small things

Mama’s Notebooks {giveaway}

DSC_0638Today’s giveaway is from Heather, the creator of Mama’s Notebooks.  Heather created these handy notebooks in the hopes of helping other moms get organized.  All of the notebooks feature simple and effective charts, lists, and ideas to help your family life run more smoothly.  Rather than have Heather share more about her notebooks here today, I want to tell you how I am using some of them myself!  I currently use the Mama’s Notebook, The Weekly Homeschool Notebook, and The Knit & Crochet Notebook.

As I began planning for the start of our new school year, taking into account the activities my children are involved in now, I realized that I would truly have to step up my game in the organizational arena this year, or lose my mind.  Much of the planning that I do revolves around food and feeding my family.  I can no longer just plan a week’s worth of dinners and be done with it.  Planning only dinner results in us eating junky fast food and going way over budget.  I have to plan all three meals of the day, in addition to special meals for baseball tournament weekends and our once per week co-op day.  My Mama’s Notebook has become an absolutely crucial part of that.  It gives me a place to record all my plans for meals in addition to each day’s events and to-dos.  I love that it doesn’t have to be started on any particular date, instead allowing me to fill in the dates for the week I am planning as I go.  That way, I can skip a week if needed, without wasting pages.

I don’t enjoy planning meals, I think mainly because it takes so much thought.  I struggle to find uninterrupted time to work on my plans, so I have been trying something new lately.  One evening per week, I choose a handful of favorite cookbooks, grab my Mama’s Notebook, and head to my local Wegman’s, which has a really nice area with tables and chairs above the grocery portion of the store.  I find that I can come up with a plan far more quickly by doing it away from home without any “helpers.”  In addition, I can quickly check out what is available before I start my planning.  On a recent night though, after one such planning session, I found myself suddenly struck by a terrible thought as I lay in bed trying to go to sleep.  I realized that I didn’t know where my notebook was, and I feared that I had left it in my shopping cart at the store.  I have all my favorite meals recorded on the pages, not to mention many weeks worth of menu plans that I regularly look back at.  I hardly slept that night.  The following morning I breathed a huge sigh of relief after calling the store and being told that they had my notebook behind the counter.  Thank goodness.

DSC_0613I am also really relying on the weekly Homeschool Notebook this year.  In the past I have created my own spreadsheets to fill in with my kids’ lessons.  Last year I found myself really dreading working on those each week, and determined that I would try to eliminate some of the work this year.  I am using the weekly Homeschool Notebook for Larkspur and Beatrix, and it has really eliminated some of my planning stress.  I am able to quickly and easily jot down what I hope to accomplish with each of them each week and then cross through each thing as we get it done.  Heather offers a monthly/unit Homeschool Notebook as well.

The last notebook that I use regularly is the Knit & Crochet Notebook.  When I am knitting a complex pattern with lace and repeats and other things that force me to pay attention, I keep notes in this notebook.  I love the graph paper pages!  I also use it when I am working on my own knitting patterns.  I guess I should say, when I was working on my own knitting patterns.  Since we started our new school year, I haven’t had any time for designing!

Be sure to check out Heather’s blog, and read about all of her wonderful, help-you-get-organized notebooks!

mamasnotebooks2Heather would like to give one notebook of choice to two Small Things readers!

**She has also discounted all notebooks 15% off through October 4th.   In addition, you can receive another 25% off the already discounted price through September 22nd by using the coupon code MATEY25!  So, by placing your order by September 22nd, you can get a total of 40% off!!

For your chance to win, leave a comment on this post. 

The winners are Harleygirl who commented, “These are very nice!  Thanks for the chance!” and Maria who commented, “Oh it would be so nice to have something help me out of my disorganized rut! These notebooks sound wonderful.”

Thanks, Heather!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Your needlework is so pretty! I really want to get back to doing that. I haven’t figured out how to keep the baby away from the yarn. Thanks for the giveaway! I sure could use more organization 😉

  6. Not unlike most mother’s, having something to keep me organized (outside of my phone) would be a wonderful tool. And, then my toddler wouldn’t think he needed my phone as much cos I would use it less for daily tasks 🙂

  10. I have the Weekly Homeschool Notebook and I am loving it! I would love the Mama’s Notebook for meal planning and keeping all the other odds and ends of life in order!

  12. That Mama’s Notebook seems to be just the thing I ‘m looking for!
    Now that we have 5 children, I sometimes find myself standing in a shop unable to remember what I need to buy for Tuesday’s dinner (What was I planning to cook on Tuesday? Why on Tuesday? Was there some special reason or coeld I cook something completely different???)
    And the challenge of always knowing who needs new socks, boots, rainthings etc this year! Not forgetting the question of which size of socks, boots etc. everbody needs….

    Yes, I think I will get myself one of these notebooks. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

  20. The Mama’s Notebook looks great – right now I’m doing fine with my small store-bought planner, but as Baby #1 grows up and more kids come (Lord willing) the extra space to combine meal planning with AM/PM/evening activities in one space will probably be needed.

  22. I just bought a new house (a fixer upper of sorts), started a new job, and find meal planning/organization works better for me when I can write my plans out. I have so many loose paper lists going right now. One of these notebooks would be amazing!

  23. I need some organisational tools now that I’ll be back to work full time after maternity leave so I don’t lose track of everything around family life! Thanks!

  42. I love to be organized. My home school notebook for my children is my lifeline. It is a spiral tablet, not anything nice. I also love to plan out meals in advance. When I slack off, nobody eats well. We had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup last night at 8pm after gymnastics. I would love a notebook.

  49. I could use more organization in my life. They all look fabulous but I think the mama’s notebook is what I need most.
    Thanks!