Thanks to Day Runner, I’m finally organized!

A miracle has occurred at the MomReviews house, and it’s all thanks to Parent Bloggers Network and the Day Runner Family Matters organization system. The English Language does not contain a word that accurately describes how unorganized I am. I lose bills, the boys’ monthly reading logs, phone numbers, notes I’ve written to remind myself not to forget things, you name it, I can misplace it. This is what my “desk” looked like before:

Which is why when Parent Bloggers Network asked for volunteers to review the Day Runner Family Matters system, I practically broke a fingernail I typed “YES” so quickly. I could not possibly be happier with the products I received and the results they gave me!

What makes the Family Matters system unique is the color-coding. Assign a color to each person in your family, and then whether you are writing in a reminder on the calendar or filing a paper in a folder, you always know who it is for by the color. Green, yellow, purple, beige, and a sort of light purplish-blue are the color choices (five colors, perfect for my family of five!).

I received the following products:

*A 17” x 24” double-sided, dry-erase calendar-one side is a traditional monthly block calendar, with spaces to write in the month and dates, and then colored boxes on the sides to write notes for each family member. On the other side is five colored columns with the dates running down the side, that’s the one I chose. One column for each of us, like this:

I’m happy to report that if, like me, you get so excited about filling in your calendar that you grab not a dry erase marker but a SHARPIE, that it will come off with Windex. Mostly. Crap.

*Under the calendar you can see the Activity Folders, I received five, one of each color. Because I don’t have that much filing to do yet, rather than assign one color folder to each of us, I used one for each of the boys’ school papers and three for myself. Kaitlyn doesn’t really have anything that needs filing yet, although I now have the urge to start having her color real pictures so I can save them in a folder just for her.

*The folders sit inside Storage Cases, I received five of those, one of each color. I have the other three stored away for now, but I’ve already thought they will make perfect magazine holders for all the magazines I get and always mean to get around to reading. And another one would be perfect on the boys’ desk to hold the notebooks they draw in.

*I received the Jan.-Dec. 2008 Monthly Calendar, which is meant to fit into the Info Center (those were not available, but I plan to buy one). I think it’s clever how each month has blank spaces if necessary to make five calendar weeks, so that a color-coded space can go at the end of each row for notes to write for each family member.

*The Weekly Family Planner I received has a different format, and I’m tellling you, this desk planner is going to organize my entire life come January. It has a spiral binding so it can lay flat on the desk, and each tab opens to a two-page month at a glance. But then turn the page, and each page within that month is only four days of the calendar, with five colored columns. So for example, the first tab is all of January 2008, the next page is December 31-January 3rd, the facing page is January 4-January 6th, and then the bottom row is a Priority/To Do column with check boxes. It’s BRILLIANT.

*And then, if all of that wasn’t helpful enough, I also received five of the cutest Door Reminders I have ever seen. The site says “Hang these fun color-coded reminders where they will be most visible; on a door, cupboard knob, bathroom hook, over the coffeepot, wherever! Erasable with a write on, wipe off marker, about 3 ¾” x 8” in size.”

I know for a fact that if I left them where she could reach them, Kaitlyn would run around the house collecting them and scribbling all over them, so instead, I stuck a Command Hook to the front door and hung one there:

Oh, and my desk? Where it was impossible to find anything at all? Now looks like this:

Which officially makes my desk the cleanest, most organized spot in the house. And that, my friends, is a MIRACLE.