Dodo Perennial Wall Planner

This is not on my huge list of products yet to review, but I had to pop this in here today, because it's working so well for me: the Dodo Perennial Wall Planner.

First, a reminder: I am affiliated with Dodo Pad, but I am not a representative of Dodo Pad. So, what I say about the products is just my own personal opinion.

The other day my husband and I were stressing out a little bit about our international move later this summer. We are starting to narrow down the details of our destination (still somewhat up in the air), and are realizing everything we have to do before the move. We have paperwork, deadlines, packing out, selling our cars--loads of things to plan for. We were starting to feel a little overwhelmed trying to keep track of what we need to do and when.

Then I had a lightbulb-moment and realized I already have the perfect thing to help us keep track of all this: the Dodo Perennial Wall Planner, which was very kindly given to me as a sample from Dodo Pad. I busted it out and got it up on the wall right away.

As with all Dodo Pad products, the wall planner is full of art and quirky humor. There are even some pictures of Lord Dodo in his youth! My favorite quote on the planner is, "Warning - dates on this calendar are closer than they appear."

But again as with all Dodo Pad products, once you start actually using the planner you realize its extreme functionality. The planner has all the months of the year with the dates marked, and a space for each day that is large enough to write in events and notes.

But the most remarkable thing about the planner is how you can fold it to show only the months you need. The format of the months, and the strategically placed pinholes on the edges, allow you to fold the planner to focus on your particular time frame. For example, I have mine folded to show only May-December. You can see two, four or eight months at a time, or the entire year. It's up to you.

The wall planner comes with a wipe-off pen, but I use my own dry-erase pens because I like to use different colors for birthdays, travel, holidays and deadlines.

As soon as I got the wall planner up and started writing in deadlines, I started feeling much better, like I've got a handle on what needs to be done and when.

And a completely unexpected thing happened: my husband loves it.

You have to understand, my husband is not a planner person. He is extremely tolerant of my planner obsession, but he doesn't even use a planner! (*collective gasp*) At work he has to use Outlook, because that's how everyone schedules meetings. And admittedly, he does rely on my planning prowess to keep dates straight. Otherwise, he just keeps everything in his head.

But as soon as we started writing in our dates on the wall planner, he said how great it is to see everything long-range. He said even a monthly calendar doesn't give him enough of a long-range view, and he likes to see everything that's coming up all year so he can plan ahead. Wow! Have I created a planner convert??