How I organize my planner

Hello all~

Today I wanted to touch on planner decorating. I did a selecting a new planner post at the start of the new year, and I still love my happy planner. I think I am finally in a committed relationship now. It is the best of spiral bound with removal pages.

If you haven’t gotten your new Happy Planner yet, check out Michael's.com and their coupons! I managed to nab mine for half price and get the hole punch as well! If you are not using their coupons, why? You can also use them off your phone.

Anyway, I was browsing around looking at different ways to organize my planner and personally, I have been struggling a bit with over decorating. I love the concept BUT it is making the actual planner not as functional for me personally. I design my own stickers and sell them on my Etsy as a download, so I can really make anything I need or want / see. I have seen others have this problem and actually a lot of people were discussing it on Reddit the other day, so I wanted to go over my setup and what I like to do.

Keep in mind this is always a work in progress, but as of right now here is what I am doing / working on sticker wise.

Firstly, the month view~

On the month view I typically decorate the empty boxes from the previous month. I add in any holiday stickers and birthdays. I put in any important dates - like Game of Thrones! And Sailor Moon Crystal S3! - then throughout the month I add in what I spend on gas/groceries so I can see how frugal we are being. I also keep track of my small purchases, but I do that on a spreadsheet.

I also use stickers for payday and reminders for Instagram - which I have been using more lately. You call follow me @myroyalSP

Recently, I have been playing with putting my blog post plan on this page as well. You can see some sample stickers above but I am unsure, still testing. As of right now, not doing it. I like it except for the fact if covers the numbers, so may have to change that. I may also make them smaller, instead of this box, to make it work. I like this concept as I want to make my weekly pages MORE decorated and more of a memory keep. I would like to start doing like a top three, grateful, etc.

I've been playing in June since its blank still

For my week, I currently use it just simple, I add in the same info from the month and put a few more details like meetings and appointment times.

After trying out my new watercolor sets 

  

And playing with the Cherry Blossom sets too, it matches so nicely 

It’s more all over the place. I just started using teardrops to track different things I do vs writing it out which I want to do anyway. I dunno what this is going to look like yet though. I am still working on it. As of right now I am just using it simple. As the day goes by, I am adding in comments about it.

I will not be doing a todo list however, as I use wunderlist.com for that, love that app. You can read about it in an up and coming blog post as I like it that much so far. I’ve never stuck with a digital todo list this long.

So that is how I am currently using my happy planner. In addition to the months and weeks, I try to use the note pages to make a goal page and reminders/trackers page each month. It helps me keep organized there. I also keep a copy of what the dots mean.

Since I am not a mom or really busy, my planner use is mostly light and for fun. I’ve use so many, usually from Target just because I like having one around. They make great simple diaries. I highly recommend getting one and keeping them. It’s fun to look back where you were a year before, etc.

Get the various stickers in my shop, see something you want not listed? Just ask, I try to keep my sell able ones to finished set but if you like something I can share it.

This last weekend was insanely busy so I will go back and add pictures tonight. I am also looking at planning videos, as I am sure you all do as well, to see what would work best for me. I am thinking of using the top box for appointments, reminders and such, middle box for decoration and fun, then last box for writing about my day. I think this would be a great habit to start. Then the side bar for tracking my water and daily SUPPOSE to do's - like exercise. This was just my thoughts today, it changes so much!

What do you use your planner for? 

Do you decorate your heart out? Let me know!