How Effective is the New Set of Family Organizational Tools from Day Runner?

This is your mission, should you choose to accept it: have a more organized way of tracking your family's comings and goings. Make it practical, attractive, and clever!

Day Runner has just introduced a new line of family organizational tools called Family Matters. Parent Bloggers sent me a sampling of the products to review: an appointment book, an undated erasable wall planner, activity folders, storage cases, and erasable door reminders.

Out of all the products, the appointment book is my favorite. The agenda I bought last year is way too small - when I bought it I was thinking I wouldn't need much space because exactly how much can a mother of two toddlers plan for any given day?! Ha. Ha. Ha. Between doctor's appointments, play dates, exercise classes, travel schedules, and blog-related tasks, each day's two inch square was overflowing with scribbled notes.

This Family Matters appointment book is large - each page is 9"x11", with plenty of space to write for each day. I particularly like that there is a To-Do list area for the entire week because - and do I really need to spell this out - there are some tasks it takes all weeks for mothers to find time to complete!

Each day's space is divided by color into five columns so you can track activities by person, time, task, etc. For example, I can keep track of mandatory activities that happen at a specific time in one column, optional activities in another, blog-related things in yet another, a column for my husband, and still a column for the things I do by myself (why is that column usually empty?).

The activity folders and storage cases are all color-coded to coordinate with the appointment book, if you choose to assign a column to each family member. I'm currently using them to organize my magazines that it takes me months to get around to reading these days. In the future, they will be excellent in organizing our homeschooling endeavors!