Mom’s Do it All: Calendar and Planner Review

My schedule is a crazy blend of school, soccer, gymnastics, meetings, the occasional date night or girl’s night out…the list goes on and on.  Without a calendar I would not survive.  I was thrilled to recently receive the line of “Mom’s Do it All” calendars from Caleb Gray Studio. Caleb Gray designs innovative fabrics and has now lent his talents to these adorable calendars.  From the Orange Circle Studios Website“Loaded with product enhancements, Mom’s will enjoy improved function with this calendar compared to other leading organizing calendars.”

I received the 2011 Mom’s Do It All Planner, which I am now having a love affair with.  First off, it’s spiral bound so the pages stay flat.  It’s got a sturdy cover so it can stand up to a juice box malfunction, and it’s a whopping 17 months long!  The best part is, it’s not whopping in size so I can toss it in my purse without weighing it down.  Along the way you have plenty of space to fill in your family members’ activities by either writing them in or using the adorable stickers provided. There are even tear out To Do and Grocery lists.  The planner starts in August (because that’s when school starts and Moms really kick into high gear) and goes week-by-week so you can get a feel for how crazy your life will be for the next 7 days.  Using this planner is so easy and makes your life look so nice and neat you might even be able to resist that urge to clone yourself so you can be at soccer, ballet, and the PTA meeting all at one time.

Here is a week in my life!

The bigger version of the planner is the Moms Do It All Calendar, with magnetic pages so that it hangs easily on “mission control” in the house….the fridge.  A clip-on pen makes things easy, along with fold out tabs so each family member gets his or her own space, and pockets so you can keep track of that plumber’s name you scrawled on the gum wrapper you found in your purse.   This calendar has stickers too so you can easily mark things like birthday parties, carpool, and dentist appointments without taking up extra space.   The colors are soft so it’s not an eyesore in your house like that freebie calendar you got from your insurance agent!

The Mom’s Do it All line is inexpensive and adorable, and available at Orange Circle Studios, Calendars.com,  and Barnes and Noble.  Best of all, their inexpensive price is hard to beat!  With these calendars, you CAN do it all!

Orange Circle Studio: Review and Giveaway

hypothesis The organizational products including the Bold Blossoms Planner and Mom’s 24/7 Calendars will make organizing our hectic schedules a breeze.

materials

One Bold Blossoms Planner , one Mom’s 24/7 Calendar and one Mom looking to get her family organized before the back to school craziness begins.  About the Orange Circle Studio:

In 2009, a group of friends made it a habit to meet for lunch and coffee at The Circle in Orange County, California. They daydreamed about art, innovation, and unique product design. It wasn’t long until Orange Circle Studio was born, a publishing company that puts thought, passion, and amazing designs into every product it creates.

You want a beautiful art calendar to adorn your bare walls? We’ve got that. Your life is a whirlwind? There’s products loaded with super functional planning features that will bring you organizational bliss. You’re looking for stationery that moves you, and journals that inspire? They’re here. We’re still new, and our ever-expanding line of products has us jazzed. We hope it gets you pretty excited, too.”

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Because both my husband and I work full time, it is crucial that we plan our weeks in order to avoid the unexpected last minute hassle.  We like to have a wall calendar that easily displays both of our schedules as well as the weekly activities for the kids.  So, when I was asked to check out the Mom’s 24/7 Calendar from Orange Circle Studios, I was thrilled!

This magnetic calendar is the perfect size for my refrigerator keeping it at eye level for both my husband and I.  I love the month at a glance view where I can write all of the activities, birthday parties and appointments.  The bottom section is like a tear-out notepad with plenty of room to write a to-do list for the week.  The notepad is divided so each member of the family has their own section which makes organizing our life a breeze!

I also had the pleasure of trying out the Bold Blossoms Planner for on the go organization!  It is small enough to slip in my tote bag, but big enough to carry it all!  My favorite part of the planner?  STICKERS!   It’s the little things in life that amuse me! There’s just something fun about organizing your professional life with stickers, right?

There are a couple of things that I absolutely love about this planner.  First, the design is playful and fun while not looking too young to carry in my office.  Secondly, I love the tear out grocery lists!  I can jot down things I need throughout the week and on Saturday, rip the sheet out and carry it to the store in my pocket!  The one thing I would change about this calendar would be that I would make the monthly view larger.  Currently, you see two months on one page which doesn’t give me a ton of room to write.  However, the space for weekly planning is more than sufficient (and of course fun with the stickers!).

summary

Overall, I love my new calendar and planner from Orange Circle Studio.  The quality of both products is excellent and the price is right, too!  Both items sell for $14.99 each.  The tear out grocery list is a feature I have not seen in most planners and one I can now not live without.  While the weekly notepad feature on the calendar makes organizing my family’s schedule easy while keeping it visible at all times.

COUPON CODE

Take 25% off of your total purchase with the code NOTSOBLOG.  Plus FREE shipping on orders over $30!

GIVEAWAY

Back to school time is HERE!  Orange Circle Studio wants to help organize your life by giving one lucky reader a $50 gift card!

How to enter:

1. Visit Orange Circle Studio and tell me how you would spend your gift card!

Additional entries:

1. Blog about this giveaway and link to The Not-So-Blog and Orange Circle Studios(10 extra entries).

2. Follow me (@BridgetteLA) and Orange Circle Studios on Twitter and Tweet this giveaway. Every time you tweet you get an additional entry! Unlimited! (You must have over 50 Twitter followers to qualify for unlimited entries!)

3. Subscribe to my blog.

4. Become a Fan of The Not-So-Blog and Orange Circle on Facebook.

5. Place my blog button on your sidebar.

Contest ends at 11:59pm CST on August 20th. Prizes not claimed in 72 hours will be forfeited. Open to U.S. Residents only.

This review is the opinion of The Experimental Mommy. Other may have a different experience with the product. Thank you to Orange Circle Studio for supplying the product for review.