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A Life Saver for the Busiest of Moments
Being super busy is not unusual for me but, last spring, I found myself completely overwhelmed. This was because I was planning my son’s baptism while taking two graduate school classes. These things along with the normal housework plus taking care of the kids left me thoroughly stressed.
Luckily, I stumbled upon the Super Simple Weekly Schedule blog post by Suzi at startamomblog.com. The Super Simple Weekly Schedule is a planning method that uses Post-It Notes to organize tasks. I decided it was worth a try and ordered a bunch of post-it notes, a poster board, and was on my way.
It worked amazingly.
Post-It Note planning helped me to get organized, break down my task into manageable time chunks, and get things done!
The baptism turned out just as I had hoped and I was able to stay on top of my school work.
I was so excited to discover this method of planning!
A Reusable Planner that Tackles the Overwhelm
After the baptism, I was able to go back to maintaining tasks with my normal routine, so I didn’t need to use the Post-It Note planner.
But, when Paul was job searching and felt overwhelmed, I pulled out the planner again.
He was having trouble balancing all the tasks associated with his aggressive job search such as: tailoring his resume and cover letters to each job, studying for the technical portions of interviews, studying for the soft skills portions of interviews, and preparing interview presentations.
He had to do all of the above on top of working a full-time job and helping me with the house and new baby.
The Post-It note planner was key in helping him to be fully prepared for the job that he eventually landed.
I’m so grateful to have found this method of planning. Every time I start to feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done, I pull out the planner.
However, because of all the moving that we’ve been doing, I lost track of my posterboard.
Thus, I decided to put together a new layout. I chose a smaller format instead of the poster board so that I could place the planner in my Homemaking Binder (guidelines for creating a binder or rule come from A Mother’s Rule of Life).
I used page protectors to keep the planner neatly inside my binder.
Why I love Post-It Note Planning
Post-It Note weekly planning has helped me in these ways:
- See the whole picture: Helps me see all the tasks that I want to complete so that I’m not worried that there’s something I’m missing.
- Be Realistic: Organizes tasks into time chunks so that I have a realistic idea of what I can complete each day.
- Flexible: Allows me to easily rearrange tasks as the week unfolds.
- Minimize Screen Time: Anytime I get on a screen, my kids want to get on as well. Having a non-screen planning method helps me to stay away from the screen and therefore, keep the kids away as well.
- Reduce Stress: Since I know that everything I need to do is on the schedule, I simply check the schedule each day to see what I have planned. This allows me to release my worries and be less stressed.
Printable Post-It Note Planner Weekly Spread Details
- Works best with Post-It Note page markers.
- May also be used with small Post-It Notes.
- Includes instruction for use as a reminder in case you use the planner intermittently as I do.
How to use (modified from the Super Simple Weekly Schedule):
- Write down all events on one color of post its.
- Write down tasks that will take 2+ hours on a different color.
- Write down tasks that will take 1 – 2 hours on a third color.
- Write down tasks that will take 15 minutes on a fourth color.
- Organize events and tasks onto the planner.
- Cross out or remove tasks as they are completed.
This printable is for printing on on 8.5 x 11-inch paper and requires two sheets of paper.
You can download this printable file for free in my Free Resource Library if you are a subscriber. If you aren’t, sign up below and I will email you a link to download the planner as well as the password to my library. You may download the planner, save, and print as often as you like.
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