When I was around 12 I really wanted a paper planner. I don't know why I did but my budding organized self probably thought they seemed fun? I don't know that I had so much to plan that I needed a planner. My Mom must have mentioned this to my aunt because a bit later a planner showed up in the mail (with a note that my Mom had mentioned that I wanted a planner). Getting unexpected gifts in the mail was ALWAYS exciting (still is, to be honest. I get excited for packages I've paid for because I tend to forget what I've ordered as soon as I hit submit.). I know I still have that note and possibly the planner. I don't think I ever wrote much in it but I liked having it.
Our high school issued us all planner every year (I KNOW I still have all those. The school rules were all in the front, the "no cell phones at any school event ever" rule is amusing now) and I used those faithfully for my assignments, tests, grades, practice schedule, etc. In college I bought myself a planner every year for the same purpose (I still have those too! #aspiringminimalist).
Then I started following Emily Ley. I had read her book Grace Not Perfection after seeing it recommended somewhere and that led to me following her on Instagram. A few years of that wore me down and I wanted a pretty paper planner. I didn't know what I was going to write in it because I felt pretty organized already. BUT...they were pretty. Matt gave me my 2019 planner for Christmas in 2018. It was beautiful.
And then it sat mostly blank for ~6 months
I didn't know what I was going to write in my planner. At that point, Luke was in school 180 days a year. I worked one morning most weeks. There were the periodic doctor appointments and haircuts and the like but our schedule just didn't have a lot going on. I wrote a post when I was just over 3 months into my planner. In that post I mention that I really hope to get a lot of use out of my planner when summer hits and I'm trying to balance getting things done with fun things for the boys.
And you know what? That summer is when I really came to live and die by my planner.
For some reason, our summer, the season that is supposed to be laid back and care free, is typically (in non-pandemic years) our busiest time of the year. It's different than December busy which is a lot of things that "need" done but mostly at home (online shopping, wrapping, baking, decorating, family movie nights, etc.). Summer we are out and about far more than any other time of the year (as well as the months that border summer, April, May, September, October). We're at the lake. We go on family bike rides downtown. The boys and I are at the zoo once or twice a week when we have a pass. We meet friends/cousins at the park. We go to baseball games. The weekends we aren't at the lake we're usually going to a cookout or a family get to together. Our summers (again, not in a pandemic) are very busy. And I needed somewhere to help me get the balance of fun summer activities along side all the out and about we were doing.
Enter, my planner.
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| A few weeks ago, I pack those tasks lists! And then get them done. (The unchecked items on Friday are reading to the boys which I did after I had put my planner away for the weekend.) |
I used it SO MUCH that summer, 2019, to plan our days. Our weeks. To get things done but also have fun with the boys. To keep track of my many to-dos (house cleaning, blogging, I am good at finding tasks to fill my days). Just like I live by "a place for everything and everything in it's place" for keeping our house mostly clutter free, I rest easier (literally) knowing that the things I want/need to get done have been assigned a day and they will (very likely) get done.
After that I never looked back. My planner is like my second brain. Luke even told me yesterday "will you write that in your planner so you remember t
o do that?"
I pride myself in having a pretty good memory (I know A TON of birthdays, 200 maybe?) but there is something SO FREEING about writing things down and then being able to forget about it until the day I need to remember it. I now write down EVERYTHING.
Part of this also stemmed from moving my planner from living on my desk next to my computer to living on our kitchen counter. I put it away on the weekends (when I don't have a lot of to-dos) but Sunday night - Friday evening it is out and open to the current week. I have a dedicated pen that sits in the crack.
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| This is my original 2019 planner, it is noticeably neater than my current one! |
I write down my tasks for the week (especially since my beloved Swipes app is no longer usable). I write down Luke's daily chores for the week. Sometimes I plan out my Instagram posts. I write down when Luke has a dress down day at school or hot lunch or his day for show and tell. I write down reading to Luke & Sam as tasks each day because I like crossing things off AND I like reading to them. I write down blog tasks, phone calls I need to make, doctor appointments, or sitters I need to schedule. I write down EVERYTHING.
In my ever evolving quest to spend less time on my phone, I've started tracking my time in my planner and then transferring it to my Toggl app in chunks, thus, keeping me from picking up my phone just to track time and then getting sucked into something else. This has been HUGELY helpful.
My aim every day is to full all the tasks lines with to-dos. I feel like I've had a productive day when I've filled all the lines and then gotten them all done. Sometimes it is definitely difficult to come up with enough tasks for the lines. Then I start making easy tasks just so I can cross them off. Still makes me feel productive! I HATE having uncrossed off tasks at the end of the day so writing things down is hugely motivating for me to get them done!
Not only do I have a personal life planner, I also have one for work. Unlike in my professional accountant days, this one I use to keep track of tasks. When I have a window of time to work, I don't want to waste time trying to remember what I need to be doing. Before I finish one work session I write down the things I need to start with on my next. It's VERY helpful with my sporadic and inconsistent working schedule (all dictated by me) to know right where to jump back in.
My home planner came with a hefty notes section which I use for things I need to keep for awhile but not forever but also don't want to lose that piece of paper with that one thing written down. I take notes at teacher conferences with it, when I've had to call the lake trash people about our continued missed pick-ups (Yes, I have taken my planner to the lake, mainly just on our lake vacation week.) Things like that that I need to know where my notes are and this way I know they are all in my planner.
I am on my 3rd Simplified Planner and I like those because of their quality, their pretty covers, and I know exactly what to expect. (I have a calendar year weekly, in Happy Floral this year.) But they are also a little pricey. My work ones (that work pays for but I pick out) are $10-$15 ones from Amazon that have all been fine too (I have this one for 2021). The price doesn't really matter, as long as there is a lot of space for tasks and it can lay flat. The laying flat is HUGE (and difficult in my SP at this point in the year).
I became a planner person, I found another aspect of my life to super organize and it has been enormously freeing on my mind. I can't see not having one for many many years. It really has become my second brain and helped me stay more focused on the task at hand. Even for me, a person who mostly aimed to leave the house as little as possible BEFORE a pandemic, it's not much of an exaggeration to say it's changed my life.
Did I expect to have 1400+ words about my planner(s). Nope. But here we are. And I feel strongly about them all!
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