In my post These are a few of my favorite things… I wrote about my Day Planner…
To put it lightly, I LOVE my planner. I use it every day and it sort of morphed over time, starting with just “events” written down – into a full fledged journal, day planner, goal tracker, memory book and more. I started SERIOUSLY using a planner about three years ago…and I keep all the old ones, since they are like little time capsules of what my life was like. I honestly don’t know why or how I went so long without using a planner – because it helps me SO much!
I started small, with a sweet little weekly planner (kind of like this) and it was in the $15.00 price range. A mid-size “Big” Happy Planner, was the planner I used in between my early “baby” planner, and the full fledged (much more expensive) one I have now. It was nice and it offers the ability to “customize” to a degree/change pages out – but it wasn’t for me. Both were sufficient (at the time) but I have since noticed that my planners have continually grown in physical size/dimension AND in function.
Present day, I currently have a personally laid out/custom planner that I designed at the Golden Coil website and I freaking love it. You can customize everything from the cover to the layout and more. You get roughly 282 pages to play with and choose the order of sections, if you want printed quotes on each page, yearly/monthly/weekly/daily calendar options, blank pages for notes, mood charts, goal trackers, budget choices, menu/recipe planning and more! The paper is a nice, heavy weight that doesn’t allow bleed through, which is super important to me because I LOVE color coding my pens to match my activities. Price point is a bit more for sure, because of the size and quality – but for me, something that costs $100.00 or less (product and shipping included), that I use EVERY day is a good deal. I have paid a lot more for things I’ve used a lot less.
I embellish my planner and amuse myself with stickers/graphics. It brings me such joy to go through my upcoming month and add little stickers for holidays, birthdays, count downs for special events or just “inspirational” or “motivational” quotes. I can, and have done it, for literally hours. My planner is VERY colorful and those parts of it, make me want to use it more! I have a cover for it that I bought from “The Happy Planner“. My cover is a bright yellow one (check it out here) with a cute blue and white striped interior and the words “Plan a Happy Life” on the front. I chose to purchase this to 1. protect my planner, and 2. because it offers some extra pockets/space for me to keep a pen handy, extra stickers, stamps, note cards and the like.
Now, I carry my planner back and forth to work with me every day, I start each morning by reviewing the day to come and annotating anything from the day prior that might have been of interest. I don’t know why – but there’s something so reassuring to me about filling it out and writing in pen and ink. I love the permanence of it and I find myself honoring my own appointments like “gym time” or similar, more frequently than if I didn’t write them down. I use it to track my progress/consistency for various things and honestly, it has prompted me to make positive change in multiple facets of my life.
I believe any person (man/woman, young/old) can benefit from using a planner – even if it’s just something simple. We can strengthen relationships by writing down and remembering dates for ourselves. Don’t be like me and be late EVERY year for your parents birthdays, and rely on the “reminder text” from your sibling on the day of – just write it down ONE time and then transfer it into the next year’s planner when you get it; THEN write yourself a reminder two weeks before, and BAM – you’re never the “late” kid again! We can also strengthen relationships by writing down dates that are not just important to us – but to others! For instance, a friend might mention that their anniversary is next week – make a note and send them a quick text that morning to make them feel special. Another friend might say they have a scary medical appointment coming up, so make a note of it and check in with them that day or the next to let them know you remembered and that you care. Maybe your partner has a big presentation – make a note and give them a little encouragement text that morning or a special dinner that night.
There’s a lot of information that we rely on and say “I will remember it” but really we can’t, or better yet – we shouldn’t. We should free up our mental space for things that excite us, connect us, bring us joy, or teach us something new.
**I am not paid to promote any of the aforementioned products and none of this is an advert**
DreamerSD 