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I am a big planner, and by planner I mean a schedule nut.  I have multiple paper planners and calendars – yes PAPER – to keep all of our family activities and schedules together and organized.  This school year is going to be a lot different than the past years and honestly I am a little worried at how I am going to keep it all together.  We will be diving into a world of two different schools with two different schedules.

To try to combat this whole new venture I decided that we needed some kind of family calendar that everyone can see and read.  Now that Jude and Teagan are older and can both read I believe it will only make this school year easier to display our plans in a central place.  Don’t worry folks, I will still have my multiple paper planners as well.  Planner addict here!

A central area in our home is the kitchen.  Our home is not a large home so we do not have much space for one of those fancy family command centers so I decided I had to come up with something that was useful, colorful and that could fit in a small space.  When I was doing dishes one night it came to me.  I just needed a few crafty items and a cookie sheet!

Create A Family Calendar Using A Cookie Sheet

My family calendar would be a magnetic command center that would simply stay on our refrigerator for everyone to see when they walk into the kitchen.  I am so happy with this simple DIY tutorial but even more happy with the fun FriXion ColorSticks from Pilot Pen that make our calendar super colorful and easy to manage.

Materials Needed:

Large cookie sheet
Wide magnetic tape
Paper calendar – size needs to be small enough to fit on your cookie sheet
Small magnets
Stickers
Sticky notes
Pilot Pen FriXion pens

Directions:

1. I bought my cookie sheet brand new but if you are using a used one, make sure the cookie sheet is clean and dry.

2. Place 2-3 long strips of magnetic tape to the back of the cookie sheet.

3. Cut calendar to fit to your cookie sheet.

4. Using small magnets secure your calendar to the cookie sheet.  I found some simple “dot” magnets to do this with.  They add a little more color to my calendar which I love.

5.  I also decided to keep some space on the cookie sheet to add other notes and magnets for monthly reminders and lists.

6. Secure cookie sheet to your refrigerator and start using the FriXion pens to get planning!

Turned out pretty adorable right?  Simple but so useful and convenient for our monthly view.  I decided that finding a good gel pen that writes smoothly was a must but when I saw that the FriXion pens were also erasable I was so excited.  Let’s be honest, my calendar looks nice right now but as the month begins you know there will be additions and changes which is why the ability to erase the pens is so important.   FriXion is the only pen that gives you the power of infinite do-overs, so you can write, erase and schedule again until your calendar is perfect.

Now that we have put our calendar up on the refrigerator the kids are able to see exactly what is going on in the future.  I cannot wait to see how this helps us as we need to balance the crazy schedules of school and activities in just a few weeks.  My kids are planners like me, they want to know what their day will look like and now they can be a bit more independent and check out our schedule and have confidence in what their day, week and month looks like.

I simply keep my FriXion pens on the lip of the cookie sheet and then also keep a small basket of sticky notes and stickers on top of the refrigerator.  Having these items on hand right by the calendar helps me continue the process of staying organized on our cookie sheet family calendar.

If you are looking for fun, colorful, and erasable smooth writing gel pens you must pick up some of these FriXion pens.  I found mine in the back to school section at Walmart but I also noticed that they had some in the office aisle.

What are your tips for keeping busy schedules organized as the school year begins?