A new year! A New Planner!

 A New Year’s Planner! 

Welcome 2017. 

Whew, I feel old. 

[Not really. But I think I am. Ha.]

Did I share with you all that I WON A PLANNER 

at the most fun scrapbook weekend evah? 

Yep. From Webster’s pages. 

[Side note: for the life of me I cannot remember where that photo was taken...]

 

So, while I’ve not used a three ring planner since the boys moved out 

[it was my One. Essential. Item. Back in the day that kept our lives on track…] 

I thought I’d give it a go.  

There’s pros and cons with this planner – 

but I am determined to use it keep track of my life in 2017.

 

Let’s just get the cons over with first – six holes, A5 style. 

It’s IMPOSSIBLE to go to my local paper supply and pick up papers for it. 

Luckily, I found an easy to navigate shop with lots of options that was reasonably priced. Yay for A Cherry on Top! 

Also con: It's a little small [one inch ring vs the 1.5 ring that 

I had in my binder back in the day -]

 

Also I refused to buy one of the pricier calendars and I hate the idea of putting little stickers on each date to create my own each month – 

So instead, I bought a cheapie at the local wal-marts and punched the holes myself. It’s working quite well, thank you. 

I also printed out my quote and verse for the year and put it right up front!

Side note: I love the little pockets on the inside!

So let’s take a look at that little weekly spread – 

First - I have this little book mark that I punched extra holes in so it sticks out the top a bit and helps me easily find the current week...
 I’ve also added in a little photo to the back of the tab.

This year I’m using the SN@P book marks [holes already punched!] from Simple Stories as my place for all the “To Dos” in my life [that week -] Work is on one side and personal stuff on the other. 
I may use other notepad sheets for this purpose throughout the year [got a cute Valentine's one at the Target Dollar Spot..]

 The dates have date-specific things written on them – and I also have a couple of reminder stickies that move from week to week [see first photo above...] 

I also have one tip card that has my weekly chores on the back… 

Can I just be honest here? 

Housework is something I NEED to have list to check off just to motivate me. Ha.

 

I’m documenting events, exercise, memory verses, happenings and fun things on my monthly calendar pages as they happen 

by  printing out small photos / meme, etc. each Sunday afternoon…  

It keeps it fun... and serves as a reminder of things I might want to scrapbook later on...

It might look something like this at the beginning of a month... and the subsequent months are a hodge podge of activities written in pencil because, hey, with my crazy life I have to be flexible. and the eraser is my friend. 

[Also - we have people in / out of our house checking on pets and things when we're out of town. Just sayin'. Ha.]

Now Let’s move on to the best part of having a planner this size – it helps me keep track of the things important in my life. In the past this little section was filled with tabs for each of the boys and their church / school / sports activities as well as tabs for my volunteer work [each year I would commit to ONE volunteer job at each school. Hey, I’m a working mom – but I do have liberal leave, so this was doable.] 

But! Back to my current planner – you can see some of my tabs.. along the edge. 

 Some of these are on cardstock 

[cereal boxes cut to size and covered in patterned paper – seriously.]

Here's some of the pages behind  'I am Determined' / Good Eats - 

... a place to keep up with my healthy eating.

[Still trying to add in those fruits... milk and oatmeal and tuna - ]

And some are pocket dividers with a tab put on them 

[This is from the ReSet Girl – LOVE HER!]

I have a couple of these that hold traveler's notebooks for Bible Study or Blog stuff...

I’ve got to share this idea from Cori [The ReSet Girl]:
 

She introduced me to top  tabs! 
And. I. Love. Them.

Again, for me, just product boxes cut to size,

 covered in patterned papers and a tab on top. 

My dividers are: Living Life [Side tabs: Beauty – A Good Book – Craftiness – Good Eats {calorie counting} – Health – In the Word – Prayer – Quotes]  

Family & Friends [Side tabs: Contact Info – Outings – Pets]  

Home [Garden – House – Lottie {remember her?} – Meals ] 

Work [County and State  Info]  and  

The WWW {World Wide Webs} [Blog – The List {passwords} – and lastly Orders] 

These are the things I want to keep track of – 

and be intentional about – in my life. 

Your tabs will be completely different.

 And that’s okay. 

It’s better than okay – It will be just right for you!

 I really do like having all my little lists and ideas in one spot that I carry with me daily. 

And it's fun to have a couple of places for photos as well!

While I spent the last year gathering and collecting lots of planner goodies I’ve found that, once again, simple is best for me. 

As you can see above, my weekly calendar is much less overwhelming if I have my lists corralled in one spot each week… 

I don’t need a different tip-in or goodie 

[cute as they may be – AND THERE’S A LOT OF CUTE STUFF OUT THERE] 

to remind me of what’s going on or coming up in my life.

 And I can use my multitude of scrapbook items to document on my monthly pages, lol.

So this is working for me. 

Right here. Right now. 

How do you use your planner / organizer / calendar?

Side note:  This is the only planner I have... It's my daily go-to calendar, not a scrapbook. Hubs also has a calendar to keep track of work, etc. We sit down together every few weeks and compare and share any upcoming events / appointments we might have...

We also have a calendar on our fridge so that we can easily see at a glance what is happening each month. 
It helps us live intentionally.