A Review of Amy Knapp’s Family Organizer

Last year, after forgetting about numerous appointments and due dates for bills, I decided to shell out the bucks and buy a REAL organizer notebook. The sticky notes plastered all over my computer and desk just weren’t cutting it. I came to the realization that if I didn’t PAY for a good organizer that I liked enough to USE every day, I’d be doomed to a life of apologizing to orthodontists and credit card companies… not a pleasant thought, lol.

So anyway, while looking for organizers at Staples, I found this nice one. It’s Amy Knapp’s Family Organizer. It was wrapped in plastic so I couldn’t leaf through it, but it looked suitable. I took the chance and bought it- it cost me $15!!! Kind of pricey- it had better be worth it.

My review: it’s OK.

I really like the monthly pages. The book is small enough not to be a desk hog, but the monthly squares are just large enough for me to record my appointments, due dates, and other diary events.

The rest of the organizer is not much use to me. It has various formats to display each month, including by week. I tried this out for a while, but I really prefer the monthly view, so I can view everything at a glance.

You can see that the sides have handy lines for lists like To Do, Grocery, Menu. These are perforated, so you can easily remove them from the book if need be. And the back of the organizer has other stuff, like places to keep telephone numbers, websites, a family budget planner, and a “notes” section with more lined lists. I didn’t have any use for these. So $15 was still kind of pricey for something like this. All I need is a basic monthly calendar with large enough squares, in a book form small enough to not eat up my desk space.

Still, this organizer is well-made- the perforations were never too loose (like some cheapo books are these days). The paper stock is stiff and holds up to lots of use. And the spiral bound construction is fantastic. I think the book is very well constructed and therefore could handle a lot more use than I am giving it. The only suggestion I would give is to make tabs for the sides (or include them as stickers, as I did with mine) for every month. When I had to jump from month to month, it was arduous to flip-flip-flip through the pages just to get to the next month. I added some of my own sticky tabs to make it easier for me.

Super-busy moms will probably love this organizer. I visited the Amy Knapp website, and there are a ton of other really neat organizers (but the prices are up there). The two that really appealed to me were the larger 8 x 10 monthly organizer called the Big Grid Family Organizer (with just squares for months, as I like them), and another online, digital organizer (the inFocus Digital Organizer) that is really neat. I downloaded the free trial and am trying it out- but the service is very pricey, costing $30 per year, so I’m not likely to subscribe. Overall, I think the Amy Knapp Family Organizer is OK. I think the product line is reliable and I am definitely going to try out the Big Grid larger organizer. They also have organizers for homeschoolers, etc, so it’s a very diverse line of products.