As a mom how many hats do you feel you wear? How many obligations and tasks are you trying to manage in any given day? Have you been able to find the ultimate planner that adequately helps you stay organized?
I’ll go first. I’m a married mom to three busy teens, active in school and sports. I’m the owner and founder of Jersey Family Fun. I substitute teach. I love to volunteer and I enjoy going places and doing things. I’ve never been able to find a planner that can help me keep track of all I need and want to do.
That is until now.
I found the ultimate planner for moms (like me) that have too much to do. Or rather I created my ultimate planner with PurpleTrail.
About PurpleTrail
PurpleTrail is your one-stop shop for customized stationery. With a focus on personalization, PurpleTrail offers high-quality, fully customizable paper products that can’t be beat.
Justina, PurpleTrail
From daily planners and recipe binders to wedding guest books and party banners, PurpleTrail has your unique planning and event needs covered. With a dedicated staff of graphic designers, customer service representatives, and production associates, PurpleTrail happily offers assistance in the creation of your ideal organization tool, that special one-of-a-kind gift, and even making your dream wedding come true. Browse through our collection of modifiable planners, guest books, stationery sets, posters, and more to find the perfect paper products that match your needs!
About my partnership with PurpleTrail
I was invited to create my own custom mom planner with PurpleTrail before the holidays. I loved the idea of being able to customize a planner but I was also worried the process would be overwhelming. I procrastinated.
Then January came and just like most of us I was extra motivated to get organized for 2022. I reached out to PurpleTrail to see if we could still work together. They agreed.
I created a custom planner, at no charge, and I agreed to share my experience with my readers in return. Let me tell you when that box came with my shipment, it was like Christmas day. I was so giddy to open it up and see my own planner created by me for me. I ran around the house showing everyone in my family.
Floral Teach Love Inspire Homeschool Planner
My family didn’t get it. I’m a lone female in a house of males they had no appreciation for how truly special my planner was. (lol) But my girlfriends understood and every female I’ve shown my planner to gets it. They urged me to hurry up and write about my experience because they can’t wait to hear more and get their own mom planners through PurpleTrail. (We have a discount code to help you save on PurpleTrail planners at the end of this feature.)
I have been so thrilled with my PurpleTrail planner and the customer service, that I joined their affiliate program. If you decide that you too MUST HAVE a PurpleTrail planner and you use our link, we’ll earn a small commission.
PurpleTrail Planners
Just as PurpleTrail offers personalized and custom cards, gifts, and stationery for every occasion so to is the case with planners.
What kind of planners does PurpleTrail offer
You don’t need to be a mom to appreciate or use a PurpleTrail planner. They have planners, you can customize for nearly every lifestyle or major life event.
- Everyday Planners
- Daily layouts: one or two pages per day
- Weekly layouts: two pages per week
- Monthly layout: two pages per month
- Custom layout: create your own weekly layout
- Lifestyle Planners
- Academic Planners
- Business Planners
- Content Planners
- Hair Stylist Planners
- Real Estate Planners
- Life Event Planners
- Custom Planners
- Printable Planners
PurpleTrail planners come in three sizes (6×8, 8.5×11, 4×6), with three cover options (hard, laminate or synthetic).
What makes PurpleTrail planners for moms different than other planners? What makes them the ultimate planners?
For me, PurpleTrail is different from any other planner I’ve seen because of the level of customization they offer customers. There are endless combinations for day/week/month pages, add-on choices, covers, and more. That level of customization is exactly what I needed.
Add On Pages for your Ultimate Planner
Choosing the add on pages for my PurpleTrail planner was one of my favorite parts to creating my custom planner, but it was difficult too. I love, love, love all the options they had, but there is a limit to how many pages you can have with a planner. I had a hard time narrowing down the choices to the ones I wanted. You’ll see later in this feature which ones I picked.
These are add-on pages that can be added at the end of your planner. They come in sets of 24 pages. In coil-bound books they are separated from the other pages with a divider tab page.
- List & Notes
- Notes Paper
- To Do List
- Password List
- Check List
- Graph Paper
- Dotted Grid
- Lifestyle
- Fitness Tracker
- Nutrition Tracker
- Travel Itinerary
- Shopping List
- Habit Tracker
- Party Planner
- Home & Family
- Bill Tracker
- Important Dates
- Address Book
- Baby Tracker & Keepsake
- Account Tracker
- Appointment Tracker
- Baby Log
- Education
- My Classroom
- Student Check-list
- Puzzle & Games
- Puzzle & Games 2
- Lesson Plan
- Seating Chart
- Reading Log
- Field Trips
- Unit Plan
- Student Resources
- Direct Sales Party
These are add on pages that are added to the end of a month. 1 page is added for each month.
- Distributed
- Distributed Account Tracker
- Distributed Bill Tracker
- Distributed Check List
- Distributed Dotted Grid
- Distributed Fitness Tracker
- Distributed Graph Paper
- Distributed Notes Paper
- Distributed Student Check-list
- Distributed To Do List
- Distributed Shopping List
- Distributed Habit Tracker
- Distributed Reading Log
- Distributed Field Trips
- Distributed Unit Plan
- Distributed Baby Log
Other Calendar Accessories
If you’re a mom who loves stickers and other accessories for your planner, PurpleTrail has you covered with a variety of sticker themes and packages. Check out all the ways you can accessorize your mom planner.
- Planner Stickers
- Bookmarks
- Pens & Accessories
- Stationery Sets
- Notecards
- Notepads
- Personalized Thank You Cards
- Letter Writing Paper
- Pocket Folder
Creating my Ultimate Custom Mom Planner with PurpleTrail
You may be wondering just how much can you customize your mom planner with PurpleTrail. Allow me to share with you my experience, what was possible, and what I did.
Personalized Cover Pages
When you create a planner with PurpleTrail you start by selecting the type of planner you want. I chose daily & weekly. Then, you pick a cover. There were LOTS to choose from. Don’t get overwhelmed. Start with the one you like. You can always change your mind later. You can customize the front cover, back cover, and inside covers.
You’ll also select the cover type you want: synthetic, laminate, or hard cover.
How I customized my front cover of my mom planner
I selected the Modern Color Photo Grid Daily Planner, 8.5″ x 11′ planner with a laminated cover. It was available in 4 colors or you can select a different color from the color palette. I chose purple.
From there, I changed the name to my first and last name ‘Jenn Auer.’ I felt it looked better than Jennifer. Quick tip–> Adding a space between each letter seems to make it appear better across the cover.
For my phrase, I added, “With God all things are possible.” It’s a phrase that just seems to speak to me.
I made each photo box a photo of one of my sons and the last one a family photo.
Instead of an initial for the top right corner, I chose the affirmation ‘Choose Joy’. Another quick tip, spell check your writing. The PurpleTrail software does not have a spell check feature and I’m embarrassed to say on my first attempt to order a planner I had a misspelling.
How I customized my back cover of my mom planner
I kept things simple on the back cover. I replaced their two photos in the photo rectangles with two family photos.
How I customized the inside covers of my mom planner
The inside cover pages are blank with a colored background that matches your chosen color theme. You can add photos, artwork, text, and shape to them. In my Purple Trail mom planner on the inside cover, I created a starburst by overlapping stars. I added a picture of my husband and me to the center of that star.
I left the inside back cover plain.
Monthly, Week, Day Pages
Depending on what type of planner you select will determine which pages you can customize. Since I was starting with a daily planner there were no pages to create for months or weeks. The months were divided in my planner with a divider page that listed the month on the tab. Each month section started with a
- a blanked dotted page, use it for notes, drawings, stickers, etc.
- 1 page for noting birthdays, events, and things to remember
- 2 page spread to see the entire month at a glance with a column for notes
At the end of the month is a page for notes.
Custom Inside Pages for your Ultimate Planner
You can certainly choose one of the standard pages for your mom planner, but what makes PurpleTrail special is the ability to create custom pages. Creating those custom inside planner pages is where I spent most of my creative planning time. It was important to me that there was space for each of my ‘hats’, daily obligations, and goals. It’s what makes me feel this is the ultimate in mom planners or any planners for that matter.
Custom Inside Page Options
If you are customizing the inside pages, you have 3 options to start with.
- Weekly Custom
- 1 page/day Custom
- 2 pages/day Custom
I selected the 2 pages per day option.
Quick note about the custom planners with Purple Trail
Planners will vary in length depending on the option you go with. In other words, you can order a planner to cover a year’s term, but your planner may fit in one book/binder or it may be spread out over a few book/planners.
- Weekly planners can accomodate 12 months at a time.
- 1 page per day planners can accommodate 6 months at a time.
- 2 pages per day planners can accommodate 3 months at a time.
You can choose any date to start your planner. So no more paying for months you don’t need. Since I ordered the 2 pages per day for a 6 month span of time, my planner came in 2 parts: one book for February through April, another for May through July.
How I customized the inside pages of my PurpleTrail Mom Planner
With the 2 pages per day, there were 18 templates to choose from: teacher pages, student pages, family pages, pages with different color themes, and more. I picked the Cactus Watercolor 2 Pages Per Day 8.5×11 Custom Inside Page to customize.
As you can see from above that page template includes
- Rows for a daily schedule from 6 am to 9 pm.
- A colored box for things to remember
- A colored box for Inspirations
- A colored box for family
- A checklist box
- A box with rows for home
- A section for notes
- Graphics of cactus
Here’s how I changed up and customized the mom planner to make it perfect for me.
- I added their water intake image to the top of my daily schedule to track my water intake.
- I changed the ‘Inspirations’ section to a ‘Fitness Planner’. I needed a space to make sure I was setting a daily fitness goal and could hold myself accountable. I searched their fitness graphics and was able to add the “Excuses don’t burn calories” image.
- I retitled the ‘Home’ box to ‘Home and Family Goals’. I’ll use this box to schedule what ‘mom’ tasks I want to accomplish for the day like grocery shopping, phone calls I need to make, bills that need to be paid.
- I added the words ‘Dinner Plan’ to the bottom row of the ‘Home and Family Goals’ to encourage me to meal plan. It’s definitely working. No more ‘What are we going to have for dinner?’
- I renamed the ‘Family’ box to ‘Jersey Family Fun Goals’. I added lines. This is my space to priortize my tasks and projects for each day of Jersey Family Fun work. It’s helping to keep me from putting too much on my ‘work’ plate in any given day.
I divided the notes section up into multiple boxes to make the 2 page layout more functional and useful for me. On the right side, I created three boxes, one for each son. I’ll use these boxes to track what sport/activity each kid has, forms that need to be completed for them, or other items that are specific to just one kid.
At the bottom of the left side of notes, I created an additional box called ‘Substitute Teaching.’ I was even able to add the iconic teacher apple image. I’m using this box to track my substitute teacher assignments and notes related to where I am subbing on any given day.
Right above that, I added a section for birthdays and anniversaries. I added a cute image of a cake from the PurpleTrail image library.
I did leave a small section for notes. With all the other dedicated sections on the 2 page layout I didn’t feel like I needed much more room for notes.
My add on pages
I chose 4 add on pages: fitness tracker, travel, address book, and appointment to be added to the end of my custom mom planner. I also added on the pocket folder to store those important papers like appointment cards, permission slips, lab scripts, forms, and more.
Fitness Tracker Pages
Trying to get on a fitness plan? Need a way to hold yourself accountable or track your progress? I did. I added on the fitness tracker pages so I can track my progress. I like that there’s a variety of ways you can monitor how you’re doing. It’s not all about the scale. These pages are great for someone like me that needs to see things on paper, but doesn’t want to track my fitness in another journal. Everything’s in one place.
Travel Itinerary Pages
Again for me, as I designed my ultimate custom mom planner, it was all about having everything in one place. These travel itinerary pages help me save time and stay organized. I don’t need to print a new packing checklist with every trip because I already have 12 in my planner.
With boxes for all the travel details, I don’t need to keep checking my email folders, again and again, for the particulars around a trip. They are all in one place.
Those additional spaces for places to eat and attractions, love it. It reminds me to think ahead of time about these kinds of activities, rather than stressing in the moment and trying to Google what there is to do and where to go to eat.
Address Book Pages
My current address book is a bit outdated so I added in the address book pages so I could always have important addresses (home and email) whenever I needed them. As a mom who is also running a business, these pages help me track the businesses and people I do business with like our payroll company, tax accountant, lawyers, employees, subcontractors, and more.
A teacher could use these address book pages to have easy access to students’ addresses. A troop leader could use it to manage the contact information for members of their troop.
Appointment Tracker Pages
Do the kids need to see the dentist? Are you overdue for a mammogram? Does your partner need a well visit? When was the last time someone had an appointment with this doctor or that? These are the questions I often find myself thinking about.
Scrolling through past calendar pages to find this information was always very time consuming. Now, with the appointment tracker pages I can easily find the answers I need. With 4 other people to keep track of as well as doctors for myself, these pages help me manage it all.
How long does it take to create the ultimate custom planner with PurpleTrail planners?
You could spend less than an hour to a few hours creating your custom mom planner with PurpleTrail. It all depends on the level of customization you want. You also don’t have to create it all at one time. PurpleTrail lets designers save their progress as they work.
You can also save various page designs and swap in and out designs to see which one you prefer.
To save time, I would recommend gathering the pictures you would like to use all into one folder on your computer or device. You’ll want photos with a decent resolution or image size. If it’s too low there will be an icon to warn you that the pictures may not come out clear.
How long does it take to receive a PurpleTrail custom planner?
A standard order takes up to 3 business days to process – meaning, once an order is placed, the customer service and production team have 3 days to create the order and get it out the door.
Once your ultimate planner leaves our facility, it’s usually 3 to 5 business days in transit visit USPS. At the most, it’d be 6 to 8 business for an order to arrive to a customer, but during our slower seasons, it’s much quicker.
PurpleTrail also offers a rush processing option for an additional cost, which means your order will ship the same day it’s placed.
Final thoughts on PurpleTrail Planners
I love my Purple Trail planner. It is more expensive than other planners I’ve used (we have a discount code for you), but it’s been completely worth it. Pricing will vary by person depending on what options you choose. But honestly, I’ve seen expensive planners on the shelves at office supply stores, and they can’t match what my custom PurpleTrail planner has. That’s why I think it truly is the ultimate planner.
For the first time ever, I feel like I have a tool that will help me manage all the things I have to manage. I love that because my planner came in 3-month books, I can recustomize it as my needs change. During the summer months, I can replace the substitute teaching box with a box dedicated to reminding me to get outdoors or do something fun and free with the kids in New Jersey. If I take another long-term sub position I can add in teacher pages.
I feel like I have the potential to be more organized than I’ve ever been. I’m still working on developing the habits to use the planner to its full potential, using the spaces I created to track what I want to track. But I can’t tell you the peace of mind it gives me to have a PurpleTrail planner that has spots and pages for everything. To know I can look to this planner to stay on course, to reach my goals, and to not forget anything, that’s priceless.
Order Your Ultimate Planner
Whether you need the ultimate planner for your mom life, your kids for their student/academic life, a friend whose expecting or planning a wedding, I truly feel you are going to love customizing a planner that’s perfect.
Save Money on Your Custom Ultimate Planner with our PurpleTrail promo code
Jersey Family Fun readers can now save 15% on their orders. Whether you order a planner, custom cards, or invitations you can save. Our PurpleTrail promo code is ONLY good through April 8, 2022! Enter the promo code JFF15 at checkout to receive 15% off your entire order. Head to the PurpleTrail site (https://bit.ly/ptplanners) now and get started.