A few things have prevented that. First, I'm incredibly grateful to be able to do this and that David is so supportive. Second, I chose to view my time at home as a job, meaning I don't feel aimless. Part of my job is playing with/taking care of Scotty, part of my job is maintaining the house and all that entails (hallelujah! that was so not a priority before) and part of my job is doing side-work and projects. 

The third big thing that helped was creating a daily schedule. I sat down and outlined my day, what I work on during each of her naps, what bigger chore I do daily, etc. I also wanted a calendar I could write our daily plans on so I could have events to look forward to. Smart phone calendars don't really show you what's going on in a glance and I'm not a fan of traditional wall calendars. 

I stumbled across the idea for a dry-erase wall calendar watching an Instagram story by Elise and was immediately excited. I went over to Pinterest and decided I couldn't find a calendar that fit exactly what I was looking for, but got some good ideas.

I like to-do lists, but I didn't want the calendar to be the place for that. I also want to see what dinner I scheduled for the day. And I wanted there to be a lot of room to write on each day. Eventually, I threw together what I was looking for in Illustrator, since it's pretty simple. 

If this is the format you're looking for too, you can download the PDF (it says "Our Family" not "The Hatch Family" on it) here. Or go on Pinterest and find a free download or create your own dry-erase calendar with tape or paint chips.

Printing Instructions:

1. Put the PDF on a flash drive

2. Go to Staples and tell them you'd like a 16 x 20" black and white engineering print and give them the flash drive.

3. Cut it to size & put it in the frame. Pick up wet-erase markers at Staples. Many people recommended wet over dry-erase and I can see why!! They are so much cleaner and they don't smudge. I just use a damp paper towel to wipe it down and it comes off so easily.

Cost: $25

$3(ish) for the print 

$22 for the frame. I bought this one at Hobby Lobby on sale. Obviously, it would have been more of a DIY to thrift and paint a frame. I've painted and re-purposed frames before but it's winter and we currently don't have use of our garage since it's on the rental side so... I took the easier route.

Or you can just get this one for less than $10 on Amazon and save yourself the work ;)



That's what works for me, what helps you stay organized?