Introducing the new Wanna Be Balanced Planner!!!
Here are all the details on how these binders work, please feel free to email me if you have any questions or requests.
crystal@wannabebalanced.com
This binder was made for the desperate housewife, striving to find balance among the constant chaos of motherhood. You’ll be compiling 52 weeks of meal plans, grocery lists, activities to do with your kids, house projects and more. It comes with 3 full months and you’ll be able to buy additional months as you go.
Go HERE if you’d like to purchase one.
- 52 Weekly overviews, with a “To Do” list provided for each day (notice there are only a few lines, this will keep your day simple without making you feel like you have too much to do).
- 2 markers, one permanent, and one wet erase.
- The first 3 months of meal plans and grocery lists (you can buy each additional month for $8)
- Over 25 different activity ideas to do with your kids.
Before we go any further, I must tell you that I am half OCD half ADD 🙂 Well, not really but I’d like to think so. At least it’d give us all some kind of explanation to this madness. Creating these 52 weeks will cure my sickness I think. If I have something new to do and eat each day, then perhaps it will take the monotony out of the daily motherhood grind. I’m really bad about taking the time to do fun activities with the kids. My problem is simply lack of planning and idea’s. I’ve realized that if I just plan ahead a bit, then each day I can dedicate at least an hour or so spending quality time with my kids doing something creative and fun. I’m going to provide a list of four activities each week. You can plan them on days that fit your schedule by adding an activity from the list to your weekly overview. These activities may not be age appropriate for your kids, but at least you’ll have something to go by. Most of these activities fit ages 2-8.
- A reusable list of house projects.
I’ve put together a list of house chores in order to get things done one project at a time. Pick ONE thing from the list and work on it over the course of the week. Thinking about all the things you need to do around the house can be quite overwhelming, we all know that the list of house projects is NEVER ending. Not only do we have constant dishes and laundry to keep up on, we also have to periodically do things like, organizing drawers and closets, getting rid of old stuff, cleaning out the car and so on.
The key is to not give yourself TOO much to do on any given day, that’s why my goal is to pick only ONE item from the list. Give yourself an allotted amount of time each day, even if it’s only 15 min. Set aside that time to tackle those chores one at a time.
Monthly
I’ve come up with a small monthly list that consists of only 4 things. You can obviously make your own, but here is my list if you need an example. I figure I can do ONE a week.
- Have a girls night! Go to dinner to catch up on all the girl talk, or go see a chick flick.
- Plan a daddy daughter date or mommy daughter date. This will give Sean and I some special alone time with each child to do something fun.
- Do some kind of service project and have Lily be a part of it. I want to teach her about the joy of serving others. For example, take someone dinner, offer to watch your neighbors kids, run an errand for a friend who’s sick, you get the idea.
- Get together with another couple. I’ve realized that once you start a family you begin to see your friends less and less. So, I figured I can make an effort to stay connected with friends by planning a double date, or inviting them over for dinner or BBQ once a month.
Daily
I know some of you might be MAJORLY against having a daily schedule, but you have to keep in mind that having a daily schedule does NOT mean you have to stick to it perfectly everyday. Like I said before, it’s just there to be your guide. You’ve got to PLAN when you’re going to work out, PLAN when doing an activity with your kids will work for everyone, and PLAN when you’re going to have special alone time to ponder, pray, study, meditate, whatever it is that helps you grow spiritually. Planning out your day just ensures that you’ll have the time to do all the things you hope to. Things to consider: naps, school, homework, sports events, ect. I posted my daily schedule a while back, you can see it HERE if you’d like. Also, I understand that each day is different, so just do the best you can.
- A reusable daily planner where you can jot down your routine, just designate certain times of the day you plan to do the important things.
Marriage
Contrary to popular belief, having a healthy marriage is a HUGE part of staying in balance. When the wife aint happy, nobodies happy, and the wife aint happy when she’s failing to make her marriage a priority. I admit, I’m guilty of forgetting about my husbands needs, and I’m not just talking about sex, although we all know that plays a MAJOR role in a mans happiness. Men are such simple beings. They have only 3 major needs. To be appreciated, food in the tummy, and sex. As apposed to us women who have.. oh gosh, I can’t even count, let’s just not even go there.
So my goal here is to be sure to plan a weekly date night, as well as focus on some things I can do to let my husband know I appreciate him. I heard somewhere that when you’re taking the time to serve one another in your marriage, your less likely to be so critical of each other.
More on this coming soon!
I’ve got quite a few ideas as far as work out routines go, and like I mentioned before, I have a slight case of ADD, so I do really well when I continually mix things up 🙂
More on this coming soon!
Purchase your planner HERE!
And a BIG Thank you to Natalie @Nattie Sue Designs for designing the templates for me.
Wow! This is organizational excellence. I like the time you put into preparing the lists and forms for followers. This is a huge commimtment for you and others. One of the biggest results of this is getting priorities in order and killing that bug called laziness. Good luck!
This is awesome Crystal. I wish I had 1/100 of your organizational skills. 🙂
LOVE IT!! You are amazing, and I am going to incorporate this into my daily life..this will really help during my time in SLC taking care of Nikki & her two girls, as well as when I am at home.. who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks! xoxo
Im exactly like you. I live by my daily planner. I am such a planner, I swear. I plan everything from dinner to what room I am going to clean today. – if you ever want some extra tips on successful planning, i'd be happy to guest post or help you with some tips! let me know! 🙂
http://www.justcherishtoday.com
Holy freaking Moly Crystal! Was this a lot of work or what? Are you still alive? 🙂 This would kill me off. I stopped doing designated feature days on my blog when school started so I'm with you there. I love the idea for a family bbq, hint hint. 🙂 And I agree with you the marriage thang. The grass is greener only when it's watered. PROPS TO YOU!
Cystal you are an answer to a prayer. I printed the meal plans and I am following them 100%, keep them coming. You ROCK girl and I appreciate this.
I wish I could become as organized as you. Things would run a whole lot smoother. I want to do this plan with you but I'm not sure my sporadic work schedule will allow it. I'm going to try
This is AWESOME! Thank you for taking the time to do this, I especially love the activities and the lunch ideas for the kids. I'll be printing them off!
Crystal, this sounds incredible. The Back 2 Blogging Challenge over at SITS has ended up dominating so much of my time, that unfortunately I'm going to have to pass on your wonderful opportunity here, for the sake of bringing things back in to balance on my end. But, I absolutely had to stop by after seeing your spotlight on SITS and ask, do your talents know no limits? WOW! You are beautiful (inside and out), are generous with your knowledge and share so eloquently with others, and you sing (if you'll forgive the cliche) like an angel! xoxo, Jenn
Crystal!!! I'm so excited to do this with you. I saw this on my phone last night and it took everything out of me not to jump out of bed and get on my computer.
You are amazing!!
Hi Crystal! I am the blogger you met at Rhodes…Hi! I love your blog! Holy cow! Seriously! I blogged about you on my blog…check it! I will be visiting a lot to get more organized myself. Thanks!
http://jandeecrafts.blogspot.com/2010/09/rhodes-bakery-and-new-blogger-friend.html
I am trying to be more balanced and organized with everything now that all the kids are in school. It is slowly getting there. I love routine and being organized. This is great.
Golly!! This is complex 😀 I did like the biotch title best though. Can you go back to that one???
Wow! You are crazy organized, I am going to check it all out!
Way to git-er-done!
Look at you!!! You are working too hard, but keep it up! I love it!
Lots of yummy love,
Alex aka Ma What's For Dinner
http://www.mawhats4dinner.com
Wow, Crystal – what a lot of work! The good news is a know it will pay off HUGE in your own life and in the lives of so many others, so thank you, thank you, thank you!
This is amazing! I love it! What a great approach. I do meal plan, although I meal plan dinners, with a relatively common rotation of breakfasts and lunches. It has made my life so much easier in the past 3 or 4 months! I am excited to check out your links and see more. What a great project!
Man you are organized! Thanks for doing the work for all of us.
I AM ALL IN!! I have everything downloaded and this couldn't come at a more perfect time now that my son is in school and I am working a little more 🙂
Hi there! Thank you so much for stopping our blog =} Your blog is so nice and packed full of fun reading!! Hope you are having a great weekend!
Dawn @ http://www.justmarriedwithcoupons.com
You are going to have to change your website to "Balanced Mom" for sure. Great outline and game plan. I love it. I started being super-organized when my husband started traveling every week (2 years ago) and it's so refreshing. I do dinner with my close girl friends every Monday with our kids, at least one weekend night is for hubby and I to go out or do a dinner date with others, Thursday is the day I do girls night out, although not every week… maybe once a month. Sounds totally cheesy, but it works. I'm excited about your new balanced feature!
Hi Crystal,
I left you something on my blog 🙂
You have NO IDEA how fantastic it is that I found your blog at the time that I did. You also have NO IDEA how much you are going to impact mine and my families lives in such a positive way. I've recently gone back to work after 11 years home with my children. This economy has forced us to make all sorts of changes that has our lives in chaos right now. So much unecessary stress and it's taking it's toll on everyone. We have been so out of control that we haven't been able to come up with this on our own. You have taken ALL of the hard part out of it and made it so that we can and WILL be successful at it. Thank you- doesn't quite cover it.
I love what you are doing with your Fridays!
Just watched your video over on SITS- so amazing that you sang to your husband on your wedding day- and girl, you are GORGEOUS!!!
You are so ambitious! I'll def be using some of your lists you share….it's a lot of work to plan it all out but worth it…it does make everything easier when you have a plan.
I love this idea!