It seems I’m not the only one with a planner obsession. I’m getting tons of feedback on this topic. Keep it coming! If you have found an organizational tool you love, do tell!—I’ll collect all the comments I’ve received in a future post. Sounds like there are some more nifty planners out there I should investigate…including, and this news has me so excited I can hardly stand it, yesterday I read that Small Meadow Press is about to launch its own planner. Cue the exclamation points! If you know me, you know I am a huuuuuge fan of all things Small Meadow. The notecards, the illustrated quotations, the house garlands—really, there is nothing Lesley Austin creates that doesn’t make my heart go pitty-pat. A Small Meadow planner sounds too good to be true.

Now on to another fine planner. This is the one I have used this past year and it served me perfectly. It’s the Catholic Woman’s Daily Planner from Family-Centered Press. All you FranklinCovey fans will be happy to know the Catholic Woman’s planner is available in a 7-hole-punched version that fits in your FC or DayRunner binders (FranklinCovey’s "classic" size). There is also a spiral-bound version, which is the one I used. If you prefer a larger size there is an 8 1/2 x 11" version available in both spiral-bound and 3-hole-punched editions. Mine is the smaller spiral one and I loved its compactness (but there was still plenty of room for writing Lots of Stuff).

My favorite thing about this lovely planner: printed on each day are the daily Mass readings and saints’ feast days and Holy Days. It’s a beautiful way to keep tuned in to the turnings of the liturgical year. There are also quotes from the Church fathers on each weekly spread.

The format is a little different this year: click here for a look. Like the momAgenda, each month begins with a two-page month-at-a-glance spread and proceeds to week-at-a-glance pages. (Samples of both at the link above.) The extra pages include daily prayers, prayer journal, address book, web log and year-at-a-glance calendars. You can also choose versions with lesson planning pages, menu planning pages, or both. Lots of options!

I liked the protective plastic cover that doubled as a firmer surface for writing on. Of course a huge advantage to the spiral-bound and hole-punched formats is that the planner always lays flat, unlike sewn bindings.

Designing a planner can be a difficult job, because everyone has such decided preferences. I think the old format (week at a glance on the left-hand page, space for notes, shopping lists, and menu plans on the right) probably suited me better than the new layout, but a lot of people prefer the new version with more space for each weekday. This year’s model comes with stick-on plastic tabs, too, for demarcating the months of the year and other sections.

As for aesthetics, well, the momAgenda’s pretty colors are hard to beat. But that beauty comes at a price: the momAgenda is considerably more expensive. The Catholic Woman’s Planner (there’s a men’s version too) is affordable, functional, edifying, and inspirational, and I have thoroughly enjoyed using it.

More reviews to come in the days ahead! That’s my plan.

Other planner reviews:
momAgenda
Small Meadow Press — Circle of Days
BusyBodyBook

My quest for the perfect planner began eight years ago when I first read Confessions of an Organized Housewife. Crucial to housewifely organization, according to author and highly organized person Denise Schofield, is a book in which to keep track of All the Stuff That’s Going On in Everyone’s Life. FlyLady says pretty much the same thing, except she uses the term "side-tracked home executive" instead of "housewife."

Over the years I have tried a bunch of different versions. FranklinCovey and its less expensive imitators, Day-Timer and DayRunner, offer a variety of size and style options for durable binders with hole-punched inserts. Target carries FranklinCovey materials now, but if you want the full range of design choices, you probably need to shop online or find yourself a catalog. (Tip: Look for a used binder on eBay rather than shell out [gasp] seventy bucks for a new one. I once bought a gently used leather one for ten dollars.)

Lots of people swear by this kind of planner, and certainly it has its advantages. You can pick the size that suits you, whether it’s a big one with lots of room to write or compact version that’ll fit inside your bag. And you can customize for your own needs with all the many insert options: address book, notepad, week-at-a-glance planning pages, daily planning pages, little plastic photo holders, credit card holders, pouches to hold stamps, amazingly flat yet functional calculators—the choices are legion. And you can reuse most of this nifty stuff year after year, just swapping out the calendar pages.

But somehow the FranklinCovey-type of planner didn’t work for me. Maybe it was all those inserts: I found it hard to write on my calendar pages because of the bumpy stuff underneath. And the hole-punched pages just seemed flimsy. I like paper with some meat to it.

So I resumed my quest. And I discovered some treasures. Like this one: the MomAgenda. When I saw this planner, it was love at first sight. I was all, Ooh, it’s so  PRETTY! The lovely colored paper gives it a higher price tag, of course, but it really is a treat to the eyes. The stain-resistant shantung covers come in pink, blue, green, green, brown, black, and red.  And the interior layout is brilliant in concept. You can tell it was designed by a mom. For each weekly spread, the days are divided into a large space for mom and four smaller spaces for the kids. If your kids have a lot of activities, this would be an easy way to keep track of them. Homeschoolers could use the kid-boxes to record lesson plans. Very clever design.

The planner comes with a removable address book. There is a bound edition with ribbon markers, or a hole-punched edition with binder. I have the bound version, which I have to admit doesn’t lay as flat as I might like. I need my planner to stay open on the counter. Upon reconsideration, the binder/hole-punched version might have suited me better.

The momAgenda folks are now offering free printable downloads of their weekly planner pages, if you want a look-see.

Edited to add: One caveat! A couple of the quotes on the MomAgenda’s pages are unsuitable for kids to see. If you’re like me and leave your planner open on the counter in full view of the younguns, you’re going to keep an eye on the quotes.

More planner reviews:
Catholic Woman’s Daily Planner
Small Meadow Press — Circle of Days
BusyBodyBook