Career and Kids

Working Parents - Organize your family with Dayrunner Family Matters

by elizabeth on January 2nd, 2008

Chances are, if you’re a New Year’s Resolution type of person, one of your resolutions involves organizing something.

Working parents might especially have plans to get everyone’s schedule in order and the important papers off the kitchen counter and where they’re supposed to be (wait, that might just be me).

So, when I was was offered a chance to review (disclosure: they gave them to me to check out, no strings attached) the Dayrunner Family Matters line, organizational tools with color coding, I jumped at the chance to indulge my organizing fantasies.

The line emphasizes color coding, not just to look pretty, but, to be able to check up to 5 schedules at once, and, to spot conflicts right away.

I got to try out all sorts of fun things:

The Monthly Wall InfoCenter is a large write-on, wipe-off home management center. It contains a multi-year, monthly paper calendar, a slot for holding documents , an erasable to-do list area, plus hooks for keys, etc.

I love the idea of having the information altogether. It’s kind of large, and, I’m not sure where we’ll put it to live, have been trying it out different places. The calendar has plenty of space to write extra information about each family member’s schedule at the end of each week.

The Undated Erasable Wall Planner is a double sided write-on wipe-off calendar. It’s 17” x 24” and one side is a traditional monthly block calendar, with spaces to write in the month and dates, and then colored boxes on the sides to write notes for each family member.

The other side is five colored columns with the dates running down the side, and, you can view everyone’s schedule across the columns. This makes it easier to spot any potential conflicts.

With a five year old in the house, we don’t tend to do well with erasable calendars, but, I am looking forward to using this one at work.

The Weekly/Monthly Family Planner is a soft, spiral bound calendar.

As the name implies, there are weekly and monthly views. Again, it’s nice to be able to see every family member’s schedule for the week in the separate color-coded columns. Now, if it would just tell me how they’re all going to get to their respective destinations, then we’d really be talking.

The back of this planner has lots of extras for addresses and to-do lists.

I tend to go back and forth about using planners. Sometimes, I’m all over it, and, sometimes, I buy all kinds of systems, but, end up using the Post-It Note method instead. I am going to make an extra effort to keep up with this routine.

Activity Folders and Storage Cases The line has color coded folders and matching storage cases. The idea is to assign each family member a color on all the products, and, these folders are for everyone’s important papers rather than having them spread out all over the counter.

The cardboard storage cases contain the folders and keep them within easy reach.

While the idea isn’t revolutionary, it’s nice to have these components match the other products. I would like for the next generation of storage cases to be a little sturdier than cardboard though, but, they still look nice.

The Erasable Door Reminders are great, too. They are little people-shaped color coded dry erase boards made to fit over door knobs, on hooks, etc. where you need visible reminders.

They’re fun, but, their functionality is probably better suited to families with older children who can read, otherwise they become just another toy.

We’ve used them for the “out the door” reminders in the mornings. Though they might not fit on some styles of doors, there’s plenty of places you can use these little guys.

Dayrunner products are available at Office Depot retail stores.

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POSTED IN: Busy Parenting, Home, Work and Life