I have always been a planner. So, diving deep into the best planners for moms is a bit of a treat for me. 2021 has been quite the ride, hasn’t it? Are you ready to see what 2022 has to offer? Honestly, I’m almost trepid to wade into the waters of 2022, but I’m super excited to be starting a new planning system! Join me as we explore the 3 Best Planners for Busy Moms.
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Planning as a Busy Mom
Planning has almost become a problem over the years because it’s such an integral part of my life.
As a kid, I was the one that had her weekend listed out on a piece of paper. I loved to-do lists and checking off the item. Paper calendars were a must-have. Entering college turned into a new extreme as I took the syllabus’ and listened out months in advance about what I needed to do to accomplish a project at least 2 weeks in advance. I may have even been a frustration to my peers because as they were hunching over a deadline, I was free to do as I pleased. Entering teaching turned my planner obsession into an even more detailed affair. I’ve tried them all! From online planners like Cozi, to Sticky Book Planners.
I’m not going to lie, I’m a bit obsessive.
I only admit my obsession for one reason. When I say these three planners are the BEST I have found for success, I mean it.
Finding Time as a Busy Mom
Chances are if you are perusing this specific website, you are mom, and chances are you are busy. Aren’t we all? Can I just relieve you of something I commonly hear? I often hear the phrase “I would love to use a planner, but I’m too busy for something like that.”
You. Are. Worth. The. Time.
Now don’t get me wrong. We all have flaws, and we all need more Jesus at the end of the day. We are worthy because Jesus is worthy. We deserve nothing without Christ.
However, between the shuffle of kids, cooking dinner, engaging with our husbands, reading the bible, working, cleaning house…you get the idea, we often gain a complex. It’s a badge of honor we wear, and it says, “I’m busy.”
Busy is not a badge to wear proudly (most of the time- we all go through seasons), busy is something that distracts us from what truly matters in life. For some of us we need a planning system to de-clutter our lives so we can focus more on Jesus and more on our families.
Finding the best planners for moms in 2023 can help declutter so you can focus more on your family and Jesus.
Planners are not necessarily simple, but they are worth the time in the long run. My whole blog is about bringing little steps of healing into our lives and our families’ lives. If you are interested in adding more of the healing power of Jesus into your life this year. You can grab this freebie! Or consider the full version devotional, which you can find on Amazon below.
If you want to look into the best planners for moms and enjoy discovering what is best for you to be successful for the glory of God and for your family, then read this next sentence carefully. Give yourself permission to enjoy finding a system that works for you, then go use it!
The following planner system is what has worked for me! Maybe it will work for you too.
Breakdown of Planning for Busy Moms in 2023
Everyone has a theory on planning, so finding the best planners for busy moms can be a bit of a challenge, but let’s just break it down to the basics. We typically plan by a timeline. Usually something like this:
- What do I need to get done today?
- What do I need to get done tomorrow?
- What do I need to get done this month?
- What do I need to get done this year?
You get the picture. We are task-orientated people, but always with a timeline. Especially busy moms! Even if you don’t have a list on paper or on an online platform, you probably keep lists in your head for home, work, and your family.
How do we keep it all straight?
And how do we see results?
Let me introduce you to the three ways I’ve learned to break down planning. These are my three best planners for moms, but I truly believe that they can be yours too.
Daily Tasks /To-Do Lists
Schedules and Calendars
Yearly goals
Planner Success for 2023
Before we get much further, we need to pause. Maybe you are looking for the best planners for moms in 2023. But maybe you landed here because you saw that word success in the title. Using a planner without success is pointless.
So, what is success?
For a planning system to be successful, I need it to do three things.
- It needs to organize appointments, family obligations, and work in a way that optimizes time.
- Organize tasks and to-do lists in the best way for task completion and repetition.
- Help to organize and break down goals that truly matter and show me how to meet them.
The Top 3 Best Planners for Moms
Let’s just cut to the chase. The three best planners for moms that have yielded the ultimate results of success and are the simplest to use (that is important too) are:
Now that you have my secret planners for success you can head off to Amazon and Google to research them yourself. At least that’s what I often do when I click on an article that promises something that I need. OR keep reading and I will walk you through exactly how they meet the requirements of being the best planners for moms/
#1 Google Keep
~The solution to task and to-do list organization~
Google Keep is just maybe the best-kept planner secret out there. It’s a completely FREE app and desktop platform that allows you to organize lists by color coding, labels, and many other aspects. I have tried some of the paid note organization systems and have always gone back to the simplicity and FREE Google Keep.
One of the best parts is that it is synchronized to your Gmail and Google Calendar as well! I can easily change from my personal Gmail address to my work Gmail address and create a separate Keep platform.
Take a peek at this graphic to see my main Keep page.
In Google Keep, you can create lists and task items that you can repeat each week! For example, my consistent tasks/to-do lists that I do each week at work are kept here. Each week I simply repeat the checklist and it allows me to not miss a single step in my responsibilities. This is the ultimate planner for a busy mom in 2020, it’s simple and sane!
Check out some of the other highlights of this platform:
- Take a note, make a list, draw, or white, or add a picture.
- Change email addresses based on what Keep sheet you are working on.
- Create labels for optimum organization.
- Color coordinates your lists.
- Add people to a specific list or note via email invite.
- Tag a specific email to a note.
- Strikeout for task completion. Un-check if you need to complete the list again.
For busy mom’s this planner will allow you to take everything on the go in a quick and easy app download.
#2 The Happy Planner
~The solution for optimizing time ~
A couple of years ago I was convinced I would never touch a paper planner again. I had gone paperless and started using Google Keep and my Google Calendar to plan. That was until three things started to happen. If you relate, consider the Happy Planner.
I love that they specifically thinking about creating a planner for busy moms and adds-on for helping with daily tasks.
- I started wasting time looking for the same document in my cloud storage multiple times a day.
- Appointments were almost forgotten because I forgot to check my phone calendar.
- Many of my creative outlets had been put aside due to ‘working mommy life.’
If you relate to any of these things, I cannot recommend the Happy Planner enough!
What makes it unique?
- It can be completely customized to meet your needs.
- It’s unique binding system allows you to add or subtract pages easily!
- Print and add ANYTHING with this hole punch system.
- Use the Happy Planner products OR many of the customization pieces on Etsy or other platforms.
- It can be a place where creativity and organization meet.
The Happy Planner is not going to be for everyone, but the top reason I use it is because of the ability to easily hole-punch anything and add it to a week or a month. The hole punch system is remarkable!
Ideas of helpful things to add:
- Printable work calendar
- Work task lists
- Home task lists
- Your monthly budget
- List of bills to pay
- Food Freedom Tracker
- Holiday Planners
- Wedding Planner
- Grocery Lists
- Vertical 12-month calendar, you can get this by clicking this link!
It is also a wonderful creative outlet I eagerly look forward to each week as I sit down and plan each day. My google calendar and lists are available at my side and the two work together as I plan.
For the busy mom, this planner allows for a creative outlet, while organizing papers, calendars, and appointments.
#3 Powersheets
~The solution to goals that truly matter~
Are you tired of having goals and dreams, but never meeting them. Me too.
Around a year ago I was listening to a wonderful podcast called Cultivating the Lovely (now Live Well Anyway) and she mentioned her success with Powersheets. She gushed over how amazing they were. Being the type that is intrigued whenever someone genuinely gushes over a product, I headed over to the Powersheets website and did my research. You better believe that I quickly clicked the little X on my browser page when I saw the price tag.
Bye Bye, something that is expensive for planning. In my head, I said, ‘Isn’t no way something like that could be that valuable.’
Obviously, I changed my mind.
What changed for me was that I looked up the hashtag #powersheets on Instagram. I started to read about real people using them. When I was done, I sat back and was intrigued. Finding the best planners for moms can be tricky business, but Powersheets have There seemed to be a commonality with the women (and men) that were using these sheets. They were all slowly meeting goals that at one point they struggled to meet. I used them in 2019 and will not be going back. 100% worth the investment. They are an investment in yourself.
Powersheets are about identifying what truly matters and then going and doing them!
For busy moms, this planner revolutionizes planning and goal setting so you can get back to what matters to you in life.
What Makes Powersheets Unique?
Google Keep and The Happy Planner are all about organizing your daily, weekly, and monthly tasks and goals. Powersheets is the catalyst to make those happen. It’s the why behind everything you do in a year!
What makes it unique?
It is ideal to start Powersheets at the beginning of the year, but you can start them at any point and still be successful. You will start with a guided process of identifying what is enormously important to you. Goodbye New Year’s Resolutions that mean nothing! It’s time to get in league with the big boys and truly identify what you want out of your year. You also get resources like prep week to help your journey.
But that is not where it ends, once you have 1-8 overarching goals in mind for your year, you get to further break them down into action steps and goals. Then every month you will reevaluate and create monthly, weekly, and daily action items to MAKE YOUR GOALS HAPPEN!
Put it all Together –
The Three Best Planners for Moms in 2022
Everyone plans differently. Maybe these are not going to meet your needs as a busy mom, but maybe they will. Try them and I think you will find that they are going to revolutionize the way that you break down you’re planning and leads to success.
Google Keep – The answer to Daily tasks and To-Do lists
The Happy Planner – The answer to optimizing your time
Powersheets – The answer to finding what truly matters in your planning.