Day Planners

Day Planners for Moms: FamilyTimeMine (and a Double Giveaway)

54 Comments

When I started yakking about my favorite day planners over at Lilting House a long while back, I had no idea what I was starting. Look at this:

Plannersearch

That’s just this week’s searches, and only the top chunk of the list. I let
go of the Grab button too soon and didn’t feel like redoing it.

It seems I’m not the only one with a planner obsession.

I also learned that if you review them, they will come. I wound up with more planners than you could shake a Bic at. (Har.)

Here’s one with lots to like about it: the FamilyTime.Mine day planner. The company sent me two sizes to look at: a purse-sized 5 1/2" x 8" model, and an 8 1/2" x 11" model. (I’ll be giving them away at the end of this post.) Both are spiral bound, which I’ve decided is my preference for a planner. I really need to be able to fold back the cover for easy writing. The front and back covers are sturdy plastic, also a plus. I like the colorful confetti design on the little one. Actually, they’re both quite festive. The colors on the larger one (this is the "Collage" pattern) are brighter than they appear in this image.

Ftimemini_confetti_200Ftime_collage_200

Okay, these images are not to scale. The one on the left, Collage, is the 8 1/2 x 11" model. There are other cover designs available, too.

Enough about the outside! Open them up, and the first two pages are a heavy card stock, folded so there’s a large flap on the left-hand side. I have the August 2007-Dec. 2008 versions, so the flaps read "Fall 2007" and "Winter 2007." I assume the 2008 version has front flaps for Winter and Spring. Open the flap and you have a fold-out grid for writing out your weekly master schedule. In the back of the planner are two more of these folded card-stock pages, with two more seasons’ worth of master schedule grids. This is a pretty nifty feature, I must say. The flaps do add a little bulk to the planner, but these are skinny planners compared to other brands on the market, so even with the flaps they are not unwieldy at all.

Big_ft_planner

(Click image to enlarge.) The weekly schedule on the left is the folded-over part of the flap.

Apart from these master schedule pages, the paper is thin. I haven’t pen-tested these but I’m guessing there’s bound to be some bleed-through. I’m a felt-tip pen kind of girl (or better yet, fountain pens), so thin paper makes me crazy. This is the only major strike against the FamilyTimeMine, but for me it’s a biggie.

After some instructional and promo pages (which you could tear out), there’s a page for personal info, emergency numbers, and holiday dates. On the other side of that begin the monthly and weekly calendar spreads. This planner has the monthly spreads inserted before each month’s set of weekly pages (as opposed to the MomAgenda which has all the monthly spreads together up front, a feature I am wildly fond of).

The monthly spreads are nice and clean, with big clear boxes. (REALLY big, in the 8 1/2 x 11" version.)

Big_ft_month

The weekly pages are a page per week (not a spread per week).

Big_ft_week

You’ll note it’s a Monday-through-Sunday week.

The gray columns on the side of each page are a perforated list area. You can tear these off or fold them over. That’s a neat feature, although I’m not crazy about the fact that every page is perforated (including the monthly calendar grids—not the card-stock flap pages, of course). Call me picky, but I don’t like the perforation running down the line between Sunday and Monday on the monthly calendar.

It’s a clean, functional format, though, with lots of writing space and little visual clutter. There are teeny tiny quotes at the bottom of each weekly grid.

Back-of-the-book extra pages include a babysitter info page, a kind of personal yellow pages space, some pages for recording phone numbers & email addresses, and two blank lined pages for notes.

Behind the two final flappy card-stock master schedule pages is a page of FlyLadyesque stickers for birthdays, bills, holidays, vacation, Important! events, ball games, and other events for which you might enjoy a colorful reminder. The back cover (that nice sturdy plastic again) has a very nice side pocket for tucking stuff into. I think I would prefer a bottom pocket, but this is still quite a nice feature.

Checking around, I see prices ranging from $10.15 (for the smaller size, at Amazon) to $16.99 (for the larger size, at Calendars.com). (The larger size seems to be about $13 at Amazon.)

Giveaway time! Leave a comment on this post and I’ll enter you in a drawing for one of these two planners. I’m giving them both away, so if you have a size preference, include that in your comment. The first winner I draw will get to pick which size he or she gets. I’ll hold the drawing on Monday, December 17, for a sort of hobbity reason. That ought to give me time to mail these to the winners before New Year’s. (But remember, these are the August 2007-December 2008 models, so you’ll probably want to tear out a bunch of pages in the front.)

Next up: the Bizzimom planner.

Other planners reviewed at Lilting House (this is the index page; scroll down to find the review you want):

MomAgenda
Catholic Woman’s Daily Planner
BusyBodyBook
Mom’s Daily Planner
A Circle of Days (Small Meadow Press)   

54 thoughts on “Day Planners for Moms: FamilyTimeMine (and a Double Giveaway)”

  1. I’d like to enter! I’ve been looking unsuccessfully for a new planner. I hadn’t seen this one before–thanks for the review.

  3. i would like to be in a drawing for the purse sized one. i actually took a note book and drew in my own planner because i couldnt find one that i liked. but i think this one is what i was going for. thanks
    monica

  7. I dont expect you to enter me in the draw (I’m in the UK!!) but I wanted to say thank you so much for this review – I have been looking for a planner with a tear out section for ages – and they actually seem to have some on UK-Amazon!! Thanks again.

  9. Lissa, I’d love the 8.5×11 one as I try to keep everything in a binder so I can add pages as needed ….
    Thanks for offering these up … you’re a real peach!

  10. Count me in! I’d love to be entered in the drawing for the larger size planner. The Lord knows I need a little help in the planning department!

  13. I appreciate the review, especially with the visual examples. Thanks for doing the giveaway!
    Michelle

  20. Oh, I’m a sucker for a new planner. Either size could work, but the larger one might be nice for our family information station in the kitchen.

  22. I’ve not really had a day planner before. But the whole calendar-on-the-fridge doesn’t seem to be working as well as I might hope. Perhaps I could have the small one? Hopefully it would round out my purse and make me a more organized mommy. Thanks for the giveaway!

  25. That is a great planner! But don’t enter me into the competition, can you imagine the postage if I won?!!
    Btw, how do you get the search information for your weblog?

  26. Since I’m about to go buy a Familytime.mine planner- I’ll enter, please. I use that one for my family planner, (love the seasonal Schedule pages) and I also like the Family Organizer one I have, with tear-out sections, for a smaller size. I got it from Walmart.

  27. I love your planner posts and planners in general. Since I’ve been losing my planners lately, I think it’s a good idea to throw my name in the hat. I might need one soon.
    (I guess I would prefer the larger one. I never win anything so I don’t know why I’m mentioning the size I’d prefer 🙂

  29. I’d love a planner – to help me and each member of my family to be and do what we plan to! Thanks for sharing and aye, for giving us a peep into the Bonny Glen.

  31. This goes to show you how important it is that we teach our children good planning…they’re obviously going to need it…lol
    I’m good…I have enough planners to start a store…lol
    Good luck to all of you!

  33. Wow, lots of comments! 🙂 Entering because I could use a pick me up. The smaller size, I guess, although either is great

  36. I appreciate seeing your review! I am currently trying to get myself organized and on track, and it’s great to be able to get information like this before committing to one particular type 🙂

  39. I’d like to enter to win one of the planners. I’m always looking for a better way of organizing. I’d prefer the larger version.
    Thanks!
    Kel
    N. Indiana

  40. I love your planner reviews (I’m a bit of an addict) and would love to be included in your drawing. Thanks!

  41. Count me in! I’d love to try out one of those planners! I’ve never used one before, except my own homemade versions…

  42. Thanks, Melissa, for reviewing these. I’ve been limping along without a proper planner for a couple of years. I do have a lovely Filofax that used to keep me organized (pre-child) but doesn’t have the organizational oomph I seem to now need… nor is the “slip-in-purse” size adequate. I’ve resorted to buying student planners from the nearby big-box-office-supply-store. Not great, either (worked when I was in University but those relatively uncomplicated days are loooong gone). I do like the familytime.mine set up and I will likely get my hands on one in the near future (one way or the other!).
    It’s so hard to make planner decisions. I appreciate that you’ve spent some time scoping out the options for us all. 🙂
    With warm appreciation, Rebecca in Canada

  43. I would like to enter, too!
    I think I actually like the week on one page. We keep a log in a small spiral book. But, I’m wondering if a planner might help as I head of for full quarter of classes after taking a two quarter break. It gets a bit hectic around our house when I’m in school, too.
    It might be nice for letting each other know what the boys want to “homeschool”.

  46. Count me in! I’m using way too much ink printing my own colorful self-designed pages. Time to try something new.

  53. The 8 by 11 would be such a blessing… Thank you for the opportunity to enter.
    But really, Melissa.
    Most gratitude simply for investing into this corner of the blogosphere. You’ll never have any idea how many families you have impacted. Ours, deeply.
    My thanks,
    Ann

  54. Hey Melissa,
    Thanks so much for the drawing and for the reviews. It is so helpful to have a real-life, tidal, homeschool mom review these. Your blog is brings a smile to my face each time I visit. Many days I really need that. Thanks for all you do.
    Blessings,
    Ana Betty

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