I have been quite happy in my new format of planner. I’ll have to tell you more about that later. Today I am just going to explain how I am breaking down this entire week in my planner to be able to keep up with the holiday meal coming Thursday.

Under normal circumstances, I sit down Sunday evening, or Monday morning, and make a list of everything I need to accomplish during the week…and I work off of this master list for the week, pulling tasks out for each day as I come to them (the days, not the tasks).

This week, I decided I wanted to be a great deal more clear and concise. I brain-dumped all my tasks out, planned out a menu for us, decided what was most important … and that is where I started breaking down my tasks.

For each day this week, I have two journaling cards or tip-ins. On one card is tasks for meal prep to be certain I have everything I need ready, made, or whatever for Thursday. I have a tendency with holiday meals to get up the morning of, work my butt off, and still not have everything done at the same time.

On the other card, I have a series of to-do items. For example, water the plants–clean out the fish tanks–fill the bird feeders–and so on and so forth. In case you are wondering, today I made three batches of cookies–the doughs only so they can sit in the refrigerator overnight and let the flavors mingle and mellow about.

The thing is–this has been an amazing process. I don’t have to think or worry or anything. I grab my little cards. I do what I have written and then I move on to the next task–or in my case, I normally have to rest between tasks, but I got everything complete with plenty of time leftover to catch my breath before bed.

It’s been terrific. I may have to continue this process, perhaps with the to-do tip-in only every day. What about you? How ar you conquering all the chaos and madness of the season in your planner?

Let me know in the comments below.