Hi friends,
I so look forward to this time with you each month. Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy day to spend some of it with me. I don’t know about you, but I’m a planner addict. Yes. There is such a thing, at least according to my family. Every season new planners come out and I spend weeks deciding which one I’ll pick. You may be asking why, and I don’t blame you. But having the right planner fit is a must for me because I know that I’ll spend time with it every day of the year.
For me, I want a planner with good paper quality. Perhaps it’s because I’m a writer and I love the feel of good paper, not to mention the smell of a manuscript fresh off the printer. Yes, there are weird writers like me. Many are very normal. Okay, many are less quirky than me but we all have things that are important and special to each of us whether it’s a specific notebook to write in, a specific computer program to write your novel on such as Scrivener, or a way of writing such as Dictation. Given that I write all my first drafts longhand, I’m very picky about my notebook and pen.
For notebooks, I use Levenger. Thank you to Katie Cushman for introducing me to the wonder of Levenger. My husband does not thank you because it’s not cheap and it’s quite addictive as well. For my pen, I use Frixion erasable pens. They are the bomb and I’ve shared their awesomeness with many colleagues and writer friends.
Returning to planners, I love using erasable and colorful Frixxon pens. I color code (or attempt) my planner by categories so if I’m spending time with family, I use green, marketing and learning is in a beautiful fuchsia and writing is in purple.
I also love having big squares on my monthly calendar so there’s space to write important dates in and a weekly overview with each day given its own space. I love colorful tabs and lots of note pages.
I homeschooled my girls all the way through school and through LOTS of trial and error, I found that a teacher’s planner works best for me. Instead of subjects, I write in categories, so I can see how many days and how much time I’m blocking off for writing each week, how much time I get to spend with the daughters and grandbabies, exercise, etc. I can glance at the week and the month at the same time and see that everything is balanced. If I find things off balance or allotted too much or too little time, then I adjust my plans.
How does having the right planner help you set goals—by observing the time you block off for each area of your life that’s important to you. If you’ve never heard of the time blocking method, my friend, has a wonderful free resource. You can read her post all about it and download her worksheets here: Time Blocking Template at HeyDonna.com
Reader Question:
What matters to you in a planner or calendar? How do you utilize your planner to help you reach your goals by spending time on what matters most? Any fun resources or items you’d like to share? I’d love to hear what you love using—pens, planner stickers, highlighters, etc.
Look forward to reading your answers!
Blessings,
Dani
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I don’t have a planner. When my girls were in school, I would use my monthly calendar at work to keep activities straight for school and home, but now that they are grown, I don’t have that many activities that warrant a planner. I do enjoy using a good writing at work, but it’s hard to keep one that doesn’t get “carried away” by someone else. I like the refillable Zebra ink pens.
Oh. I’ll have to look up Zebra ink pens. I’m so excited I just found out that my Frixxon erasable pens have refills too. Saves so much money!
Life has caused me to go digital. Caring for an aging parent with oxygen bottles and other things to carry has me juggling too many things when we go for Dr visits, friends, lunch, etc that having to hold a planner too (purse was full) was making me crazy — read i left it behind too many times or didn’t get it written down.
So digital is working for me, but i miss the tactical and the doodling areas.
Oh, Marie. God bless you. Carrying for an aging parent is very involved. I cared for my mom during her long battle with cancer and I know what you’re saying. You need all hands available. I’m sure you’re a huge blessing to your parent.
I use Cozi for daily appts., because it syncs with my girls’ schedules. I have my planner that I use for bills & jotting down daily activities, & to do lists. Also, post pictures there for special events. I use Ruth Chou Simons planner & Tul pens( which I just discovered & love).
Oooh. I’m intrigued. LOVE checking out new planners and pens. Guess what I’m Googling now :)))
I buy my planner from christianplanner.com. It is owned and operated by a veteran, so that’s a big plus for me. It has a page to write out your vision for the year and there is space for weekly sermon notes.
I’ve seen that. I didn’t realize it’s operated by a veteran. That’s so cool!
You are not weird. You are the best. I’m so looking forward to the next Costal Guardians book. Can’t wait.
I love the Frixion pens too 🙂 The writing is good, they come in all possible colors and the fact that they are erasable is excellent.
Awww. Thanks so much, Coco!
I love all the colors too. Such fun!
I don’t have a planner per se but because I do art, craft events I do put those down in my business book with dates. That way when the event is down I don’t double book an event. It makes it nice as I can also put down the fees, sales and profits right beside the name of said event.
As an artist I am also picky about what type of paper to use for my drawings.
That’s great. What medium do you use for your drawings? Hopefully that’s the right word for what I’m trying to ask 🙂
I’m a Happy Planner girl 🙂 I love how i can easily customize the planner however I want!
I’ve heard that’s fabulous!
I picked the wrong planner, again. I want big squares. Not just lines with exact times. I want to be organized, but not to such a tight timeling.
I had a great planner a few years ago, but I’ve tried some because of deals or other things.
Love having a journal-type of notebook to use for keeping notes of my MS.
I use another journal to keep track of my side gigs so I can can invoice my clients. I do a lot of the work in handwriting, then I type it all out, and it’s nice to have it all in one place.