on the right foot

So I'm prepping for 2012 as a whole and trying to start it off on the right foot by being organized.  My first stop on the organization train is the calendar and I'm not settling for no boring calendar!;)

I think Paper Source has the best wall calendars- other than handmade letterpress ones you have to order from Etsy.  I usually go for the monster one...

But to be honest this is our family calendar that hangs in the kitchen and it doesn't get nearly the use that my personal or office calendar does so I saved $10 and went with a reasonably sized but even cuter one...

Love the pattern and typography!  I think my favorite months are,

Now that that's settled and I am admittedly so old school and must have a personal calendar that I carry in my purse- I just can't submit to the technology- paper it is.

This is such an important tool for me and I'm very picky about the layout so several years ago I put together my own template, I just tweak it every year and I still love it.

 

Each month is a different color combo, there is room to actually write something on each day and extra room on the back of each month...

I printed these off last night, cut each page in half, circa punched and clicked into my Circa notebook.  If you haven't heard of Circa it's a Levenger product that is awesome- you gotta check it out.

The best part about the Circa system is the rings that hold the pages together so you can take the pages in and out- better than a binder and more forgiving than a spiral or bound note book.  I love this system!

There are also lots of different colors and sizes of the rings to choose from and other organizational accessories to add some color and fun.  If you are interested in trying it there is a Circa starter kit that is great to start with (I use the junior) but remember that to put your own pages in you must get one of the special circa hole punches.

So to help you out with starting the year off on the right foot here is a PDF of my calendar (the font which is Civilian and can be download for free is preserved) and here is the original calendar file (which is powerpoint- strange I know) if you'd like to change the font or colors.  Just make sure to print this duplex, landscape with "long side stapling- left side". 

Happy organizing!