What Makes Me An Organised Mum

by NanLT

I get a lot of comments about how organised I am. I'll let you in on a little secret.If it weren't for my Family Life Book Diary from Organised Mum I think I'd forget my head.

Organised Mum was founded by UK mum Sarah Sadler back in 2004. From humble beginnings run out of the home she shares with her husband and two children, they have now expanded to become Boxhouse Publishing. The company is now run from a converted stable block in Wiltshire. They anticipate selling over 200,000 products in the coming year internationally.

Since 2007 I have bought a Family Life Book each year. This is my brains. Within the pages I keep track of everything! My appointments, after school clubs, meeting dates and times, menu planning, shopping lists, and even ideas for blog posts and writing.

Without Organised Mum, no one would think I was organised.

The Old Way to Keep Organised

Tiny papers in the bottom of my bag

Little scraps of paper with numbers and appointments written on them.

Appointment cards lost

Phone numbers misplaced.

We all know how that works. I certainly do. I can well remember time after time digging through all the bits of paper at the bottom of my handbag, trying to find that important phone number. Thinking I had everything all carefully input into a mobile phone day planner, only to find out the battery has run out!

Or worse, completely forgetting about an appointment because I had left the appointment card in my bag and not looked at it again.

Disorganised bits of paper
Disorganised bits of paper
NanLT
A better way
A better way
NanLT

The Family Life Book

For Mums, and the Whole Family

By using the Family Life Book I can easily keep track of appointments, phone numbers, and activities and appointments for other family members. I even have a place for organising Christmas and keeping track of birthdays, anniversaries and other important dates.

Life BookNo more tiny bits of paper. I just write appointments directly into my Life Book.

The columns gives me space to keep track not only of individual family commitments, but also space for bill paying, meal planning, and even a place for jotting down ideas for writing when I'm out and about.

Sections in the back provide areas for writing down shopping lists (perforated to be easily removed) and monthly planning pages to give a larger overview as well as space for notes and tracking things to be done.

Every part of the Family Life Book Diary is geared towards keeping busy moms on track from day to day, and month to month. Whether you're a stay at home mum or a working mum this is the book you need to keep you and your family organized.

The Family Life Book goes from September 2010 to December 2011. The 16 month calendar follows the school year, plus gives some overlap so that you don't have to carry around two diaries as you get to the end of the calendar year. I know that used to drive me nuts come December as I'd be making appointments for the coming year and have nothing to write them down in.

The Weekly Routines pages provides space to list out weekly routines for every family member. This is the perfect place to keep track of each child's before and after school activities. I use extra pages here to write out weekly and daily cleaning routines and my weekly menu plan template.

Each Weekly view covers 2 pages and includes a grid with 7 columns to keep track of every family member. Each column can be assigned to a family member. Extra spaces can be used for keeping track of volunteer or work activities. In the past year I designated one extra column for my volunteer activities and a second extra column to keep track of tasks I need to do for my writing. In addition there is space on each page for menu planning and a to do list.
Menu planning
The Month-at-a-glance section lets you see instantly what is happening in the upcoming month. I like it for this and also for making sure I don't schedule myself for too many activities in a month.

Year-at-a-glance planning pages are useful for mapping out holidays, school breaks, and such.

Other features of the Family Life Book include perforated shopping list pages, monthly budget pages, Christmas planning pages, summer holiday planning pages, and an address book for keeping track of important numbers.

There is a pocket at the back for keeping important papers and clear repositionable page dividers to help you find pages quickly. These dividers are made of clear acetate and can be written on with any water-based pen.

To make life just that little bit easier, each Family Life Book comes with 288 themed stickers to highlight important dates.

Features of the Family Life Book

2014 Organised Mum Family Life Book

 

 

 

    • Week to view with space for all your appointments.
    • Weekly perforated shopping lists, space for menu planning and to do lists.
    • Budget pages to track monthly finances
    • 288 themed stickers included to highlight important events.
    • Monthly planning pages, letting you see the month ahead at a glance.
    • See your family's weekly routines at a glance.
    • Year-at-a-glance planning pages.
    • Alphabeticised address section.
    • Christmas planning pages
    • Lasts for 16 months, starting in September and lasting through to December.
    • Pocket at the back for notes and bills.
  • Three repositionable page dividers that allow you to find the right page quickly and easily. We've made one of the dividers from clear acetate so that you can add notes with any water-based pen and erase them later.


Organised Mum Side Pocket anSize: 14.8 x 21cm (A5, half of an A4 sheet when closed).
Number of Pages: 286pp
Binding: Spiral

How to Best Use Your Family Life Book

Organised Mum have put together a list of suggestions for getting the best use out of your Family Life Book.

    • Designate one column in the weekly view for each family member
    • The Family Life Book is designed to be flexible, so if you don't need 7 columns for family members you can always combine columns or designate a column for work or volunteer commitments. I use one column to keep track of my commitments as a school governor and a second to extend the space I have for meal planning. The remaining column is used to make a note of Pagan Sabbats and Esbats.
    • Use the stickers to mark out birthdays, anniversaries and other important dates.
    • Make a note 1 - 2 weeks before hand to buy gifts and post cards.
    • Grab all your papers and make a note of important dates
    • Use the stickers to highlight dates as well. All those dates across the year that seem to sneak up on you - car taxes, MOTs, school term dates, days off from school. Have a look through the stickers to see what all can be highlighted.
    • Fill in budget details for September
    • Mortgage payments, rent, direct debit payments, etc
    • Grab your address book and transfer in addresses and phone numbers into the address book in the back.
    • Don't forget the address and number details for businesses you use frequently.
    • Fill in the front of the book with contact details, important numbers, and clothing sizes
    • Children grow quickly, write their information small enough you can update it as needed.
    • Assign one page under the Weekly Routines to each family member
    • There are plenty of pages, so if you don't use all the pages consider assigning a page for housework routines or menu planning templates as I do.
    • Keep your Family Life Book where you can see it and use it.
    • I also suggest a handbag large enough to hold it. Take the book along with you to appointments and other places where you know you'll be kept waiting. Use that time to fill in menu plans for the week or month, transfer appointments, or plan your next Christmas holiday. Or even jot down ideas for Squidoo lenses.
Where to Get Your Organised Mum Family Life Book

Organised Mum at Amazon UK

In the UK

Organised Mum Family Life Book is sold through John Lewis in the UK. Contact Organised Mum for information on other stockists.

The Family Life Book can be ordered online through the Organised Mum website

Ireland

Contact Organised Mum for a list of stockists in Ireland.

The Family Life Book can also be ordered through the UK website at Organised Mum

The Rest of Europe

Organised Mum can accept orders for the Family Life Book from most of Europe. Contact them for details.

Australia

Organised Mum now has a distributor in Australia. Their website will be coming online soon. I will update this information with the web address when it becomes available.

Singapore

The listed website for Organised Mum Singapore isn't working. I will update this information when I have the correct address.

Rest of the World

Orders are handled through the main UK site and will be charged in Pounds Sterling.

 

Updated: 12/15/2013, NanLT
 
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