy Sundays.
My question to you is, what is your goal for the year? What do you want this year to bring? What do you want to feel or achieve?
What did you find yourself constantly struggling with last year?
Rest
Organization
Health
Promptness
Focus
These are just a few quick ideas. What word do you need more of in your life?
Planners
Now to my favorite part! The planner!
Everyone and every family will do this differently. For example, my husband and I are both linked to a Google Calendar. This is where we make note of major events, birthdays, holidays, and appointments.
In addition to this family calendar, I keep a paper planner that goes everywhere with me. I enjoy paper and make notes of things that do not pertain to my husband or our family there. This could be anything from the hours I worked in a week, to my daily to-do list.
Electronic Calendar
Bullet Notebook
Paper Planner
I feel like those are the main three forms of scheduling your year. Each method has its pros and cons. An electronic version is likely connected to the Cloud and therefore cannot be lost. It can also be set to autofill recurring events, such as birthdays and anniversaries.
This is a time saver!
Bullet journals are too artsy for me. I feel they are more of a tracking system than a daily calendar, but with them, you do have complete creative freedom. They are a bit too free for me. I am a messy person. My bullet journal would not be cute.
My paper planner is my obsession. I love it and cannot wait to fill it out for the New Year.
Let’s get talking about how to fill out any of these methods!
Hard Dates
Hard dates are those things that never change. These are birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries. With an electronic calendar, these should be set to auto-fill each year. Just remember to add them to the calendar as they occur.
With my paper planner, I always start with these dates.
Most calendars are going to have the holidays already in for you, but if you go the bullet journal route you are going to need to add them yourself.
Easily Found Dates
Easily found dates are just that. They are things such as when your children are on Christmas break or when you are going on vacation. These are church festivals and meeting for committees you belong to. These are events and commitments that are usually scheduled pretty far in advance.
Take the time to find these dates and get them on the calendar.
Here is a quick list of easily found dates:
- Days Off School
- Days Off Work
- School Pictures
- Vacations
- Meetings
- Church Commitments
- Annual Festivals
Reminders
Next, let’s touch on reminders you need to place on your calendar. These are for things such as a haircut or oil change that do not need to take place on a specific date.
Small Reminders
Small reminders are the little things. This could be going grocery shopping, getting a haircut, or even a reminder to clean a part of your house. These aren’t big expenses or massive time commitments. They are just the little things we often need to take care of.
- Doctor Appointments
- Haircuts
- House Cleaning
- Birthdays
- Anniversaries
- Wedding Rings Cleaned
- Paying Monthly Bills
If you know you get your hair cut and colored every month schedule out for the entire year or maybe just the first 6 months of the year. Get yourself on the calendar early and you will get the time that works best for you.
Something I struggled to remember was to get my wedding rings cleaned. Our warranty requires that it is done every six months. It only takes like 20 minutes though, so it isn’t a big deal.
Birthdays and anniversaries should already be on the calendar at this point since they were hard dates. This is your opportunity though to place a reminder a few weeks ahead of the date if you need time to purchase a gift or send out birthday invitations.
When it comes to monthly bills you may have them set up on autopay. If so great! That is one less thing to remember. If you do not use autopay I recommend noting it in your planner. Maybe you always pay bills on the 10th of the month. Whatever date works for you is perfect. Make note of it on all 12 months of the year.
Large Reminders
Large reminders are things that can be big projects, expensive, or time-consuming. They could be important and they could be one-time events.
So quick large reminders that come to mind are:
Car Maintenance
House Maintenance
Medical Reminders
Financial Reminders
Each of the above categories can come with large and small reminders. If you know about what time of year you will be due for an oil change or new tires mark it on the calendar. You might not need it at that exact time, but that reminder will help you to monitor the need and look forwards to an appropriate time to schedule the maintenance.
House maintenance could be that your home is due for a new roof or that you want to get a tune-up on your heating system before going into cooler months.
Medical reminders can be big or small depending on your health situation. If you are someone who needs frequent blood work mark it down. Or maybe you have hit the appropriate age for a colonoscopy. Get that on your schedule at the beginning of the year. Don’t keep pushing medical needs off.
Large financial reminders could be maxing out your retirement funds before the end of the year. It could be deciding what you are putting your tax return towards. It could also be stepping up budgeting plans for the year to afford a vacation or a new pool.
Maybe each month you put a monetary goal to be at each month throughout the year.
Seasonal Shifts
With the comings and goings of the seasons, we need to make shifts in our life and home.
- Shift Clothing and Shoes
- Prepare for Holidays
- Preparing for Weather Changes Outside
- Shopping for the Season
Depending on where you live the climate may only slightly shift or could drastically change. For example, in a northern climate, you may go from having sandals by the door to snow boots. You may also shift the clothing in your closet for what you are frequently wearing.
You may need to put away the coats and get out the swimsuits.
Make notes of this in your planner. Take a day to start shifting your home.
Pick a date to remind yourself to start preparing for various holidays. This could mean a reminder to make a grocery shopping list for food or start gift shopping.
If you having growing children you may need to make sure they have appropriate clothing for the next season. A swimsuit that worked last year may not work this year for a growing child. Make reminders to stay ahead and keep up.
You may need to do some winterizing around your home. Put away the water hose and blow out the irrigation system. Put away items such as patio furniture.
Shoot you may have a dog that always sheds its winter coat. Make a note as warmer weather is approaching to get them to the groomer.
Conclusion
The key to having a successful year is proper planning. Any goal you are trying to achieve will more likely see success with reminders, scheduling, and planning.
This past year, I made a note on November 1st to start working on our Christmas card because last year it went out late. There is always room to improve.
I want you to feel prepared, calm, and ready to tackle this next year. Get yourself and your family organized and ready to take it on.
Happy Planning!
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