Organised Mama

Confession time....."Hi. I have four children and I need a Personal Assistant just to remember all of their social engagements!"

I'm a self confessed scatter brain. I try oh-so-hard to be methodical but I would forget my crazy head if it wasn't attached to my neck. So, this year I have been trying out a few different organisation systems (diaries, calendars, planners etc) to see if any of them might land my children in the right place at the right time and help me to remember all of their little friends birthdays. So far, so good, and I've come across a few gems worth sharing.

My first try this year, was The Organised Mum Family Life Book courtesy of a lovely friend.
I already use the Organised Mum Family Home Planner as our main calendar. It hangs in our kitchen and has

enough columns for all six of us to have sufficient space for our activities, so I was thrilled to try out the Life Book as I needed something to sling in my bag and carry out and about with me.

There were so many awesome things about this book, not least that you can separately order these fabby zip up leather covers to use year after year and stop the book from looking shabby.

My favourite elements of this diary though, are the perforated shopping lists (fab) and the separate mini pull out address book. There are also cute little stickers to highlight special dates.

The prize (of my everlasting gratitude...oh yeah) for my favourite 2011 diary, goes to Erin Condren for her to-die-for personalised Life Planner. I'm a big old stationery geek, and this was right up my street!
I ordered the Trellis cover as shown below, and was not disappointed in the slightest!
It was even worth waiting for a friend to bring over for me from The States.

This link should let you see the planner in action. They are truly gorgeous.

The hard wearing laminated diary cover was personalised with my name, and also came with some gorgeous large matching personalised labels which I've already started using on exercise book covers. The best thing about it (Oh wait...I can't pick just one thing), it it beautifully bright and cheery, with inspirational quotes and quirky fonts. Gone are the days of boring, standard issue diaries. This one really does attract comments when used out and about and makes organisation fun.

It comes with bright event stickers, some pre-printed for special occasions, and others left blank for you to write your own dates. It has year at a glance, month at a glance, and week at a glance pages, plus room to add special dates for each month.

Extras include a plastic zip-up pocket for important bits and bobs, and keep it together slot-in pockets for birthday invitations, receipts, etc. I also took the option of ordering the coordinating notepads to stick on the back cover. I know they'll be fab when I go back to work.

I'll admit it though, I tore out the shopping lists from the Organised Mum diary, and also pinched the pull out address book, and they sit in the 'keep it together' pocket of my Erin Condren planner. I get the best of both worlds now.


Please check out http://www.erincondren.com/ , her website now sits amongst my favourites and any stationery geek will love her funky books, invitations, stickers, and more. I promise, I'm not affiliated in any way with this lovely lady, but I am a huge fan!


I can't say it has cured my scattiness, but it has definitely helped me keep on top of school dates, play dates, social gatherings and parties.  And trust me my friend, my children love me for that. They don't need to make excuses for their forgetful Mother any more ;-)