Holiday Must Have: Chaos… Simplified Women’s Day Planner #Giveaway

November 9, 2011 By Sheri

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I need to write things down or I forget them. This pertains to everything; appointments, my blog schedule, menu plans, phone numbers — everything. A few years ago, I found an amazing Women’s Planner from Chaos… Simplified, and I haven’t looked back, or at any other planners for that matter.

Chaos… Simplified is proudly owned by Alberta’s own Corri Bitner. This is the third year in a row that I have featured this item (I also reviewed the 2010 and 2011 planners) because, simply put, I love it and I know you will too.

I love the layout of these planners. The 2012 planner has the same layout as the 2011 planner does in reference to the half page section. Basically you can see the whole month at a glance in calendar form on the bottom half of the page and at the same time you can view each week at a time at the top. Those pages are cut and only take up the top half of the planner. So when a week ends, you just flip the top half-page over for the new week and your current month at a glance is still shown at the bottom.

I use this planner multiple times a day. In the calendar section at the bottom, I write down my blog schedule and my appointments. I write the posts I have planned and any companies I am working with so I always see what I have coming next and I am not caught off guard.

In the top section, I sit down on Thursday or Friday and plan out the week ahead. Being at home with our two girls, I plan things like outings, ballet class, play dates and our breakfast and lunches. This way I have a lot of preplanned ideas and I can move things around if needed. This has worked out a lot better for us than just getting up in the morning and going with the flow. I also write down our dinners for the week, then make up our whole grocery list from it. In the side section under ‘things to do’, I write down snack ideas so when I am tired and my daughter asks for a snack, I can look quickly to see what we have. There is also a section called ‘phone calls to make’. I jot down any numbers I need at night for the next day. It works better than trying to go online when you have to kids running around.

My planner sits open on our kitchen table, and I am always looking at it. It is also available for my husband to look at if he is wondering what is for dinner.

There is a section at the start of each month to outline any goals, make notes of any relevant or interesting family news, and a few other items to help put your thoughts down on paper. At the end of the month is a page for writing down financials. Paychecks, bills and expenses can all be written down here. Separating each month is a pocket divider made of a sturdy stock paper which is great for holding needed papers, bills or birthday cards.

Also included in the 2012 planner is the:

Birthdays / Anniversaries List – by month
5-year Forecast – a spot to plan ahead. The next time you say “let’s do that next spring” you can actually write it down
Holiday Planning section – filled with checklists, budget, events and gift list.
Wish List – make notes about books you want to read, movies you want to see and more
Monthly Fixed and Variable Expenses breakdown
Important Numbers
Contacts – to list your most used addresses

Not only does this planner have everything you need to keep yourself organized, the book itself is so nicely put together and designed that it also acts as a great historical reference all wrapped up in a nicely bound book. Once you are finished, hold on to it for moments when you want to look back on the past. I would love to have gotten a peek at my mom’s old books from when I was young to see what we did in a week and what we ate, etc.

For keeping me organized around the holidays and ever other day of the year, Chaos… Simplified makes my eighth day of my 12 Days of Christmas list.

One lucky This Bird’s Day reader will win a Women’s Planner from Chaos Simplified (ARV $28.95).

To enter: Go to Chaos Simplified and look at their Women’s Planner. Check out the images and write up and then come back here and leave me a comment telling me what feature you like the best about the Women’s Planner. Please leave a way of contacting you should your comment be chosen. *You must do this for any additional entries to count.

After you have completed the first entry, you can enter an additional comment one time for each of the following:

Like Chaos Simplified Day Planners on Facebook
Like this post on Facebook (there is a little ‘Like’ button at the top of this post, click it and like)
Like This Bird’s Day on Facebook
Follow This Bird’s Day on Twitter
Daily Entry: Tweet about this giveaway. Feel free to copy and paste this into your Twitter page:

CAD only – Enter to win a Women’s Planner from Chaos Simplified on @ThisBirdsDay at http://www.thisbirdsday.com/?p=3931
Become a follower on Networked Blogs of This Bird’s Day (at the bottom).

This contest is open to residents of Canada only and runs until 9pm MST on Saturday, November 19, 2011.

Disclosure: I received a Women’s Planner from Chaos Simplified for free to complete my feature. The opinions expressed in this post are mine only and are in no way influenced by any outside factors.

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