Everyone who knows me also know that I have an unhealthy a close relationship with my day planner. It all started back in the early 90s when I recieved a Filofax for a high school graduation gift. That planner helped get me through college and a few years thereafter. However, once I was a new mom I didn’t have a need for a planner anymore… until that one baby became three kids, two of whom were in school. I needed to get organized again. And I discovered Erin Condren’s beautiful planners.
In the past I have reviewed the planner, but this year I thought I would start sharing about how I actually use it by posting how I customize it, some little tricks, and my weekly layouts, too. As you know, there are quite a few blogs focussed on planners and organizing. Everyone has their own way of doing things, but sometimes you pick up an idea or two.
Today I’ll be sharing my January layouts because… well, I feel like I want to have the whole year included on my blog. But after this week I’ll just do weekly updates once the week is over. First, here is my monthly layout. It is definitely boring and as I’ve mentioned… January was just kind of crabby for me. A lot of people don’t seem to use their monthly spreads, but I do. When I am scheduling appointments, I find it easier to see the entire month at once instead of flipping pages.
And here’s week 1. Um, yeah. I started a Whole 30 that lasted for more like 14 days, LOL… But better than nothing, right? I started journalling a little bit each day. I haven’t been consistent with that, but I’m going to try to pick it up again for February. I keep all my planners in case I need to refer to an old event, but also because I enjoy seeing what we were doing. So why not add some journalling to the mix?
Week 2: A new planner feature this year is the notes section at the bottom. I was really excited about this at first, but I’m not utilizing it like I thought I would. Obviously I cover most of it up with washi tape for a bit of extra color. I’ve been using it for meal planning, but maybe I’ll trying using that section for “hot action items” in the future — three things that I absolutely must get done that day.
Week 3: See that arrow-shaped page flag pointing to the “pack meeting” sticker on Friday? I bought these at Dollar Tree and I love them so much! So often I have extra little notes about calendar items, and these are great for that purpose.
Week 4: Another kind of lame attempt at journalling, LOL. Also, slightly embarrassed by how much crap I ate this week.
Week 5: Last week, as we moved into Febrary I finally felt like I was getting my groove back. Trying to jazz up the week with more stickers. That’s right. I love stickers. I am totally a 12-year-old girl at heart and I am OK with that 🙂
We’ll just start there. I have customized some of the notepages in the back to suit my own needs: a log of checks I write, a place to keep track of swaps I send and recieve, that sort of thing. I’ll get there, soon.
The Erin Condren planners typically go on sale in Feb. or March to liquidate her current stock since the new planners come out in June. So if you’re on the fence, it’s a good time to try the planner without having to shell out all that money. Because let’s face it, even though they are very pretty and I love mine… it’s still expensive. However, it keeps me on track so I feel it’s worth it!
If you are a new Erin Condren customer and are interested in ordering, you can use my referral link to save $10 off your first purchase (you’ll get a code via e-mail after you register).
