Why I Do, But Don't Decorate My Planner

I got inspired for this post based off a Pinterest pin. A blogger wrote about why they don't decorate their planner. And that's all well and good for them. If it works for them, more power to 'em.

I do a little bit of both. I don't look at my planner as a hobby either, but sometimes I have very little to do, so I look at my planner as a means of alleviating boredom. This is my small planner. I have a larger pink planner, but I found it to be too large for my needs...I can't carry it around like I'd like to (though I can't really carry this around either...I need a new purse lol.

Example #1

Here I have two decorated pages in my planner. On this particular day I didn't have a whole lot to do, so I broke out some washi tape and decorated the edges of these pages. I found a flowers sticker and placed it on the badge on the left page, and drew a fishy on a sticky and put it on the badge on the right (because, I believe that day we got new fish). I try to put images in the badges of something that represents what we did that day (i.e. the fish). I also underlined the meal menu on both pages, just to liven it up a bit

In my planner I use different colors to represent the different people in my family. Dark blue I use for my husbands schedule, purple for mine, pink for my daughter, red for my oldest son (he loves red), and baby blue for my youngest son. Whenever there is some task or event that involves someone in the family I use the corresponding color and write it both in the calendar, and on the daily pages. If there's something that involves all my children, I use green, my dog and other household things, I use black.

Example #2

Here is an example of a day where I don't decorate. Here I had very little scheduled, but I did have to run errands for myself. As you can see, it's rather plain and boring. Not very exciting, not very motivating. That's probably one reason why I decorate my pages.



So, decorating ones planner doesn't necessarily have to be because it's a hobby that one eventually will get bored of. Decorating your planner can be a way of beating boredom...in the same way one doodles on a scrap piece of paper, one could decorate their planner...draw fancy borders, color code their book, make their book more interesting.

Planner

I'm taking a break from my usual craftiness to take on a new project. My life at times can have a LOT going on at one time, then have nothing happen for a few days.

I've taken on a new project and loving it. I've been looking for ways to keep track of the many numerous appointments and events my husband has regarding his health, as well as the ever growing school functions and trips my kids are getting, and my phone's calendar just wasn't cutting it. So I decided to invest in a planner (invest being the operative word, here).

I bought what's called a "Mom Planner". I tell ya, it was the cheapest planner I could get, at a whopping $40. I tried in vain to find a planner in the size I wanted for as little as I could find, but alas...$40 was as cheap as I could find. Note, I was rather particular about the kind of planner I wanted...it HAD to be a binder; not a spiral bound book. A spiral book just wasn't going to cut it for me. I have one and it's impractical for my needs (even if I tried sorting it to my desires...it just wasn't working). It also had to hold 5.5 x 8 pages.

This is my planner. The pages that came with it were 5.5 x 7.5, but half an inch isn't going cause too big of a problem as it still holds 5.5 x 8 pages which are perfect for me, because that means I can print off pages for years to come and not have to rely on buying refills (which saves me in the pocket-book). Besides that, I can customize my pages every year and be completely happy with how my book looks and functions (because lets face it, a pretty book that's not functional is just a waste of money).

But aside from what I require, I thought I'd share the inspiration for what keeps my book going. It's a YouTube channel called "My Planner". One video (well, two, actually) got me started. I knew what I wanted my planner to include, but didn't have any idea on how to organize it. This video and this video got me started and keep me going.

I started off by more or less copying her set up, and re-organizing and re-doing it to suit my needs. I must confess though, rather than paying for the daily pages she uses...I improvised my own pages using the ones she purchased as inspiration, and printed them off myself. I have it saved to my computer so I can keep printing off more pages as I need them. If you want the pages "My Planner" uses, here's the link. They're really cute.

One thing though, that comes with doing a planner like mine is the supplies I use:

As you can see, I'm slowly starting to become a planner addict lol. All of these items fit inside the black case on the top right. (You can click any of the pictures to enlarge for a better look)

I have 14 pens, 6 highlighters, 2 pencils, whiteout tape, index cards, washi tape, an eraser, paper clips, various flags, sticky notes, and divider tabs. Can you say "obsess much"? lol. You should see my desk!!

As you can see, all my items fit nicely inside my case. The case (I got from Walmart) is a makeup case, and where you would normally store your makeup brushes, my pens fit nicely. And there's a pocket on the lid to store even MORE pens lol.

Inside, all my other items are stored nice and "neatly". Under my pens is a zippered pocket that I use to store my scissors, hole punch and some spare pencil erasers.

Inside my planner is fairly standard. I have a pocket in front to store whatever loose papers I have (of which I have none at the moment lol). I have a small pack of post-it's on the bottom left, and some multicolored flags.

Here you can see my sections. There are five and are listed: Monthly Spread, Financial, Wellness, Lists and Miscellaneous. In my monthly spread it contains each months calendar, where I write out important appointments and events that are coming up. It also contains daily pages where I detail the smaller things I need to accomplish each day, like cutting the grass, shopping trips, remembering to do my walks, how much water I've drank, etc. alongside the appointments marked on the calendars. 

My financial section contains smaller calendars on which I write out how much money I've spent each day, as well as store coupons for shopping trips. 

Wellness involves all things health and related. I write down the exercises I've done for the day and how many active minutes I've done (as I have a "Fitbit" wristband). I was tracking what I ate during the day but it wasn't accomplishing much (lol) so I took those pages out.

My lists section holds all the lists I make (because I make a LOT of lists lol). I list everything from groceries, to special wish-lists, to items we need for various activities and household needs. 

My miscellaneous section holds stuff I have no place for. In there I have a sub-section on "camping" because we're planning on going camping soon, as well as a sub-section where I list future blog topics for my three blogs that I want to discuss at a later date. 

I'm so loving my planner. I will admit there are days where I completely neglect my book...only because those are the days where absolutely NOTHING happens lol. Sometimes I'm too lazy to even walk my treadmill lol. But for events and appointments that are coming in the future, it's great to have a hard copy (because I change cell phones once every two or three years). You never know when I might need to go back and find out when hubby had a medical appointment or issue at work that we need for reference. 

If you don't have a planner, I highly recommend getting one. I never really thought I'd need one, being a stay-at-home mom, but it wasn't until I got one that I realized I did.