Do You Purposefully Plan
Do you ever get away with your spouse and plan your plans? Do you have a planning session? Would you like to but not sure how to go about it?
My friend, Phyllis at Proclaiming God’s Faithfulness, who is also the author of Purposeful Planning, is graciously giving away to five of my readers, a complete Purposeful Planning bundle! What is Purposeful Planning? Phyllis does a great job of explaining it.
In 1996 our family set aside several days in January to seek the Lord’s plan for the next year of our life. Those yearly days of planning turned out to be the best decision we ever made. These planning times became the compass that kept us pointed in the direction the Lord was calling us as a family.
Do you know that most families spend more time planning their family vacation than they do their life? It’s true.
The Bible says, “Where there is no vision the people perish.” Proverbs29:18.
Do you have a vision for where the Lord is taking your family? Do you know what church activities He wants you to be involved in? What curriculum He wants you to use with your children? How He wants to draw you and your spouse closer together? What character qualities you should be teaching and training your children in? How He wants you to spend the money He is providing for your family?
If you are like most families, you do some lip service to asking for the Lord’s input, but have you ever considered setting aside several days to meet with your spouse and children to prayerfully and purposefully seek the Lord’s plans for you?
That is where Purposeful Planning comes in.This tool will guide you and help you to spend some days planning your year–and not just by yourself, but with your entire family! The bundle includes the handbook, the e-book, and an mp3 audio.
To enter this contest, simply leave a comment below telling me your best tip for a planning session with your family. On Tuesday, Janaury 19th, I will have random.org choose five winners. If you are reading this on Facebook, please do not post your comment there, but come to the original post here at Econobusters.
Good luck and happy planning!
This is a great idea. It’s true that we will spend more time planning our vacation and we will our lives.
Best planning tip: make sure there are lots of munchies and drinks out… that way we’ll avoid lots of stops and starts to the conversation.
My parents used to go on planning weekends every year. We would all look forward to their return so we could find out what was going to happen in our family in the upcoming year. They have no children at home now, but they still make a plan for the upcoming year.
It is a great idea to plan for the next year and reflect over the
past year and what worked and what didn’t.
This is my friends’ way. They are parents of five and they really inspired me. They have breakfast once a month to discuss their coming schedules, but also how each kid is doing and things they need to work on with them. Then, they spend one weekend a year on a big planning session, formulating goals for each child and for the family. Sometimes they went away for a weekend, but other times, when it was not feasible, they stayed home and the kids went to other people’s homes over night. Either way, they had two days of alone time to really review the past year and talk about the goals for the coming one.
Oh how I wish I could plan my life the way the Lord Wants. I want to be a great example to my teen and my 11mth baby, but how can I when I am not sure what I will be able to do in the next hour because of chronic pain in my body. However, I do have great days with less pain and I would really appreciate something or someone to guide me. So if I don’t win, I plan to buy the book. By the way, your website has helped me tremendously. I bought the November digest and I am hooked. Ive bought the rest ancestors then. And plan on keeping my digest up to date. Everyone appreciated my homemade gifts and my husband appreciated that we did not spend so much money on the family baskets. Because of this I was able to give to more people than ever before. Thank you for what you do. You are greatly appreciated by me and my family.
Can you change Ancestors to digest. Hehe, my spell check is still sleepy.
I think we would really benefit from this. For the first time I am planning out school for a year and it feels great. I bet planning for a year in terms of school and family would have an amazing impact on a family’s life.
hmmm, never really thought about this. a lot of what we do is spontaneous b/c of dh’s job, but i can see how this would be really beneficial and help me be a better steward of my time. i think everyone would need to get on board, though, as i tend to be the planner around here!
I can definitely see how this would be helpful. We have four young children & haven’t even been able to go away for a weekend yet, but I look forward to the day when we can. I love the idea of a set period of planning – it would be great to have the fellowship with my husband and set some long term goals at the same time.
My family has never been a planning-type one but I love doing it and would like to carry on doing it with my husband and children later on. So I love to read any materials like these.
Just sitting down and talking about our plans is about as far as we get. We could really use this. Thanks for offering!
I don’t have a tip on the planning–we’ve never done it–that’s why I need to win the book!
I can see already that planning to do community service each month means it would actually be done and not forgotten about. Good idea to sit down and plan.
I’m not sure you need to set aside “days” to do this. If you spend time in prayer every day you usually already have a pretty good idea of what direction you and your family should be heading in. Just my .02 on this.
My husband and I actually debrief almost every night about things we did well and things we could do better. I’m not very good at receiving criticism from him (or anyone), but I found that if we’re both being honest about ourselves and the management of our days, I handled it much better. We also have a January date to refocus for the year, the daily debrief just helps us stay on target.
I love this idea. Right now when we need to plan we do it on a date night since the kids are so young.
My husband and I try to get away for even a day every year to plan. We take a look at each person in the family and set goals and plan accordingly. We also look at all our involvements and commitments to see how they fit with our goals and purpose for the family. It really helps us focus and get on the “same page.”
Right now we don’t have a planning session but we really need it, due to the times, I’ve had to take a job and he works nights, I work days so we never see each other.
I think this would help us greatly, I’ve drooled over this book for sometime, but it is never in the budget.
Right now I leave do lists and notes for him and he does the same, there has to be a better way.
M
We do not plan and I so wish we did! With 5 children, you’d think we would spend more time on that. I feel like my husband thinks I’m nagging when I bring it up…of course, I do bring it up when things go wrong:)
I love this idea but don’t have any tips to share as we do not do this. My husband is saved and loves the Lord with all of his heart but he is just not one to do things like this. If I get this I will be praying that God would lead us as a family to Purposefully Plan our lives and maybe God will lead my hubby to head this up but I won’t push I will only pray and then go from there. Thank you for the opportunity to enter to win.
My husband and I did a planning session last summer before the new school year. It was good for us to share thoughts, although, I don’t think we’ve looked at our notes since then. It would be great to sit down again and see where we are compared to what we discussed. My tip is to be open minded when both of you meet. New ideas and new goals are good for a family.
Well, we have never done planning as a family. Even for vacations. Usually my husband tells me what’s going to go on a certain day, and I do all the planning.
I would love a chance to win this book to help me organize my thoughts on how to go about something like this.
That was one of my “frustrations” I wrote down next to my “goals” for the coming year. We *don’t* have a family vision or goal for each year.
So I really have no “tips” to share, because we haven’t really ever done something like this.
Just asking for God’s guidance as we plan is a great way to start. Without Him guiding our lives, we don’t have a plan
The tip for planning I would have to give would be Pray about everything, God cares about the small things in your life as much as the large things. Once I started doing that life got a whole lot easier. The book sounds like a good book to have and to use. Thanks for the chance and God Bless Your day:)
I have read about Purposeful Planning before. We have had the intention of planning the year in advance with my hubby…but we never quite succeed. I LOVE this idea!
My best tip is to bake some yummy muffins or cookies. I bake everything from scratch and the family always comes running when I make something new.
Sue
This is a great idea. We don’t do family planning, but we def should.
This is definitely an area where we lack and could use some major help. We are not a big planning family. Sure we plan for vacation and for school year’s, but never beyond that. I could really benefit from this book.
Since this is a big issue for me I would say the best tip would be to FOLLOW THROUGH
Being a Military family, it is hard to plan out our lives too far in advance. My husband’s schedule is always changing and he can be called in at any time if he is needed. I can see how something like this would be very helpful to families. I guess with anything, it is making it a priority!
I’ll be honest, I don’t have a tip. I hope to win though so that I might have a tip next time I’m asked this question. I am horrible at planning, I’m trying to get organized but it’s been a long process. I want to serve God the way you describe but I often feel like my lack of planning abilities and my disorganization gets in the way. I’m very gradually getting things together, but I could use a boost!
I would love to win this because I really have no planning skills or tips for my family!
I always find the if my husband and I plan a little before we meet it really helps. The easiest thing is just to know what topics we want to plan for or talk about and that way we can be thinking about them prior to out scheduling/planning session.
I guess it makes as much sense as planning a menu or budget. It is a great idea to set the kids down and explain to them that if we would take time to plan for our financial matters and food that Gods plan for our life is so much more important. This is a wonderful idea. Thank you!
I have never thought to plan a year of school at a time. I am not a huge planner, but know that it can make my life smoother. We go to the store 3 times a week because I forget what I need or don’t plan out what I need. I plan our school week to week, and it does get kind of stressful. I would love to be more organized and scheduled, but I really don’t know how to do it and be consistent…I feel like Trish said above, I don’t have time to serve more because I don’t manage my time well.
Even though I’m not, my tip would be Consistency. I know that as long as I am consistent, I would succeed.
make sure to do it!!! but i guess that is pat of the plan! when we have done it life was better. We did ours at homeschool convention.
We took some time the first few days of 2010 and asked everyone what they wanted and we made a list of goals for each person and for our family. Great post – sounds like great materials to help steer families toward better goals!
With my husband’s job changes over the last few years, it’s been really hard for us to plan too far out, but this definitely sounds like a giant step in the right direction!
I had no idea that people plan vacations more than their life, but it is true that unless we prioritize it, we drift through life. I know I struggle with that in my life from time to time not knowing my purpose and going through the daily motions…then I return to prayer and direction and my focus returns! Praise God for his faithfulness, but we have to be faithful and consistent as well!
Great giveaway!
planning tip: post it on the calendar a few weeks in advance and mention to entire family to start praying about this planning time for the family. Might even suggest a day of fasting in preparation for it.
planning tip: post it on the calendar a few weeks in advance and mention to entire family to start praying about this planning time for the family. Might even suggest a day of fasting in preparation for it.
We don’t “plan” anything important. I always try to let my children know what to expect in school, why not in life. My Great Aunt and Uncle do this. They plan when they will be out of town, church activities, etc. It makes it easier for them to say “no” when something comes up, because they have things planned out the way they want them. This is something my family would benifit from this book a lot!!
I have planned yearly for school, but not for everyday things. I think it would be great for my husband and I to sit down and share ideas. I have to admit that other than randomly mentioning our goals, we have no defined goals and I think it would help us to accomplish much more! Thanks for offering this giveaway!
What a great idea! We pray daily for the Lord’s leading but we don’t sit down and discuss it together at a set time. I look forward to hearing more ideas!
We have ever done this, and I have a terrible time sticking to plans. I think it would benefit us to have a roadmap though. I don’t know if I would call it a tip, but I think for me, the plan would need to have a lot of flex to it.
I don’t plan well . . . that’s probably been my lifelong downfall. I prefer to go with the flow of the “river of life.” Because of my husband’s work schedule (New York hours in California) we don’t even get many quiet, kid-free moments together, so it’s nice for the reminder to seek out time for purposeful planning.
We have a monthly family meeting after church to review the previous month and go over the next month. We decide if we need to change anything. It only takes 30 min.
We’ve never done this, but I can see why we should! I think a good idea would be to find a good time when there will be few distractions to have your planning session. Fewer distractions means more planning accomplished.
we make sure we WRITE everything down! it not, we completely forget it about..we have a notebook dedicated to this, but we need something “more” to keep us accountable!
I’ve looked at this book many times, but never taken the plunge to buy it. I would love to win it. I just set my 2010 goals this past weekend, and my best tip would be to pick one word to focus on for the year and then make your goals around that one word. In my prayer time today, I chose my “word” — thrive — and my key verse for the year is John 10:10 — I came that they might have life and have it abundantly. I spent the last year just surviving, so thrive seemed appropriate. One word works for me!
We do planning sessions for our marriage. On our anniversary weekend we go through a list of questions about the past year…what worked, what didn’t, best memories, hardest times, and make goals for the upcoming year. We write this all down and keep it in a notebook. So we have written documentation of all our years of marriage and the highlights and goals of each year. Now we can do this as a family too. I really hope I win one of them!
My tip-Set a date and pray for God’s wisdom for the planning session. So when the day comes both husband and wife have had time to seek what God would like for the family.
My husband and I sit down during the first few days in the new year and come up with new goals and objectives that would like to meet in the coming year. We still need help in this area so the planner would be a huge help. Thanks for offering it.
I have just begun my part of the planning and am desperately searching for a way to bring my husband in on it. This set could do the trick for us. Thanks!
I do the planning for homeschooling by myself, but would love to have something to do with my hubby to plan our family’s year. It’s a wonderful idea.
We spend the first 21 days of the year fasting and praying…….seeking the Lord for all he wants for our lives this year!
We are on day 3 and enjoying every minute of it!
Decluttering of the stomach and the mind!
Would love to win that book!
cm
I really need some help with planning. Trying to balance Weight Watchers, Exercise, and homeschooling. so far it is just wing it. The only tips I have are that when I set up time it does not work as well as when I do it by priority list, 1, 2, 3, etc. I would love to win this. Blessings, Rhonda
There are so many good tips here. I know that as a mother of six, ages 18 to 6 months, I can look back and see lots of evidence of that verse about how when the people fail to plan they perish…Thankfully, the Lord has filled the gaps left by my military husband’s frequent unplanned absences, and I pray that He will continue to do so. However, I do often see how having regular planning times greatly benefits not only the structure and function of the family, but the peace of mind of everyone (especially mom!), too.
I’d like to offer an amen to that mom who said they needed to do date nights even though their kids are young. Yes, do it! Plan it and do it or you will regret it. And to those who said a planning session with hubby (and later, including older kids) to go over the school year was a good thing…Yes! Do it. Start today, even though the year is half done. It will be worth it.
Now, my own tip is simple…and I don’t think I saw it posted already (surprisingly). I think it is important to post a calendar in a clear place and keep it filled in with activities, important dates, numbers that will be needed, etc. for the month. My family looks for ours and misses it if I am late putting it up. Everyone needs to contribute to it during your monthly planning session. Nobody in my family has ever minded filling in a few blanks, especially if it includes a few mutually agreeable fun-times for all. They also love adding to my never-ending grocery list on the chalkboard, and I keep my list of household to-dos right there on that chalkboard/dry erase board and they actually like going to it when they have a moment and seeing if they can do something, or even better, check something off. They are all learning to plan this way. We usually fit calendar time into a fun night (just before fun, after food), so everyone is in a good frame of mind. Thanks for all the great tips and encouragement.
I had NEVER even considered a prayerful planning. No “planning” of any real kind actually. Now that my littles are nearing 3 and 5, it’s time we start considering our schooling plan for the year (for reporting to the state for the older one) and it makes sense to plan for our family too. Thanks for this information. I wish I had a tip, but I’m going to be the one reading all the other tips!
My husband and I made separate lists of 10 specific goals for 2010. When we shared them with each other it was amazing that our lists were almost identical. This post has made me realize we really need to sit and discuss a definite plan to see these goals achieved.
Best planning tip: choose one thing to plan at a time…long sessions get overwhelming for younger kids, and their attention span can’t take it. I’ve combined it with a cleaning challenge…person who makes their bed first gets to choose first activity for March Break, etc. Two birds, one stone!!
This is a great topic. We actually have been saving a gift certificate to a hotel we received to do our first planning session in our 16 years of marriage. My husband doesn’t quite know what to expect and I don’t know how it will go, so a guide would be wonderful.
Even though many people don’t do this or say to themselve that they don’t stick to plans, planning does make it much more likely you will reach your goal, especially if your plan is specific and is within reach so you can look at it throughout the year. It’s not about guilt or pressure, but remembering what you’re aiming at!
For instance, last year I bought an inexpensive little notebook and wrote down what I didn’t like about how we celebrated throughout the Christmas season and what I did want to see next year. I had pages for notes about what type of gifts we would like to give to our children and other special people. A note might be very general, like: “I want us to give to people that God puts on our hearts and not worry about giving to EVERYONE”. Writing that down really is a helpful reminder whent those pressured feelings come! I wanted in general for our family to find a way to serve others, so when our youngest asked if we could go caroling I invited other homeschool families and someone suggested a nursing home. Within a few days, we had attained that goal and had a sweet memory to cherish.
I am not naturally organized in the least, and certainly not consistent (ask my husband!).
But, this is something anyone can benefit from. In the very least, time out with hubby is precious! Make it an enjoyable experience.
Ive always been a planner but really need some guidence with Gods help.
This is great idea! I have never considered extended time in prayer for his direction, just part of my daily prayer.
My husband is a golfer and a couple times a year he has a golf weekend. A few years go I started going along and while he is golfing I am at the hotel planning school, menus, whatever I feel most needs to be done. This way we have time to ourselves, plus I have time away from kids and the house to seek God’s will in our home.
I so need this kit. I do sort of make a plan for the next day. I need something that will help me plan and then put it into action. Sometimes when I do plan I just can’t follow through for some reason.
It would be especially beneficial for us to plan the character qualities we need to work on with our children. We can’t focus on everything at once and our random approach is not usually fruitful. It would be such an encouragement to us and to our children to be able to look back and say to them, “You have really grown in …..”
I figure that scheduling out a specific block of time for planning is a good tip. My husband and I (semi-newlyweds) could really benefit from this bundle. Thanks for the giveaway!
My husband and I started a few years back evaluating and dreaming around our anniversary every year. We evaluate where we have been and what we have done and dream about the future – including planning. One tip is: this is to be a positive time not when we come together to complain. We always return rejuvenated and ready to go.
I don’t have any tips for planning – that’s why I need to win this!
This is something that my family really needs to do. This bundle would help us a lot!
Planning to plan is what I need to do. And keeping my will flexible so that God and my husband can lead.
I always plan out my menus and grocery runs. I find this helps my family tremendously. Other areas of my life don’t run as smoothly. I am a planner but often fail to follow through. I am wondering if this book helps in that area. I would love to have it.
Blessings,
Pam
My best tip would be read through Phyllis’ site and then come back here and sign up to win a copy of her book.
This sounds wonderful! Thanks for sharing it with us, Molly.
We have been married 25 years and have many children. This is our system: my husband talks about goals with me, and I say my piece about them, positive or negative. Then when we have understood each other and have agreed on what we need to do, I am the planner to work out the details to achieve the goals. I write up schedules, duty lists, lesson plans, inventory control lists, budgets – anything to contribute to understanding and implementation of the goals. We’ve discovered over the years that this system utilizes each of our best talents and gifts: he’s the big picture guy, I know details. Works for us. I’ve been enjoying the 31 days of organizing. This is my language!
I’m a single mom of 3 girls so our planning stradegy usually works like this: Every month at the beginning, I make a list of short term and long term items that we need to discuss. After checking everyones schedules to make sure we have a free evening with everyone in attendance, I make finger foods for dinner and snacks for the evening. We try to turn our “planning night” into a bit of relaxation and fun so that it’s easier for all of us. We each have a notebook for our own personal things we need to address (birthday with lists, upcoming outings we’d like to attend and what it would take to make it to it, etc.) We go through the list and address all the issues, big and little, together so that my girls feel they have an important part in our family running smoothly.
We find our best planning happens outside of the home (away from distractions). These days that means spending several hours at the local coffee house!
Oh, boy! if I win this maybe I can talk hubby into some time away to plan? I don’t think we’ve done that in many years. The more kids and busy, the less money and planning. Not good.
I must admit that we have never sat down to really think through a family plan, but being a mom of 3 young children I would think the best tip would be to find a baby sitter so that my husband and I could really focus on that goal without distraction.
We’ve been trying to get at least our three oldest to be in on different plans and decisions. I think that the kids could come up with ideas before a planning session so that whether planning is a family event or just the parents everyone has had some input.
My best tip would be: order pizza and soda so mom is not distracted with making supper or cleaning the kitchen. For our family vacation we all picked our top 4 places we wanted to go and each person got to go to at least one of their choices. This way everyone felt included in making the decision and we had a wonderful time. But next time we are setting a budget!!!
This is something we are trying to do right now, without a real clear idea of how to do it. We are being purposful in reading a book together every night that talks about the purpose of our lives, but being more specific with what to do THIS year would be a great thing to do!
I am a huge planner. I plan vacations for months, start planning next year’s curriculum right after this year’s arrive, plan menus weeks in advance, etc. but I’ve never thought about having a planning weekend or planning out goals for the year. I love that idea and I’m definitely going to schedule that for us. Great idea!
My best tip is to write things down. I often have vague yearly goals floating around in my head, but writing them down really helps me to stay on target.
Planning tip: When brainstorming, take five minutes to write everything down that pops into your mind. Don’t rationalize, rule out or critique anything UNTIL the five minutes are up. By not evaluating a suggestion immediately, a suggestion that seems quirky may lead to a different way of thinking about the problem which may be the best solution. However, I’ve seen one negative comment about someone’s suggestion shut down the creative thinking process in an entire group, so be firm about it and it may take some practice for the “Eeyore” type people.
Great ideas! I love to plan and would love to be more purposeful and involve the whole family and my husband more! I think making gradual change is key!
This is a great ideal not only for families but for everyone. Whether single, married, with or without children knowing the Lord’s will for your life and your loved ones lives is essential. How much happier we would all be if we took the time out to do this as often as needed in order to stay in the Lord’s will for our lives.
Everything I have been reading lately or watching has to do with a VISION for your life, your family. What an encouragement then to find this site as well. We always take a hard look at our finances at least 2 times a year, but now I am keeping a monthly log of expenses vs income so we are on alert to any concerns before it gets out of control.
When I plan with the whole family, I use a big pad of drawing paper and have the kids tell us what they want to do that year. then we use another page to list what we need to do, then another one still to list what we will do for others. then we look at all 3 and discuss what we will have the time and money for. It really helps the kids to see everything written out, and especially to see what other things need to be done to accomplish the things that they want to do.
I always seem to “plan” things out for us. However, in recent days I have been crying out to the Lord in desperation as to why I have failed at “MY” plans. I seek His guidance and ask for wisdom daily and then I usually end up doing it my way only to be disappointed.
I love the idea of coming together as a family and asking ourselves and the Lord what does HE have for us in the next year and how can we be better listeners and doers. (especially me)
Thanks for the opportunity to have this.
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Getting more organized is on the top of my list. I do have a list that’s a start. Praying is one thing I and my family do as we try to plan. Even though being spontaneous is the norm turning to the Lord constantly is the only thing that keeps us on track. Every year I pray this will be the year of great organization, maybe with your resources it will be.
Thanks, Mayra
This is a great idea. We try ti set aside a hour a week but it is hard with my husband traveling schedule and my family child care business. Susan
I don’t have any planning tips b/c we don’t do this really. Right now it is all left up to me to decide. This would be a great thing for us to win. We have 4 kids from ago 10 years to 10 months.
Oh how our family could use this!
We seem to just be going along in life! How we need a plan!
Thank you for the opportunity to win!
Mrs B
My husband and I usually have a date night in January to go over our goals for the New Year. We ask the children to put their goals down in writing as well. Then we use a couple of our family worship times to go over our goals together as a family. The first year we did this, the children’s lists look more like extended Christmas lists. But now they understand a little better.
It is fun creating a ‘vision for the new year’ but we would love to learn some new ideas on the topic!
Wow! This kit sounds awesome. We have made loose goals at various junctures when we needed to get stuff done, but not ever thought about long term planning in a deliberate way. I would love to win the kit!
My husband and I often do some of our best planning on our annual trip to our homeschool conference. The kids stay with my parents, and we spend the weekend writing down ideas and plans. We stay up late together and buy our materials for the coming year.
Thank you so much for offering this bundle as a contest! This is a wonderful way to get family planning started. We have been married ten years and have three children. This is something we need desperately! Thanks again for all you do!
This book sounds great. Although we have ideas and basic goals we have no way to keep ourselves accountable. So we end up not seeing a lot of progress. I’m sure having an actual written plan would make a huge difference.
We have never done anything like this before. In fact, I haven’t heard of the idea to have a planning time for the upcoming year. It makes complete sense! I hope this is something I can get my husband to jump on board with and begin with our family. Thank you!
Planning ahead is something I want to do and try to do but somehow it just does not work the way it should. Something I am working on better this year.
I have a few:
1. Teach your kids to be as self sufficient as possible, as early as you can. It will pay dividends for years!
2. Routine is your friend.
3. Don’t overschedule. Kids need the chance to be just kids. We only allow one outside the house activity and encourage the kids to double up to decrease trips during the week. ( ie: both my girls take back to back piano lessons.)
I am single Mom in the military, so planning is key to us… the only thing is, I have a calendar of when I’m gone. I go for about a week every other month. It also has her schedule on there as well as mine. However, I’d like to be more God focused this year. I would love to receive this book so that I can definately get better at planning! Thank you.
We’ve done a little bit of making plans for our family, but it’s been sporadic at best and not in a form where it’s easy to turn plans into actions. Thanks for the opportunity to win what looks to be a good tool
“Where there is no vision the people perish.” Proverbs29:18.
I don’t think that this verse has ever meant anything to me before. Thank you for posting it. We are in a fragile place financially and can only plan 3 months in advance, although we have long-term dreams and goals. I tend to think in terms of seasons and try to plan what I want to accomplish, but we’ve never discussed an entire year of family goals. I really don’t know how to begin.
We definitely need to be planning more for our family’s future. With three little ones, it is sometimes hard to make time, but this would be so helpful!
Planning is essential right now for the 3 of us. I care for 2 stroke victims with their other multiple disabilities. We do try to sit down at the start of each week and go over already planned appointments and whatever else they want to do. It takes a lot of planning to go out with 2 walkers or 1 walker and 1 wheelchair (if it’s a bad day). It also takes a good hour to get them ready (dressed etc.) to go anywhere. Our planning sessions are necessary.
This would be such an encouragement! To be intentional in seeking the Father’s best for our lives. I have found that intentionally planning makes what is important a priority and keeps us from being swallowed up by all the distractions of life.
I really need this book, as we don’t really have planning meetings at my house. My kids tell me time and date and I try to remember to put in on my calendar. Pick me! Pick me!
I approach planning with a lot of prayer. With my husband on active duty with the Air National Guard, most of the planning falls to me. Even then, in my being human, I fall short. That being said, even when it’s approached in prayer, make sure your actions (plans) also line up with His Word
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I don’t really have any tips; I do our lesson planning but haven’t done family planning. Our pastor was preaching about this on Sunday!!
With 7 kids at home, homeschooling, field trips, horse shows and 4H, seems like we are ALWAYS planning, but a tool like this would help tremendously with the organizing of the planning!
) Also, any excuse my husband and I can find to have a day or two alone is a wonderful idea! We always spend time New Years Day getting input from the kids on goals for the family for the new year, but could definitely use some help with the day to day stuff. Thanks!
My husband and I have not done this… we’re part of the plan more for our vacation than our lives… this resource would be a wonderful guide to get us started. Thank you for this opportunity.
We try and plan out the school year but have never done plans for our “normal” life. I would LOVE to win this. If I had a plan maybe I’d finish some of the housework that is almost done but I just never seem to get through.
My only plan involves flying by the seat of my pants. My husband and I try to plan, but it never seems to work out too well. I would love to involve the children with our planning session. I think that would encourage us to follow our plans more carefully.
My husband and I like to send the kids to Grandma and Papa for a weekend and get some planning done. Actually, we don’t like to. We’d rather not do the planning at all. But it does make it a little more fun that way.
The best planning tip that I have is one I learned from my husband. If we are going to have a time of planning together, we put an envelope in a central location a week or so ahead of time. As we think of things we want to discuss we write them down and stick them in the envelope. This gives us both time to mull over things before discussing them and helps the planning time be more effective.
On Saturday mornings my husband and I read and talk about our parenting goals for the week, while preparing breakfast together. We should also include a plan for the month and year.
Over the years my biggest planning idea that I have learned is to plan for the emergencies! I also ask my kids if there are things they want to cover, so I can figure out a way to incorporate them into the lesson plans. But I would love to win something like this because all my planning is done on stickey notes (gasp)!!
This looks really great.
My planning tip for the year is to plan for lean times. When I go to the store I pick up a couple of things that are on sale that I use often. For example mayo is on sale 2 for $5. I buy 2 and put it in the pantry (shelves in the basement). But not just groceries, I have been trying to do this with other things too such as socks and shampoo. Now I need to work on other areas of my life.
I must admit that I am one of those that could benefit with instructions on “how to” in this category. The only thing that I have really had any success planning ahead of time is with our singing. My husband and I sing gospel music, and he has a small gospel music recording studio. I can easily sit down and map out the calendar for the dates that we have been called to…and I make sure that nothing else gets in the way of those “duties”, though I think they are more fun than any kind of duty….but getting daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly, things planned out seems to be beyond me….my mind runs screaming! LOL
Sadly, we don’t do a planning session every year. I would so love that!!
Other than church involvement, for the last several years our Pastor has handed out forms for signing up etc.
I do suggest to hubby that we should take the time to figure some things out. It’s just hard to find the time to get away to do that. Without incorporating kid taxi service, or grocery/other kinds of shopping into the mix.
This is a great idea. It is so easy to let life just happen, and it goes all too quickly. I try to be mindful of how short life is, and how much I want to do what is in God’s plan for our family, not trying to follow someone else’s plan.
I have stopped printing out the pages & pages of ideas and research that I did in my planning stage. It used up a lot of paper & ink, required numerous file drawers or boxes to store and I rarely looked at them again. I’ve gained time and space by doing this. Only save the really important things.
No one has ever accused me of being organized! Sad but true, I used to be but over the past several years it has gone down the tubes. Our only time to really talk about goals/plans is after the boys have gone to sleep but there’s not a real organization to that either. I am working on decluttering and hoping that after that the organization will be easier. Thanks for the chance to win!
I have no tips due to never doing this. However, this sounds wonderful! This seems like an awesome tool. I would love to try/do this with my family.
I would have to say that as far as planning goes we have never actually sat down and done ANY! But a tip that I think would be good to start implementing is schedule a planning session on the same night as family game night. That way afterwards the kids have something to look forward to.
that would be great to win something like that…organization is key when time is what we don’t have……
My husband and I will go somewhere (IHOP or a park) and go over an outline of things and discuss them and come up with a plan. Then we take that to the children and discuss it with them. Since hubby and I are on the same page together, it is a much more enthusiastic time with the kiddos.
We have planning sessions during or right after dinner, then everyone’s already at the table.
I like the idea of taking a weekend away and just the husband, wife and the Lord, reflect, pray and plan.
We have always prayed for things as they come up, but maybe it would be better to pray and let the Lord know we are listening early in the year.
I know at the end of the year, I always say well I missed out this opportunity or that. I wish I had been paying attention better.
I am so glad you did this, it is still January and I have time to schedule our family days of planning.
Thank you
Rindy
The only thing I plan is my kids school plans and I do that in 13 week segments. I have been desiring to plan other events for our family, but never find the time to do it.
My best planning tip: Start with prayer and end with a fun family activity like playing a game together.
Our planning is done in the vehicle as we drive somewhere. We live waaay out in the country, so even a trip to town is 30 minutes. Trips to the doctor are an hour or more. So we use the time to connect, converse, and plan. We treasure that time together!
Wow, what a great resource. My husband and I have started so many times, yet never have really followed through. We have both decided that we would like to live purposefully. I am going to go look at her website right now!
Last year was our first official planning weekend. We used points we had accumulated from staying at Choice Hotels for a free night. (As members of HSLDA, we also get a 20% discount on any Choice Hotel regular rates). We went to St. Charles, MO, a quaint historical town with family activities for breaks during planning. Also, we used brought all of our current and proposed future curriculum, budget info, important papers to review, and laid them all out in a conference room of the Family Vision Library. It was nice and quiet, and really helped us see where we were, and want we wanted to change for the next year. I’m looking forward to this year’s planning weekend already!
I’m definitely the planner in our family but even saying that, I’m not that good at consistency. So far in 2010 I’ve started implementing what I’m learning here. I also recommend listening to podcasts on organizing and home management. These have really been helpful. I listen to downloaded podcasts while cooking supper, filing or folding laundry, etc.
The best plan we have found is from the book, The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family. But honestly, we have yet to implement them.
Wow! I see so many good ideas. I am so glad I still have time to participate. My best planning tool is paperwork that our private ISP coordinator gave to me to plan our school year. We’re still using them. I would love some new ideas and help in for the home.
First thing in the morning when everyone is fed and freshly awake. Bring a calendar and let everyone know of upcoming opportunities and discuss activities others would like to do and talk about when would be the best time for that activity and list anything needed for that activity.
The Lord has been calling me to be a better planner…but for some reason it’s hard for me to do. This looks like a great tool. I think my best tip would be to set aside that quiet time to do it…it’s hard to plan when life is happening all around.
Connie Weaver
My husband and I sit down once a week to go over the week’s plans. We call it going over “expectations”. This has helped keep our expectations realistic and avoid a lot of unnecessary fights!! We use this time, too, to discuss changes that we might need to make in our routines, schedules, plans so we can stay focused on our goals of glorifying God and raising up disciples in our children!
I would love to set aside a couple of weekends a year to do some in-depth planning; just haven’t been able to talk my husband into it, yet! Someday…
I spend time on Saturday or Sunday afternoon planning the week ahead. I have combined my homeschool and personal planning pages onto a custom page that I print for each week.
I still need help, I seem to have lists and forms all over the place, even though I have several dedicated 3-ring binders. I have a love/hate relationship with paper.
For planning the week ahead, I print out “job schedules” for myself and the children. It’s fun to get to cross off the job that has been done and feel like you’ve accomplished something in that day. It’s also fun to show “Daddy” when he gets home what we’ve done while he was doing his job all day.
I also print out a weekly planner detailing the time frames for the day. It helps to keep on track. Yet it’s important to not get stressed out if we are behind.
Oh, how I wish I had a planning tip to offer… but as it turns out, I’m not that great at planning – though I wish I was, and am trying to figure out ways to do it that work for me. Right now, I don’t even get menu planning off the ground most weeks!
We’ve never done anything like this. What a great idea! I do some planning, but it seems like I sometimes overplan and end up under-doing
What saves planing time in our family is special lists we have. I will explain what I mean. Every time we leave our house/go on a trip/ we have a list of things we usually take with us.So,we never forget anything and never have to rewrite our lists. When my husband goes on a preaching trip,he grabs his ,,precahing trip,, list. When we go on a cruise,we grab our ,,cruise,, list and pack according to it;the same goes for camping trips and other kind of trips.Those lists save tons of time and stress about forgeting something.
I also have plan/list of chores/ for my spring cleaning; It is a detailed list,so I never miss a corner as I deep clean my house! The point is,making lists works and helps to plan.
The best family planning session tip I have is to incorporate lots of breaks. Everyone – especially the youngest family members – needs ample opportunities to move around during protracted planning sessions.
My hubby became a trucker a bit back & we haven’t been able to do this together for a while- he’s been gone for a bit. We had set up last year to have a weekly meeting on Friday nights. We called it our Parents R.A.D. meeting. (Right After Dinner) Never discuss imortant things when too hungry, tried, or sick! I learned that when newly married. O if only I’d heed that ;~D We discuss all facets of our family, house, business, & ministries. When needed we include our kids- after parents dicuss & agree on plans or even options. Very important to avoid what will seem like a power struggle between parents that should be on the same team. Go Team!
Last year, we participated in a 21 day fast with our church. We used this time to plan out our goals for the year. This year, we are doing the same thing. It was so beneficial to take time to listen to what God had in store for us instead of just doing what we think is best.
Turn off all distractions…tv, radio, computer.
My son is only 6 months old, he is my first child so this is all new. However, I think it is a great idea to plan in fact I love to plan (i know sounds corny) I love to feel organized the only problem with me is that if I am planning a vacation even just a day at Grandma’s I seem to bring everything including the kitchen sink. I don’t want to forget a thing that we might need.
The best planning tip I try to share with others is to have relational power in the home. Everyone has a voice and there is a safe time to voice any concerns or issues without fear of punishment or retribution. Most of the time I do the majority of the basic household planning then offer some flexibility (like additions to the menus or what they’d like to eat more of), but we also discuss homeschooling, dad’s work schedule (he works two jobs so sometimes the little one “misses daddy”), and family activities and financial goals (like saving for vacation or understanding that we need to turn off lights to save electricity). This is a great giveaway good luck to everyone.
My family does not plan well….but when we do, we make a list of things we need to accomplish to achieve the goals we want to reach. We decide what is most important and start with that first…..then we assign each family member the tasks they are able to complete or help with. It helps when everyone is working for the same goal, you don’t get sidetracked as often.
Thanks for the offer! My planning tip is to talk about things at a designated time, but to keep a list of things to talk about then as you think about them. Sometimes I can even shoot hubby an email with a list – and then a “can we set a time to talk about these things in the next few days?”
Corrie
I’ve found over the years that just as important as the plan, is the integration of the plan and the regular review of the plan. It is “easy” to plan, but without really clear personal action steps and regular times to review it, it goes to waste.
Thanks for the Purposeful planning link! It is great!
Great giveaway! I make a to-do list everyday. What doesn’t get accomplished on one day goes to the top of the next day’s list. That way, I am not procrastinating certain undesirable errands indefinately!
I hope I”m not too late to enter the giveaway contest. I really could use this resource. Lately I feel like I’m drowning in my life, and I really could use some planning assistance!
I usually create a dinner/game night. As we are eating we discuss future plans. Before the game we jot down our ideas. Then we play as a family.
Planning tip: Unplug the phone, turn off cell phones! Let your friends/family know ahead of time not to disturb you doing the time you’ve set aside for this.
We have been fasting and praying through January to get a new direction for our family, with my husband traveling a lot we want to see a new horizon in our family’s future. This is our best tip for planning.