Obsessions can be life changing…..

It’s been about a week and half since my new bestie arrived. Of course, I mean my Erin Condren life planner. I’ve used her every day and it’s been such a pleasure! I even feel much more productive now and efficient with my time and I get so much more done now! I went grocery shopping for the 1^st time with a menu plan and I can’t express how nice it felt to shop with a purpose and not wonder down the aisles hoping for inspiration. My husband and I used to have the same "fight" everyday….”what’s for dinner? I don’t know….what do ya feel like?” every day. Not this week! And every Saturday morning we'll sit as a family and come up with a dinner menu for the week. It’s another nice way for us to get together and clown around. Also since she’s arrived, I use her to jot down blog ideas and I’ve even gained my 1^st follower! Thanx Jonnique!

I use my planner to keep track of everything, from our dinners to when it’s trash day. My hubby even teases me “do you need to check with your girl?” Still silly, gotta love him! I’ve even added a few things to her if you could believe it. Directly on the back of the on*the*go page (it’s a nice and thick page) I put 4 different color sticky tabs to mark my notes and my current week, some lined sticky paper for my quick lists, and a symbol key for my tasks so I remember what I’m “talking” about when I annotate my many lists. I got the personalized notepads, but I’m not wasting those for a Walmart list…..nope! J On the folder I put 2 big paper clips to hold the papers in the folder. I use the circle clips Erin included to hold my labels and cards together. I don’t like the way they bend my planner pages. I also used a pretty green binder clip to hold my notepad in place. I opened up my planner one time and the notepad went flying across the room….no more of that! I also put a couple of bright sticky pads in the plastic pouch for quick notes to leave for my kids or my hubby. They love the new me!

TAB FIX!

I also borrowed a tab fix from another blogger and used Avery 1.5” self-adhesive tabs. Tear them all the way open and they fit perfectly over the month tabs. Just peel off the adhesive strips and stick it to the page. They fit like a charm and you can hardly tell they are there. The adhesive part does cover about half a calendar day, but that’s an easy sacrifice when I’m saving my tabs. That was one of the reasons why I got the planner in the first place! I thought about using packing tape, but I wanted a more permanent solution and the Avery tabs do the trick. A little birdy told me that the 2013 life planners will come with laminated tabs…..yay! I can’t wait to see what other features will be included and I’ll be one of the first in line when she releases them in June.

Here's what it looks like......

my green, blue, yellow, and red tabs, lined sticky pad & symbol key

 I color code all my entries…..

 See how nice the tab fix is? Can hardly tell its there!

One of my paperclips holding in my weekly grocery list in the folder…

Pretty green binder clip holding in my pretty notepad…..

I use the circle pins for the cards and labels and those are the sticky notes I leave for my kids or my hubby….

So that’s how I’ve used my Erin Condren Life Planner. It’s been an investment that is becoming a staple in my life, for my life. Has your new planner helped you make positive changes in your life too? I’d love to hear about it!