Printable Palooza and Farewell Blogger

Hi there everyone!  I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday.  We had a quiet holiday, just the four of us, which... considering this stupid cold we all seem to have to varying degrees, was probably a good thing.  The boys had fun though, and it was a great day.  Today is blog catch up day for me.  I didn't mean to be gone all week, but with the kids home it's been hard to find the time to sit on the computer.  My days have been filled with light-saber duels, snakes and ladders marathons, puzzle building, and lots of hugs and snuggles.  I really couldn't say no to that!

Don't worry though, while I may not have had time to sit down an whip out a few posts, I did finish up the last of the printables for the personal planner.  (Hence the title of this post)  There's a number of them coming up at you, so I'll stop babbling and start sharing.

 The first one I'm sharing is a request.  I received a few emails asking if I was going to do the daily planner in a half page, and here it is!

 Daily Plan Half Page

Next up, a little something to help keep track of special dates through out the year.

Special Dates

This one is followed by my yearly planner.  I don't, as a rule, make resolutions.  I do, however, make goals, and the new year is a great time for setting goals for the coming year.  This page is more for small, personal goals, like establishing a new routine, learning something new ... you get the idea.  

Yearly Plan

I've also included some space for things we want to do as a family.  These could be anything from a vacation destination to a simple outing.  And, because I have a hard time taking time out for myself, I decided that this year, I would think of 12 things I could do to sort of nurture my soul.  To recharge my batteries.  I figure I can handle once a month.  It probably should be more often, but for now this where I'm starting.  These will most likely be little things like, "take time to let nails full dry after painting"  or "spend a couple of hours at the library... alone!"  

What planner would be complete without a monthly calendar?  None that I can think of.  Because everyone uses planners in different ways, and because I know no everyone is looking for a planner per se, I thought I would whip up a blank calendar.

Blank Monthly Calendar

You could print this one off and throw it in a frame or a sheet protector and stick on your fridge, or wherever it is that you hang your calendars.  

And that concludes the planned printables for the personal planner.  I hope you find some of the useful in the coming year.  It also means it's just about time to wrap up this post.  I'm getting kind of misty eyed here, because this is my second to last post of the year, and it also happens to be my last post here on Blogger.  Yeap, that's right!  The switch to Wordpress is happening tomorrow!  Crazy, yep!  Scary, you betcha!  But I've been testing the new site, playing around with some of the features, and I'm happy to report all seems to be working well, and I think it's time to stop stalling and take that next leap.  To my friends on Google Friend Connect, I do so hope you'll come over and say hi at scatteredsquirrel.com, or follow along another way.  We've got the Facebook page, the Google + page, Twitter, email, and RSS, and none of those are changing.  

All of you wonderful readers have made this blog such a wonder to be a part of!  Thank you for coming back each day, week, month.... whenever you get here.  And if you're new here, thank you for stopping by!  I hope we'll see you around some more!  You all mean so much to me.  Please enjoy this final, unplanned printable (or should I say printables, cause technically there are 12?) of the year!

2013 Calendar!

I hope this coming year is full of wonderful moments, amazing opportunities, joy, love and many blessing for all of you!

Happy New Year!!!!  

Busy Days and Two Free Printables

Good morning everyone, happy last weekend before Christmas.  Are you all set for the big day?  We are going to be brave souls and venture out for one more shopping forray today .... hopefully I retain my sanity throughout.  I'm sorry yesterday's post didn't go up as planned.  I was at the school with Liam for his Christmas party.  It was a lot of fun, the kids spent the morning doing crafts, having some fabulous snacks and then the kids performed some Christmas carols.  We missed the carols, as Liam was nibbling on the goodies for snack time he told me he was feeling kind of tired, and asked to go home.  Poor guy!  He made the right call though, because we got home and he spent most of the afternoon laying down.  At least he was able to see his friends and his teacher and wish them a Merry Christmas, and he was able to take part in some of the holiday fun.   This cold is not a nice one, I'm hoping it goes away soon.

So, between craft morning and still sick Liam (and a still kind of sick me) I just didn't make it onto the computer yesterday, and I'm very sorry about that.  Busy days tend to make my head spin.  I find that on those days I need to pay extra attention to how I'm using my time.  Most often, those days find me reaching for a blank sheet of paper, where I proceed to fill it with lists, sectioned off by category, and a plan for the day.  Last week, as I was doing my usual scribble, it dawned on me that maybe having a daily planner page in my personal planner would be a good thing.  I know I won't use the daily one every day, but having it for those days I do need it would be a huge help.  And so, my daily planner page was born.

Daily To Do

This is sort of a window into my brain.  I use this one two different ways.  On days when I'm feeling particularly scattered; when I know I'm going to have to dig deep to find any kind of productivity, I use the category boxes to list the items that MUST be done that day.  Then I schedule them into the day planner on the left side.  I use the to do list for any items that I feel need to be done, but don't quite meet the MUST stage qualifications.

On days when I'm not feeling quite so scattered, I use the boxes to keep track of things that I want to do over and above the normal.  Perhaps it's something like "plan a family game night for later in the week" or maybe it's something I noticed around the house like "clean vent in half bath".  I guess you could say that on these days, I use the boxes as a sort of secondary planner.

Now, I know that not everyone wants so much on a daily planner page, so I thought I would make a simpler one for those of you who just want a simple day planner. 

Daily 

This one is kind of a two in one.  You would use it as it is, two days on one page, or you can use for a half sized planner for in a mini binder.  With the half page planner in mind, I took care to possition the two days so that you had two ways of putting it together.  You can print doubled sided and using a paper cutter, cut the pages down the middle.  (straight down the middle) Or, if printing double sided isn't an option, you can simply fold the page in half.  Hole punch and you're ready to go.

As always, to grab your copy click the captions.  And that pretty much concludes the planner part of the personal planner.  I have a few more printables to share next week.  Because of all the holidays this coming week, and the switch over to Wordpress (I'll announce the exact date on Monday) I'll be sharing the rest of the planner printables later in the week next week, and I'll share the post of how I put it all together first thing in the new year.  

Can you believe how fast the month is going by?  Are you all ready for Christmas?  Are you ready to say good bye to 2012?

Got a Busy Week? There's a Printable for That!

Hi everyone, how are you doing?  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  My parents popped down for a quick visit this weekend, and it was such a lovely way to spend the weekend!  I was able to get in some time to work on the printables for this week, and get the finishing touches put on the Reader Request for this month.  Liam ended up with a tummy bug of some sort on Sunday, and lucky me, I seemed to have caught it yesterday.  Thankfully, it only seems to last for a day or two.  Liam was really happy about that, because today is his first ever Christmas concert, and he really didn't want to miss it.  He's excited to be able to be on a stage with lights and everything.  It's also his special week at school , where he gets to bring in some of his favourite pictures, his favourite story and a favourite toy to share with the class.  He got to fill out a question sheet that will get hung up with the pictures.  He was a little sad that he had to miss yesterday, but he was super excited to be going today.

Ontop of Christmas concerts, we've got a field trip coming up at the end of the week, a library trip to make, more Christmas baking to do, I've got bloggy stuff that needs to be finished up, our Teen has clubs and stuff most of the week, and Travis is off for the next three days, which means errands need to get run and so on.  It's is shaping up to be a busy busy week, and next week it only seems to get more so.   Why is it the last few weeks before Christmas are always so busy?

Last week I shared with you the Weekly Overview printable I made.  It's still working great, but for these busy weeks, it really has become nothing but an overview.  There is so much going on that there just wasn't room to put it all on the planner page, at least not in detail.  I knew this was going to happen.  There are going to be weeks where there is lots happening and more room for planning is going to be needed.  For those weeks, the Overview on its own just won't cut it, but I think one of these might!

 Weekly Planner

Weekly Planner

I know that with the addition of these ones, there are now a whopping five weekly planner printables on this little blog.  The two I shared earlier this year just aren't working for me anymore.  While they still function and work great, I wanted something that would allow me to structure my days.  With more and more being added to our weekly routines, I felt it was really important to start scheduling our days.  With the half hour increments I can easily block out times for each activity and that will give me a visual reference for how much time in the day I have for the things I need to do.  

Currently, I'm using the second one in conjunction with the Weekly Overview.  I used the Overview to keep track of what was happening this week, my to do list and so on, and I used the Weekly Planner to schedule it all in.  The week is still young, but so far this combo is really working out well.

As always to snag a copy for yourself, click the captions under the pictures!  And of course, all printables found here are for personal use only, if you would like to use them for something other than personal use, drop me a line and we'll work something out.

Just one more thing before I hop off, we will soon be making the move to Wordpress.  I've been busy trying to get it all set up.  To my friends who follow along on Google Friend Connect, please choose one of the other ways of following along.  If there was a way to get Google Friend Connect to work on Wordpress I would totally do that, but everything I've read says that it is no longer supported on other platforms :-(  If you have any questions please feel free to drop me a line.  

So, what do you think of the planners?  Will the work for you?  Do you find that the weeks get more and more busy the closer it gets to Christmas?

Linking up at:

New Nostalgia

A Bowl Full of Lemons

Just in Time, and a Planner Printable

Hello everyone!  We're only five days into December and already it's been a busy and productive month in our little home.  The holiday decorations are up, the tree has been trimmed, and I'll share some pictures later on this week, or early next week.  And I've been busy as a bee working on printable for my 2013 Personal Planner.  When I planned on doing the three months of printables, I had some very good reasons for doing the Personal Planner in December.  1.  There are not as many printables for this one as there was for the holiday planner, and as there will be for the Home Management Binder (coming in January) 2. It's a busy month, and I'm still not sure how often I'll be able to post as the month goes on, and I'm not sure how much time I'll get to sit and create printables, and 3.  I wanted to get the printables for the planner done in time for the new year, and make sure I made them available to all you lovely people too.

Little did I know when I planned this, that I would be in desperate need of this first printable.  If you've taken a stroll through the archives here, or scrolled through the printables page, you may have noticed that I have three (yes THREE) weekly planner pages already.  (see here and here)  The Family one has been working great.  Love it!  I love it so much I wanted something similar for my planner, sort of like an overview of what my week was looking like.  Something I could use on its own or in combination with a daily planner or a more structured weekly planner.  Something that would let me keep track of where I needed to go, what I needed to do, who I need to see, call or email ... and this is what I came up with.

Weekly Overview

Not much to explain on this one is there?  It's just a simple combination of a planner and lists.  On the left I can schedule stuff in for each day, on the right there's a spot for errands (Places to Go), a place for calls, emails or visits to make (People to See) room for a to do list, (Things to Do) and then a spot for anything that I need to remember either for the current week or the next (Special Reminders).  And boy, let me tell you, this week, I REALLY need the extra reminders.  

As you can see, I've already started to fill it up.  Mostly with house stuff, but that's my focus for this week.  Spend a little more time on household tasks so that throughout the rest of the month I can relax a little.  Best part of all is down at the bottom there, my Mom and Dad are coming to visit this weekend!  I can't wait to see them!  

And now, I'm off to go get started tackling some of that to do list.  To grab a copy of the printable for yourself, click the caption under the printable's photo.  You can either print, or click file and download to save a copy to your computer.  As always, the printables shared here on Scattered Squirrel are for personal use only.  Don't forget that I'm taking requests for the monthly "Reader Request" feature.  If there's a printable you want but can't find, let me know and I'll see what I can do for you!

So what do you think of the first planner printable?  Do you think it will be useful?  Are you super busy in December too?

Linking Up At:

Holiday Planner and Link Party

Hi everyone!  Happy last day of November.  I can't believe that the year has gone by so fast.  The final countdown to Christmas starts tomorrow, and I got my planner put together just in time!

I want my Holidays planner to be something that I can use year after year, and I tried to keep that in mind when I created the printables for it.  I want it to act as a family reference book, as much as I want it to act as a planner.  Like all good reference books, I needed to keep the ability to customize and add to it.  Keeping all of that in mind, I gathered up my supplies.

My Supply List:

• Binder
• Page Protectors
• Divider Page
• Printables
• Large Repossitionable  Post-It tabs
• Medium Repossitionable Avery tabs (not shown in picture)
• Sharpie for labeling tabs
• Pen for filling out printables

I made the divider page by trimming scrapbook paper to fit the page protector, and added the "Christmas" label with double sided tape.  I just quickly made up the label on the computer and cut it out.

I added a Post-It tab onto the divider because I plan on adding other holidays into this planner.  I used subsection tabs across the top to make it quick and easy to find the info I need.

Because a few of the subsections were a little larger than others I added the Avery tabs to the side, again, to help make it quick and easy to get to the info I need.

Here's how I grouped everything together.

On the other side of the divider page, I tucked in the Getting Ready checklist.  I figured this one need to be right at the front.

Across from the Getting Ready checklist are my Decorations Master List.  So when I open my Christmas section, this is what I see:

I decided to follow up these with the Greeting Card Tracker.

On the other side of this printable is the Address Book printable.  (not shown) And then the next starts with the Gift Giving Tracker.

Followed by multiple pages of the Gift Buying Guide and Wishlist.

Then comes Family Favourites.  I put the Favourite Goodies and Favourite Dishes printables back to back for this one.  I think this section might grow to include more items, but I'm not sure yet. And just after those is the Food and Entertaining section.

This section started with the Holiday Menu planner followed by the Cooking Plan and Baking List...

...then the Baking Plan and Hostess Cheat Sheet.

And in the back pocket of the binder I tucked in a few copies of the Decorations Box Labels.

That's all there was to it.  It took more time to photograph than it did to put it together. 

Every time I open my planner, it makes me smile.  I feel like I'm approaching this holiday season with more of a plan, and in a strange way, having that plan, makes me feel as though I can handle the spontaneity that inevitably crops up, without fear, worry or regret, and there's nothing better than being able to drop everything for some spur of the moment seasonal fun!  

So, who's up for a link party?  I can't wait to see what holiday stuff you've been up too, and if you haven't been up to anything holiday related, that's ok too, link up another post of your choice!  There are two rules, please don't link up any give-aways, and please try to check out one or two of the other links.  That's it.  This party is open until the end of the year (December 31st, 11:59 pm PST)  Link up as many times as you would like!  It you want to link back to this post, that would totally awesome, but it's not necessary!

Linking up at

Three Months of Printables!

What do page protectors, three hole punches, tab dividers, computer paper and binders have in common?  Why printables of course!  Not just a couple printables, but ALOT of printables, a plethora of printables.  Those three binders, shown above, are slowly going to be transformed over the next few months into organization machines.  And I'm inviting you to come along for the ride and snag a bunch of free printables on the way.

So, what are those binders going to become?  Well, two already have a set purpose.  The purple one is my planner, and 2012 is is quickly coming to a close, so I thought it would be a good time to get a new calendar done up and maybe make some tweaks and changes to the weekly schedule, add a few more items to the planner as a whole, (maybe a daily schedule as well).  Behind that is my faithful HMB.  I started revamping it earlier this year, and never quite finished.  Life happened!  I still have things to finish up in there, and possibly I'll revamp some of the other printables I've already done.  Only time will tell.  Lastly, there is my blank slate binder.  It has sat there, having no purpose other to hold tabbed dividers for over a year.  I've been trying to figure out what to do with it, and the other day inspiration hit!  It would be perfect for the Holidays Planner I've been wanting to put together.  I tried to put one together a few years ago, but I didn't really know what I wanted, the concept of planning the holidays was new to me.  I'm a little older, a little wiser (maybe) and I think I know, in general, what I need to plan for.  With the holiday season fastly approaching, I'm going to kick off the Printables Madness with the last one.

Throughout the month of November I'm going to be putting together the Christmas section of my Holidays Planner.  Each week I'll be popping in here to share with you one or more printables designed to help you feel organized for the holidays.

I thought December would be a good month to work on the planner for next year, there won't be as many printables for that one, which works well for December since it's such a busy month.  Each every week in December I'll be sharing a printable that is geared towards personal planning.  Plus a 2013 calendar.

And what better way to kick off the New Year, than getting all our home info organized and set up?  Every week in January I'll be sharing new printables for the old HMB, and sharing how I set mine up with you.  Sound like fun?  Who doesn't love free printables right?

Oh, but wait!  There's more.... I know that there will be things I overlook in doing this.  There might be something I just don't think to include in one of the planners that maybe you would have liked to have.  Well, I'm taking requests!  Starting now, if there is a printable you would like to see, (maybe you've searched online and just couldn't find the right thing, or maybe you did find it, but you don't like the layout.... whatever the reason,) please leave a comment, send an email, post on the FB wall....let me know!  I would love to hear about what you want, and I'll try my hardest to include as many requests as I can.

I'm super excited for this one!  I hope you'll pop back here on November 1st, for instalment number one!

Inquiring minds want to know:  What do you look for in your planners?  Do you like lots of graphics?  Clean and simple styling?  A variety of different pages to help keep track of things in different ways?  Drop me a line, I'd love to hear from you!