Family Home Evening Planner for Busy Moms

January 1, 2018 by Danielle

Who does a weekly Family Night? We’ve sort of tried to in the past, but I could count the number of times we actually followed through on one hand. Pretty sad! This year I want to really make a better attempt at it, despite our crazy schedules with dance, karate, school and work! I know I need to be a lot more organized to pull this off, so I pulled up this awesome Printable Family Home Evening Planner for Busy Moms from few years ago to use!

The colors & style match really well with our 2018 Free Printable Planner, so you can stick it right in with the other fabulous pages! This 2-page printable for Family Home Evening has spots for practically EVERYTHING I need to successfully plan and prepare for your fun night together! There’s sections for keeping track of assignments….

At the top you can put the Theme for that month, and there’s a handy NOTES section at the bottom of one page!

I love that there’s a cute section just for Family Goals, since we’re working on some things together as a family this coming year. Teamwork all the way!

On the right page of the spread, you can fill in each week’s specific TOPIC, so preparing the lesson will be that much easier!

I really enjoy quotes, so I even included a specific area where you can fill in a theme-appropriate (or just one you really like!) to give some thought and inspiration during the month.

Along the line of loving quotes….I put two WONDERFUL family quotes from Uchtdorf (one of my favorite speakers) and one from Thomas S. Monson along the bottom of each page!

I know this planner will be uber helpful this coming year, and can do wonders helping us keep up with our goal! It’ll take a little time getting use to it, especially when the younger kids have the lesson and need ‘some’ help. I’ll try to look at it as a great learning time and quality teaching moment, hopefully that’ll make me a little less short-tempered! I know it’ll be great, though, and can’t wait to start learning even more about the gospel with my sweet family!

Print Pages Here

Family Home Evening Planner – Left Side

Family Home Evening Planner – Right Side

Don’t forget to check out our full 2018 Free Printable Planner for busy moms!

Free Printable 2016 Planner Half-Sized Version

August 30, 2015 by Danielle

Are y’all ready for some super exciting news? We (finally) were able to make another version of our fabulous 2015-2016 Planner for you! Many of you requested it come in a smaller size – so after much trial and error on our part to get it sized down and easily printable, I’m thrilled to share it with you today! So without further ado – our Free Printable 2016 Planner Half-Sized Version!

Check out our newest planner HERE for 2016-2017, or just 2017!

A few VERY IMPORTANT things about this – PAY ATTENTION!!!

It is designed so it can be printed BACK AND FRONT, saving you paper. However, to set it up like this it looks VERY out of order – because it is for normal printing. BUT – when you print it back to front onto 8.5×11 size paper, it will be facing exactly how it should for you to bind it down the middle into the perfect planner/booklet!
We found that on home printers, there are margins that come up, no matter what we tried to change. So I highly recommend taking it to a professional printer like Staples or somewhere and having them print it without margins. If you DO want to print it at home, be sure to set it to FIT instead of ACTUAL SIZE/100% or some will get cut off due to margin stuff. Then just trim off the white around the edges and staple/bind as desired!
I know this may not be the EXACT size you were wanting, specifically. I received MANY requests for all sorts of custom, smaller sized – I’m very very sorry, but as much as I’d love to make everyone happy, it’s just not realistic. This one version took several days of work and frustration – and I’m giving it to you for FREE. So please forgive if it’s not 100% perfect.

Download Here – AFTER reading the above IMPORTANT Notes, please!

Still just want the full 8.5×11 size planner? Grab it HERE!

Other printables to help you get organized!

Best of Busy Mom’s Helper 2014

December 30, 2014 by Danielle

I’m in major shock that later this week we’ll be writing 2015 on everything. Where the heck did this year go? It was full of fun and memories, challenges and obstacles, great achievements and growth. Despite how time seemed to fly by, this year was absolutely wonderful! As we wrap up December, I wanted to share the Best of Busy Mom’s Helper 2014!

Below are the Top 10 Posts from 2014, what all you amazing readers chose as the most popular! Busy Mom’s Helper has grown so much over the past year, and opened up a lot of doors for my family and I. I wanted to say THANK YOU for all of your support this past year, and hope you’ll stick around for the many fabulous things to come this next year!

#1: Free Printable 2015 Planner & Calendar

#2: Disney’s Frozen Elsa Dress Tutorial

#3: Pumpkin Breakfast Smoothie

#4: 50+ Superhero Crafts

#5: 14+ Gifts of Valentine’s Day with Free Printables

#6: How Silhouette Pixscan Saved My Weekend

#7: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes with Lemonade Buttercream Frosting

#8: Frozen Inspired Bedroom Makeover

#9: Trick or Treat Smell My Feet Gift with Printables

#10: 15+ of the BEST Grocery Budgeting Tips EVER

These are all some of my own favorites, too, so it’s good to know that we share our likes! I have a TON of exciting plans and fun things coming up, so I hope y’all stay tuned for more awesome ideas, recipes, home projects, crafts and more during 2015! Let’s kick off the year with a BANG and end it with a WOOT WOOT!

More Pages for our Printable 2015 Planner

October 30, 2014 by Danielle

Who loves a pretty, fun and colorful planner to organize your life with? I sure the heck do! So I’m thrilled to give you guys even More Pages for our Printable 2015 Planner!

Check out our newest planner HERE for 2016-2017, or just 2017!

I’ve been loving my 2015 Planner (goes from August 2014 – end of 2015, so you can start using it now!), and it has so many fun things. You can check out the entire first part of the planner HERE and print off the calendar, daily tasks, and several adorable cover designs to choose from!

For today’s special bonus, though, one of our AMAZING readers designed some other cute pages, and she is so sweet to let us share them all with y’all! Thanks so much to Resi for all the time she put into these….she’s definitely got a creative talent!

*Please note: sizes for these additional pages may vary slightly from the original printable 2015 Planner, so pay close attention when printing.

Contact Pages Main Sheet

Contact Pages

AB CD EF GH IJ KL MN OP QR ST UV WX YZ

Emergency Full Contact Sheet

Craft Ordering Pages: Left and Right

Important Dates: January – June and July – December

Hubby Notes: Left and Right

Labels – Blank Sheet and With Months and With Months/Titles

Master Notes with Lines

Master Notes with Designs

Project Planning Sheet

Thoughts Pages: Left and Right

If you want to contact Resi for some craft or printable work, or questions about her prints, you may email her at leonardandresi (at) hotmail (dot )com – be sure to put ‘Danielle Reeves Planner’ as the subject, so she knows it isn’t spam!

Thanks again, Resi!

Free Printable 2015 Planner

August 8, 2014 by Danielle

I’ve been so STOKED all week long (well, two weeks, but whatever) to finally share this huge project with you. While I love sharing quick and simple things with you all, there’s just an extra ‘awesome’ factor when I’ve worked literally days/weeks on something! This is one of those, and I’m absolutely in love with the end result! Without further ado….our Free Printable 2015 Planner!

Check out our newest planner HERE for 2016-2017, or just 2017!

I’ve had so many of you who loved my 2014 Planner, and have been asking when I would release next year’s….well, TODAY is the answer! I was hoping to have this out in July, but with vacation and everything time just ran away from me. Time’s still not on my side, but I was just too excited to not squeeze it in. I’m so dang in love with the fun colors, organized layout and fabulous cover choices….I hope you love them, too!

There’s so much fun to share with this Free Printable 2015 Planner, I’m not quite sure where to start….so how about at the beginning with our SEVEN colorful Cover Options?!

Option 1: Colorful Dots 2015

Option 2: Colorful Stripes 2014-2015

Option 3: Colorful Stripes 2015

Option 4: Dots and Stripes 2015

Option 5: Random Dots 2015

Option 6: Random Dots 2014-2015

Option 7: Top Tab 2014-2015

Aren’t they totally fun? I chose the first one for my own planner, and it’s AWESOME!!! For the inside, I wanted the monthly 2-page spread to be colorful and attractive, with boxes big enough to write all your important notes in. Don’t forget the previous and future month in the bottom right hand corner! Here’s how it looks:

Print your monthly spreads here, starting with August 2014!

August 2014: left page and right page

September 2014: left page and right page

October 2014: left page and right page

November 2014: left page and right page

December 2014: left page and right page

January 2015: left page and right page

February 2015: left page and right page

March 2015: left page and right page

April 2015: left page and right page

May 2015: left page and right page

June 2015: left page and right page

July 2015: left page and right page

August 2015: left page and right page

September 2015: left page and right page

October 2015: left page and right page

November 2015: left page and right page

December 2015: left page and right page

Now you’ve got to be able to plan out your days, right? One of my very best friends for, well, EVER (love ya Val!) suggested I break it down into Morning, Afternoon and Evening…and that’s what I did! On the left page of this 2-page spread for each week you’ve got the weekdays divided nicely with plenty of space to plan out your To-Dos. This page is the same for all weeks and months, so just print out multiples of this Weekly Tasks Page!

For the right side of each week, you’ve got the dates nicely matched for each day, then you have lines to list out your Menu, Chores and Notes for each day!

Go below to print out each week, in order, starting August 2014!

August 2014: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5

September 2014: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

October 2014: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5

November 2014: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

December 2014: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

January 2015: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5

February 2015: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

March 2015: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

April 2015: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5

May 2015: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

June 2015: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

July 2015: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5

August 2015: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

September 2015: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

October 2015: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5

November 2015: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

December 2015: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5

Because so many of you requested a Notes Page, I figured I better get one up quick! Plenty of lines for jotting down ideas, thoughts and other random tid-bits you may come across.

I’ve got my planner ordered and am just waiting for it to arrive, but can’t wait to share more photos when it arrives! I just couldn’t put off posting this for y’all in the meantime, so you can get your own Free Printable 2015 Planner ready! Enjoy!!!

Now Even More Free Printable Pages To Add – Here!!!

How I Organize My Blog Planning

June 5, 2014 by Danielle

Running a blog is hard. That’s just the truth of it. For those that think it’s all easy-breezy and ‘she must have so much free time’, sorry to burst your bubble! I’ve yet to meet a blogger that says it’s easy. There’s just SO MUCH to manage, and it’s super easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated. One way I keep myself sane (and loving blogging) is my wonderful blogging command center. This is How I Organize My Blog Planning!

Although I have other methods for organizing other blog-related tasks, such as my social media and sharing, this huge dry erase board is a big part of my blog planning. This board came from Hubby’s work…they were just going to throw it out, so he saved it for me. LOVE YOU, BABE! If you saw my Craft Room Reveal post, you saw how it looked BEFORE adding the trim on the edges. A bit ugly…but it worked well.

Add the painted trim, and the eye sore was now a nice, clean….emptiness begging to be filled. I decided to make it my blogging command center, and it was the PERFECT place to organize my blog planning!

First thing, I planned my layout and such on my laptop, then cut out my vinyl using my trusted Silhouette Cameo!

I wanted the months BIG…so had to print the actually grid part of the calendar (bottom right) separate from the top swirly edge (middle right). More on that in a minute….

It took awhile, but I VERY CAREFULLY got the vinyl from the sheets and placed as perfectly as possible onto my dry erase board.

Okay, so see how I just carefully placed the top swirl piece just barely overlapping the top row on the grid part? It’s pretty clean and smooth on the green calendar, but notice how it printed slightly off-sized on the top pink one? Ya….that was my bad not fixing the size first. Oops! Still not horrible, though!

Since the text for the MONTH is separate, I can keep the calendar themselves up but switch which months as I work throughout the year. I just write the actual dates in the calendar with a dry erase marker, so that’s easily changed as well!

The cute purple text tags all to the right of the calendars help me with my list-making. I have the following sections to my board:

Goals: so I can know where I want to go, and can focus on what will get me there
Tasks: basically my to-do list, whether broken down into each post’s tasks, or my entire weekly list
Supplies: as I’m working, or brainstorming, I can make my list of things I need to proceed with my task list
Ideas: This is the entire right 1/3 of this board, where I can just write ideas and brainstorm as things come to me, without losing it (hopefully)

Here’s how I use the calendar portions to organize my blog planning:

Track my recently done posts, helping me not post things too similar, too close together.
See what I have coming up, so I can prepare and plan. Since with blogs it’s wise to post holiday and seasonal themed posts awhile before the ACTUAL time, this helps me see ahead.
So I know what stage each of my upcoming posts is in, I use a different color of dry erase marker depending on what I need to do with that post. Red = haven’t started, need supplies. Yellow = post is done, but I need to take/edit photos. Green = post and photos are completely done, post is scheduled. Blue = post has gone live and I’ve checked links/etc. are working in that post.

How do YOU keep your blog planning organized?

DIY Days Until Christmas Countdown

November 27, 2013 by Danielle

I know it’s still Thanksgiving time, but thought it would be wise to share my DIY Days until Christmas Countdown beforehand, so there’s plenty of time to pull it together before the 1st hits us….only a few days more!

DIY Days until Christmas Countdown / Busy Mom's Helper

I’ve seen those hanging countdowns plenty, and thought they were absolutely adorable. I’m on a budget, though, so wanted the cutest calendar for the least damage to my bank account. This was so EASY and cost me less than $18! Yup, that’s a winner right there, in my opinion!

Supplies Needed

3 12×12 Pieces of Paper (I used 1 dark, 1 light, 1 silver – all shiny) – 16 Cents each at Michaels

Large Frame of desired style (I did a 18×24 poster frame for $9 at Walmart)

1 can plain Spray Paint (I did Silver) – if you need or want to paint your frame – $2 Clearance

1 can Sparkly Spray Paint (I did Silver Sparkles) – if desired – $2 Clearance

Ribbon, Tape, Stickers – as desired – $3

Directions

First, decide on your shape. Trace onto your paper pieces and cut out.

Put stickers, if desired, onto your shapes to give them a little ‘somethin somethin’.

Paint your frame, if desired.

Figure out your exact desired layout, making sure it fits the way you want inside your frame.

Use ribbon to tape rows, as laid out, onto the frame back. Attach your shapes with tape pieces so they’re secure and don’t fall off.

For fun, I wrote something for us to do during December on the back of each ornament. So each day when we do the countdown, we can see what activity we’ll be doing that day!

Decorate, light it up, and ENJOY!!!!

Print Pages Here

Family Home Evening Planner – Left Side

Family Home Evening Planner – Right Side

Don’t forget to check out our full 2018 Free Printable Planner for busy moms!

Check out our newest planner HERE for 2016-2017, or just 2017!

A few VERY IMPORTANT things about this – PAY ATTENTION!!!

Other printables to help you get organized!

Check out our newest planner HERE for 2016-2017, or just 2017!

Thanks again, Resi!

Check out our newest planner HERE for 2016-2017, or just 2017!

How do YOU keep your blog planning organized?

What’s your favorite Christmas Countdown?