You don’t know what you don’t know. It was nice to have a sort of outline to do something so important without knowledge. I knew a lot from research but having it in one place definitely helped me feel more confident and less anxious because I felt I was doing my due diligence. I got the $35 basic divorce guide. Thank you Jen!
I love that it gave me the encouragement and confidence to begin to take hold of this process. I felt like having the printouts was powerful for me and gave me strength to print out and pursue getting all the documents you suggested in the files in one place. I think it also helps me be more organized and show my lawyer that while I am a stay at home homeschool mom I am also smart organized, capable and a good cause to get behind because I have vision for my family and the ability to carry out that vision.
In my case, I needed a 2 inch binder to hold all my petitions, statements and such. I would recommend printing out all financial transactions for the entire preceeding year to help with budget and to help correct any financial mistakes on the part of the opposing spouse.
My only suggestions would be to define some terms in the binder that will be encountered by a person who has no experience with divorce and may be scared of some of the ideas or terms. Like guardian ad litem, dissolution, pleading, petition, petitioner/respondent, etc? And creating pages for homeschool parents. I find myself having to prove that homeschool is a viable and good option for my children and wonder if it would be appropriate to include that in your binder.
I am near the end of my divorce and would have loved this in the beginning as a way to get organized. I have used it to write down names, numbers, and questions and thoughts. I keep it with my divorce folder that has all of my stuff in it. Like I said, I wish I would have had this in the beginning of my divorce to get organized but it has helped me by keeping everything in one place.
I believe this is really helpful to those who are not very organized or is terrified where to start with looking after paper works. The layout and design also gives life and perk-me-up vs the really dark world of divorce. Although tears, memories, broken hearts and broken hearts accompanies writing on those sheets, they still somehow reminds us that we are a woman, deserving beautiful things. Never mind the cold, black and white court documents that until now is sitting on my desk, waiting for me to get the next courage to finish filling them out.
I loved the idea of writing down what is important to me and while I didn't physically write anything down I did find the inclusion of the idea enough to get me thinking about what I want versus need after my divorce.
I have to give a huge shout out to Jen for creating this toolkit! It is amazing and so helpful. I am 3 years post-divorce, so you would think I don't need this. However, due to my ex's issues, we have had to go to court again over child support and placement, so having these kits to help create a binder has been a LIFESAVER! All my documents - organized. Visitation and any issues surrounding that - documented and filed. Any payments received - registered and filed. Thank you, thank you, thank you Jen! I appreciate all that you do. I must say, it also looks very professional to have everything neatly organized and filed so that when I go talk to my lawyer or need to present documentation in court, I am seen as a mom who takes this seriously (instead of a mom who has to waste time trying to find documents in a very unorganized bag or folder). If you are considering this bundle, you won't be disappointed.
Hope this shows as many stars that are in the sky! For those of you reading this, I will share only what I can. I have been legally separated for years. My STBEx (hopefully this year) literally threw the separation papers at me while our children were young. Yes, it was a big surprise he had planned he said for 3 years. I am a woman of Faith, Churchgoer and I was more active serving in the Church until I had to stop giving all my "free time" both to the schools and serving so much while working more than a full-time job taking care of the house and now teenagers without help from any family or real friends since I did not make time for myself. I did attend DivoreCare years ago that helped back then but I needed more. I finally found help with JenGrice.com! I didn't get this kinda of help from my Therapist (who is awesome) or my Church (that I do love).
I purchased the bundle and Jen's new book, and they are very inexpensive and very much worth more than the price! I have printed all the documents and I love the color; it's my new "Dawn" color!? (Sea foam blue) and I purchased plastic totes with matching lids and picture frames for the self care printables to match the color of the butterfly!? I have printed out everything and put them in protective sleeves into my binders and tabs. I've been following along on YouTube as well. I have PTSD and my coping skills for my ADHD are not working very well for me these days so I needed these printables more than anybody can imagine to help me organize! I look at the Scriptures, The Self-Care List and the verse cards almost every day! I know all these wonderful printables and words of wisdom blogs are going to help me and my children, and for that I appreciate all that you do for us!
I am working on being an "emotionally strong woman" of faith! I am a "work in progress"???? I now understand the scriptures better and can follow along at Church and at Women's conferences better as well!