Changes!

I would like to announce some changes that will be going on here on It's a Boy's Life!

For the past 5 years, I have written here about our homeschooling and life adventures, but in the more recent months I have been posting more and more about garden and homesteading topics. I have decided to create new site dedicated solely to those topics.

So let me introduce:

You will now find all my articles on gardening, homesteading, farming and fresh eating on my new site The Free Range Life!

If you enjoy my recipes using garden fresh ingredients like:

Or my Homesteading posts like:

You will now find them on The Free Range Life. This blog, It's a Boy's Life, will still be updated with homeschooling and personal posts. So if you are a friend, family, homeschooler or just want to keep up with what my family is doing I hope continue to read here.

If you are interested in learning more about gardening, homesteading and using all that fresh produce, I hope you will join and follow me on The Free Range Life (email and RSS available or add me to your blog reader!) If you already follow me via Pinterest, Google+ or Twitter you won't have to make any changes, but if you follow through Facebook head on over and like The Free Range Life on Facebook so you won't miss anything!

Printable Blog Planner Review

In the past my blog planning consisted of whatever happened to be in my head at the current moment. On a good day I might have a few posts scratched out in a random notebook somewhere. For the most part it worked, but I tended to get into trouble with posts that were a little more time sensitive- such as reviewing items for companies. So keeping track of all my blog-related stuff in one place started to sound like a good idea.

Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations  has created a a 60 page printable blog planner that has all the necessary parts to be totally organized. It's got month-at-glance pages, weekly post tracking pages that include social media reminders, lots of extras to keep track of all the little parts of blogging and plenty of room to make notes and ideas.

I'll be honest, making changes is hard. I had to constantly remind myself that using a planner was a better idea than scratching random notes or relying on my memory. But after using the planner for a few weeks I can see definite improvements.

What I liked most:

• I really liked the extra pages included in the planner such as those to keep track of weekly blog hops and twitter hashtags. There are so many of those to remember that no one can keep them all straight!
• The Stats tracking page. I have never written down any stats and usually only check them sporadically, but writing them down and seeing progress is a definite push to work harder.
• The full month-at-a-glance calender. I tend to post in spurts, which is something I have wanted to change. So when I see that I might post 4 times in a week and then not again for another week and a half, I am more likely to take steps to spread the posts out. It's also a gentle reminder to get writing if you haven't posted in awhile. 
• The social media reminders. Social media is big right now and it's a lot to keep track of, so being able  to check off all the places as you share your posts is great. 

Was there anything that didn't work for me? Of course. Everyone's organizational style is different, so there were a few things I would change if I were making my own planner. But overall, this planner is just what I needed to get more organized. I will note that this planner might not work really well if you are just starting out in the blog world as it might be a little overwhelming at the very beginning, but once you've gotten your blogging-feet wet, this planner would be just perfect.

If you'd like to get your own planner, visit  Homeschool Creations to download it today. It's free!

Want to know what other bloggers think about this planner or the many other available planners? Visit Mosaic Reviews to see more!