I’ve tried all the planners, Franklin Covey, Circa, any spiral bound planner I could pick up at the local office supply store and tons of digital calendars including a PDA.
Through all of my trial runs of paper and digital planners, I know for sure that paper works for me. I still love putting pen to paper and letting the ideas flow. No matter how many digital solutions I have tried I always go back to the paper. Something about actually writing things down helps me remember what I have going on. Although I am rather attached to my computer checking my calendar daily on it has never worked.
Sometimes I think my organizing practices are unconventional and then I remember what I always tell my clients, organizing is not one size fits all. We are all made differently and think differently. What works for one person may not work for the next. When choosing a planner you have to consider the stage in life you are at. A “Busy Mom” Planner might not work as well for a mom with one newborn because she has yet to become the mom that has to be everywhere and do everything. Times change as we grow and our organizational needs change.
After trying numerous planners I finally sat down and made my own. Perhaps this will work for you, or not, but I will share my thought process with you.
Consider your needs. I am a professional organizer and blogger, a wife, mom of three children of which are 9 and under. My kids are not involved in tons of activities right now so I don’t have a lot of schedules to keep track of for them. My business is steadily growing at a rate at which I am happy with to ensure a happy family balance. I don’t not want multiple calendars to look at. I need to track my everyday life, work and blogging all in one place. My calendar is filled more with “to-do” tasks and ideas more than time specific tasks.
Choose a layout that works best for you. I don’t have a heavily filled in schedule daily or weekly. When I see a calendar with a bunch of empty spaces it makes me feel like I am not doing enough. So a daily planner or weekly planner has too much date specific leftover space for me. (Sorry this is where the perfectionist in me comes out) I like having space for lists and being able to check them off brings me a sense of satisfaction. For the actual schedule keeping I need a monthly view that shows my appointments as well as blogging activities. I have to have plenty of list space.
Essentially I needed a simple calendar with more list space than calendar space.
I first created my planner in a spiral bound notebook, however after three months the pages started coming out. Then, I decided to buy a Moleskine journal to use for my planner. Not the most economical choice of the two but the Moleskine will hold up longer and if you haven’t written in a Moleskine, it is bliss.
Here is the layout I came up with and instead of trying to explain what I did I created a version that you can see…
Since I like making lists so much I took this theory one step further and created a vertical calendar. This has been working phenomenally for me. I fold the page in half and list the numbers of the days on the left of the first column and on the left of the second column I list the first letter of the day of the week. Column one is my actual appointment calendar. The column on the right is dedicated to my blog posts.
For appointments, I abbreviate the name for example if all three of my children are going to the dentist it says S,N,C dentist. If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can see that I have NS on day one. That means no school. Anytime there is no school I write in NS and draw a line to mark off the days where school is out. In the beginning of the school year I take the new school calendar and mark all of the dates the kids have off. As you can also see from the picture I take the calendar column and virtually break it up into 3 sections. I write my morning appointments on the left, afternoon in the middle and evening appointments on the right. It helps me to visually see what is going on at a glance and when I have free space.
Between each month page I leave three blank pages to write my lists of tasks to do and notes in general. I even cut out some ideas from magazines and tape them in. This is a very simple stripped down basic planner, but it helps me stay on task and quickly see what needs to be done. The first half of this planner is for schedules and tasks the other half is for blogging ideas. Virtually everything else I do as far as contacts, writing and storing other important information is done on my Mac and securely backed up.
If you want to give this planner concept a try before making your own in a journal, I have created a download for you for the entire year! Try it out and let me know what you think. I am always looking for ways to tweak and improve things.
Click To Download:
DIY Day Planner
Here is another great resource for DIY Planners and check out their Flickr Pool.
For more planners made with Moleskine or just looking for a little inspiration check out this amazing Moleskine Flickr Pool.
Let me know what you think! What type of planner did you use for 2009 and did you switch for 2010? What do you like about your current planners and don’t like? How many have you tried? What things are you wanting to keep track of and can’t find a planner for?
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I came across this today and wanted to share that I like your vertical calendar idea. Neat one!
Tanna, I have a Moleskine weekly planner and I love it (I’m a paper person too, after a trial using my blackberry, resulting in a host of missed appointments with clients), however the space provided is really small and I’m finding that I don’t have enough room to write down my appointments for the day (I have a 2010 weekly moleskine with the notes on the opposite page).
Do you have any suggestions for how I can organize my appointments in the small space given? I was planning to just purchase the daily planner, but wanted to get your advice first. Any advice you may have would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
DMT
I know exactly what planner you are talking about. I would suggest dividing the weekly side in thirds for morning, noon and evening. It will be easier to see what time of day something is but still not make more room. I usually abbreviated things on the planner side and made notes that coincide on the note side. If you really have a lot going on though I would just go ahead and try the daily planner.
Great idea! I love hearing about how people use their planners. And, I especially love to see planners people make for themselves.
I’ve used tons of planners, I just love them. My favorites are Moleskine, Filofax and Dodo Pad although I’m constantly trying new ones.
Thanks so much for sharing this idea! I have also tried zillions of planners, electronic calendars, etc, and have always come back to simple paper and lists. Never thought of a vertical calendar, so that is going to be put into action today :) I’ve learned from all my trial and error that I am a weekly thinker, and I need everything on one page. So I am planning to modify your monthly plan into a weekly plan for me. Calendar on the left side and blog ideas/business to- do list as well as a household do-do list on the right. Can’t thank you enough for sharing this – it just may be the perfect solution for me :)
I am glad I could help. A Weekly format might even work for me in this vertical style. So far I am still doing good with the monthly layout but if I find myself needing to tweak it, weekly may be the way to go. It never hurts to get creative with organizing! If you can’t find something that will work for you try making it. A lot of us have a vision of that perfect planner but can’t find it in the stores.
I heard somewhere that when you remember best the things you write down you are a tactile learner. I am that way about doctor’s appointments and meetings with friends. If I write it down I will remember it so much more easily than if I just type it into my calendar on my computer. There’s also something about being able to remember what the handwritten note looks like. Maybe it’s because it’s less generic than a computer calendar appointment?
By the way, I use the medium size molskines for journals. I’ve always made it a goal to journal, but I would start journals and never finish them. I figured out that I am inspired by a brand new blank book. So now I start a new molskine every month. It motivates me because I want to fill it up each month. I journal, take notes at church, write to do lists, shopping lists and notes at dr appointments. You’re right, they’re not that frugal but they feel like a treat at the begining of each month. :)
I am a paper girl as well. For the past couple years, I have kept FC montly planner pages in a 3 ring binder along with paper and folders for keeping receipts and lists and stuff I need to have with me. Like you, I just need more space to write. I like your idea of a vertical calendar and a page for writing. Might just have to give it a test drive.
I think for the most part I just need to see the whole month all at once, after trying the other month at a glance systems I just happened to think of the vertical solution and I am surprised at how well it is working for me.
Thank you for sharing this! It’s nice to see how others organize their schedules. I personally use paper as well. I have a daily planner book that I use. Writing it down just works so much better for me!
I love this idea! I have been using and electronic calendar for a while but always toy with going back to a paper calendar as I am a list maker and am always jotting down information and things I need. I’m a mom to 3- oldest is in Kindergarten and I work part time as a speech pathologist a couple evenings a week. I’m thinking I want to go to a small calendar that I can grab when I have to see clients (my kids gave me one for Christmas that would work) but I would like to be able to have a place for my lists and notes for our household. I love technology and feel strange without my iPod because I’ve used it for so long- but love to have my lists and such with me. This may be the ticket. Thanks so much for sharing!
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