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

  5. So in need of a Mama’s Notebook! Help to organize this very unorganized Mama 🙂 Thanks for the chance!

  8. Oh, how I would love the notebook for meal planning…..such a drag to do but it would be more fun and I would probably stick to it with such a nice book!

  9. Wow, these notebooks are great! I think I would end up with the Mamas book or homeschooling book….both would be so useful to me!

  10. These look great, I would love to try one. The knit and crochet planner is a great idea! Thanks for the giveaway!

  12. As you can see from my screen name, I also love knitting and yarns!
    I ‘ll buy one of these notebooks for myself, and I would be so happy to win one , to give to my yarn-loving friend (her birthday is next month).
    Thanks

  18. Love the knit and crochet notebook. I am having a very busy year, working two 12 hour days and keeping my grand babies 3 days a week. I was wondering how you find the time to knit with your very busy life and how you stay organized when you need to drop/ stop your knitting because if the needs of the children/ school/work?

  22. Oh it would be so nice to have something help me out of my disorganized rut! These notebooks sound wonderful.

  31. Oh, I’ve had my eye on these for quite some time! I definitely think I need one for school…and maybe the mama one :-). Of course that knitting one looks pretty fabulous as well!! Thanks for the chance to win!

  33. These notebooks look wonderful! My area of biggest challenge is the meal preparation- or I should say planning! I have very little time throughout the week to get meals on the table, and if I don’t remember to plan ahead (getting things out of the freezer the night before) it all comes off the tracks the next day!
    I would also love to hear meal/recipe ideas that are quick, easy, healthy & everyone loves…we get stuck in our meal-rut so easily. Always looking for new good ideas!

  36. I much prefer using paper rather than technology when it comes to planning and organizing. I would LOVE to try these notebooks! Thanks for the information and chance to win!

  42. What a lovely book. It looks like it would be very easy to keep organized with such a tool. Thank you for the opportunity to win one!

  49. I love using notebooks and callendars to keep myself organized! With so much going on, this mom has to have it all down, so nothing is forgotten!