A Flexible Daily Planner for Homemakers (Homemaker’s Friend Planner Review)
Are you a homemaker in need of a good, flexible planner? Here’s my review of the Homemaker’s Friend Daily Planner, which I’ve been using for the past five years! This beautiful 2020 planner will help you organize your home and life-on-the-go.
As an old-fashioned kinda girl, it’s no surprise that my favourite way to keep track of my schedule is with a physical, pen-and-paper planner. I’ve been using the Homemaker’s Friend daily planner for years and talking about it on this blog, but it’s been awhile since I’ve done a full review of it. Here’s an inside look at my favourite planner. This post is, quite naturally, sponsored by Homemaker’s Friend.
I call this planner my “homemaking commander center” because it contains everything I need to stay organized in my homemaking routines. And I also love that it’s pretty(: Beauty matters in the day-to-day, and I like that something I’m going to be using and looking at so often is lovely as well as functional.
The Backstory of the Homemaker’s Friend Planner
One of the things I’ve always loved about the Homemaker’s Friend planner is that every bit of it is intentional. It was created by Sue Hooley, a mother of six who serves on the mission field in Haiti with her family. Years ago, Sue read Getting More Done in Less Time by Donna Otto (a book that’s been influential in my own homemaking) and learned the benefits of staying organized with a planner.
Sue designed her own planner from years of life experience, releasing the first edition back in 2010. The Homemaker’s Friend daily planner is extremely flexible. It’s so much more than a calendar! It includes sections to keep track of daily and weekly goals and tasks, meal plans, shopping lists, monthly planning, and checklists. In addition, every year has a different theme. The 2020 theme is Kindness, and throughout the planner you’ll find Scripture verses and famous quotes that illustrate this virtue.
A look inside the Homemaker’s Friend Planner
Here’s a quick video walk through of the 2020 Homemaker’s Friend planner:
As you can see, the planner is tab-divided into 7 sections, including both monthly calendars and weekly spreads. There are also sections for the Year-at-a-glance, Tasks, Projects, Info, and Shopping.
Some of my favourite features of the planner include:
- Tab dividers that make it easy to flip to the section you need
- All the extra space for jotting down notes and lists
- Detailed weekly spreads with space for planning weekly and daily tasks, as well as daily menus
- Perforated shopping lists
- The pages to record clothing sizes and gift ideas
I also love that’s book-sized, which makes it easy to carry in my purse. (Being a bookworm, I specifically bought a purse that could fit a couple of books–or a book and my planner!)
Information to keep in your planner
What makes this planner a real win for me is that it’s extremely flexible and versatile. It’s a command center in a book because there are dozens of ways to use it. Here are just a few ideas of what to write in your planner throughout the year:
- Daily, monthly, and yearly goals (there’s specific spaces for each)
- Seasonal schedules and routines
- A food diary, if you’re trying a new way of eating
- New Year’s Resolutions, or your “word for the year”
- Home maintenance reminders
- Your family’s clothing sizes and measurements
- Information from your children’s doctor visits, like their height, weight, or prescriptions
- Lists of things you need to order online
- Garden planning
- Planning for parties and family gatherings
- Home projects you’d like to tackle
- Books to read
- Contact information
- Notes from sermons, podcasts, or conferences you listen to
There are allotted spaces for some of these these, and lots of extra, customizable pages for anything you think of! For more ideas for using your planner, here’s a sample homemaking routine that fits with the Homemaker’s Friend planner.
This beautiful and flexible daily planner is perfect for homemakers, college students, and any woman who wants to balance her schedule with a little style!