The Visiting Teaching Message for January is about self-reliance. Since January is also the month of resolutions, I made a little goal planner intended to help us think about the ways in which we can improve our self-reliance. The nice thing about the size of this little planner is that it fits into a pocket or a purse so nicely, which makes it easy to take out and ponder from time to time.
The planner is made from one sheet of folded paper. No glue or adhesive is required.
Begin by folding the paper in half the long way, and making a sharp crease. (The vertical creases you see in the photo are coming up.)
Open the paper flat, then fold the paper with the short sides meeting.
Then take one layer of paper, flip the edge back to meet the fold, and crease.
Turn the paper over, flip the edge of the paper back to meet the fold, and crease.
Your paper now looks like this.
Place the paper on the table so that you see a W when you look at the end.
Cut the center of the W along the center fold. You’ll be cutting through two layers of paper and stopping at the cross fold (This is marked with a dotted line on my downloaded file.)
Hold the center point of the W together on both sides so the cut middle section falls open. Let the backs of the planner pages meet each other. You will have an open book with 4 double-sided pages at this point.
Find the front page of the planner, and bring the remaining three sections to the back, so you have a flat book.
Crease everything down, and you have a nice little book to jot down a few ideas for becoming more self-reliant in all the areas mentioned in the visiting teaching message. (I make blank books like these all the time for my kids to draw in – they are lots of fun!)
You can download the file for the self-reliance planner here.
If you add anything to this idea as you visit teach this month, please share! I’d love to know what you do. 🙂
Love it Love it! So something seems wrong. You now have my old calling in primary and I am now the VT Coordinator and you have this great website giving me such fun ideas. You are doing all the work? Well OK I guess there are other thinsg I'm doing too but thanks for the inspiration. Also loved the pipe chimes sunday! Fun fun!
Thanks so much! I am, also the VT Coordinator and you always are giving us great ideas.
Love you.
Didi
Thank you so much for this timely, and fun idea!
I stapled a rubber band to the left side of the booklet so it would stay closed and neat in a purse. I thought about a ribbon, too, but decided we might not open it and use it as often if we had to tie the bow again!
Love the idea. Thank you!
Thank you! I just found you! I am so excited. I love handouts and yours are inspired. Your directions are so easy to follow. I did add a dab with a glue stick to the open corners… My companion and I have already made two of our visits and shared your little booklets with our sisters. They loved them and they sparked our discussion perfectly!
Thank you so much! I just found your site and it is wonderful. I made the litttle booklet and made a cover like the Oct. post it cover to put around it. I put brads on to hold the ribbon instead of glue. LOVE IT! Thanks!
Thank you so much, I love these little books. I am going VT today and I am going to give this book to them with a jar of potatos that I bottled in the fall. Thank you again!
THANK YOU for all your wonderful ideas and printables! You are amazing! Thanks again!
Thank you so much!! This goes perfectly with the message! I included your site on a tri-fold I made for our ward's VT conference. What an amazing resource! Keep up the great work and expect many blessings!
WOW!!! Thank you so much for sharing this great tip. I am SO excited to go visiting teaching this month and this handout is just making it so much better.
Thank you! These attractive, appropriate handouts are perfect for encouraging discussion, as well as for leaving with sisters who are not ready to visit with us. May you be blessed for your generosity of time and talents.
This was just what I needed this month. My campanion and I are both without a car so visits can't happen. I need something I could put into a card. This perfect! Thanks for sharing!
I found out about your blog from my mom yesterday and I am so excited to see the fun things you come up with. I appreciate it, because I have one sister that would really let us in but I can drop these off and hopefully start making some progress. THANKS!
Thanks for sharing your hard work and talents. Here I am on the last few days of the month 😉 Your directions were sooo helpful. If was fun to see this book transform from one sheet of paper. THANK YOU!! Going to make cookies to go with the booklet now 🙂
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Would you show us a video due to my bad English reading! Thank you! ^_^
This is the VT message this month too! (Almost 4 yrs later!). I’m so sharing this and the chocolate coin purse as part of our meetings. Thank you so much! I’m the YW president in our branch and this is great way to get our girls looking toward their future lives and responsibilities. Thank you!