I mentioned back in February that I had a paper planner for the first time in years and I was really enjoying it. It seems like a strange thing to say, that I am "enjoying" having a planner but I also get really excited when I find new organizing projects (hello under the sink mess!) so this makes sense for me.
I had a paper planner all through high school (provided by the school) and college (bought by me) to keep track of homework, tests, etc. When I worked full-time we had Day Timers, mostly to track our time (since it was billable) and occasionally I wrote down other things but mostly used my tasks list in Outlook for things that needed done.
That continued into my life post-work, where I've been using Swipes for years, to keep track of recurring chores and where I stick all kinds of reminders. It's always satisfying to end a cleaning session not just with a clean bathroom but to also get to swipe the task off for another week.
So why I thought I needed a paper planner, I'm not sure. Actually, I do know. I've been following Emily Ley for a couple years, since I first read Grace Not Perfection, and she sells a line of planners. They had a pretty one that was blue and had pineapples and there was a Black Friday sale and I like getting things for Christmas or my birthday that I wouldn't buy for myself. So, Matt gave me a Simplified Planner for Christmas (yes, I did order it myself and he never even opened the box before he wrapped it. That was my only Christmas gift I ordered myself. This year.)
I purposely keep my life pretty...not busy. If I have two commitments during the week, other than school runs, I consider it a busy week. This week I am going into work for a couple hours and getting a haircut. And we have to go to the grocery and will walk to the library. Those are the only times I will leave our house/yard, besides school runs, and it is a busy week. (Also maybe a few runs, family bike rides, and a family evening trip to Lowes but I mostly consider my daytime appointments when looking through the week.)
I have a pretty low standard for what I consider "busy". Do I need a planner to keep track of this? No. When out and about I use my phone's calendar to schedule appointments (barely a dozen a year) and then when I'm home I transfer to the paper calendar we have hanging in the kitchen. That's the master calendar but, again, there are plenty of days with nothing on them besides family birthdays. And that's just how I like it.
It still baffles me a little that I found use out of a paper planner.
What I like is that while there is space for each day to write down appointments, really what I use is the tasks part. Sure, I use Swipes for mostly recurring cleaning chores but there are plenty of other things I need/would like to get done in a week. And spending a little time writing them down and assigning days is very helpful for me.
Sometimes I plan out things like Instagram posts for a week. Sometimes I plan out blog posts (helpful when I'm not at my computer). Over spring break I planned out what chore I wanted Luke to do each day (I'm a super fun parent). I hope to use it this summer as I figure out a balance of structure (getting things done) and fun, where to fit in productive stuff (and blogging) with the "sit around the backyard pool" parts. I mostly use it to keep track of what I need to do when I have time to myself during the day. Largely computer related. Did that necessitate a whole planner? Probably not but I have found it to be very helpful.
I have the weekly planner. What I like about this is that it was cheaper than a daily planner and that I really don't need each day to have it's own page. What I don't like is that my planner doesn't naturally stay open to the current week. The daily Simplified Planners have spiral binding and I could leave it open to the current day. But then I also like looking at the week as a whole without flipping a lot of pages.
There is also a spot to write down meal plans for each day but I already have a system for that and it hangs inside a kitchen cupboard so I can easily look at it each day (that we aren't eating leftovers). Sometimes I write in our meal plans, sometimes I don't.
I am more than a year into using a bullet journal (which I talked about here) and I keep thinking there is probably a way to combine my planner needs and my bullet journal. But I also know I don't want to be drawing boxes and essentially making my own planner pages inside my bullet journal. So I don't know that that's the best solution for me.
I don't know if I (/Matt) will buy another Simplified Planner. I really do like having a planner and the cover is just beautiful (which is important since it sits out on my desk, going against this rule) but I could probably find something less expensive that would fill my "stays open but also shows me a week in a spread" needs. But then I also looked at the new covers and I was thinking this one or this one might be pretty for next year...so I don't know. I probably won't decide until about the Black Friday sale. Or maybe after almost 11 months of using a paper planner I'll have a better decision than 3 months in.
I do know that it's been very helpful for me to plan out my ~2 hours of solitude each weekday, keep track of what I'd like to get done. But also other tasks that need done that aren't recurring (like cleaning bathrooms) but more of the "print tax return to file" type. It helps keep me motivated when I do sit down at my computer, to work through the things I've already decided need done instead of getting lost down a rabbit trail of reading other blog posts. So why I am fairly confident that I'll be using another paper planner for 2020, I'm not 100% sure it will be another Simplified Planner, mostly for the cost and not staying open aspects. Or it might be because they sure are pretty.
(If you are interested in a Simplified Planner, the academic year planners were just released, you can use my referral link for $10 off. Which also gets me $10 off but will expire before I (maybe) buy my calendar year planner.)
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