Picture courtesy of Marcela Araya @marcelaenberlin
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How I found 'my' planning style
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Being in the planner community for more than 4 years now I have experimented, set up, bought and sold many planners but never really felt like any of them was really functional for my lifestyle.
I was using Pocket ringed planners for over a year which was cute and fun to set up but in reality was not very realistic for my needs. Being a busy mum of 3 whilst running my small stationery biz it became tiresome having to print, cut and worry about if I had the enough inserts ready to start planning the week.
Pocket Ringed Planner & B6 Marks Tokyo Edge
(Both covers are from the Moterm brand)
This is when I started to experiment with dated bound planners, namely the Hobonichi Techo in A6, Hobonichi weeks and Mark's Tokyo edge- Day per page planner. All 3 of these were good but too rigid. I ended up having many pages un-filled which just made me anxious to keep using them until I abandoned them altogether.
Fast forward to just after my 3rd baby was born in April 2020 (the height of the Pandemic) I was intrigued by the way a lot of planner enthusiasts swore by using the Stalogy Notebook as a planner.
Stalogy (A6 size)
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Although I did try to use a Stalogy before it was a little too small so I decided to bite the bullet and try out a larger size- B6 again.
My planning system is very simple now which is why I think it's being working great! I use my B6 Stalogy for home school dailies, monthly appointments and notes. I also have a Personal sized ringed planner that I like to call as my reference planner as it has important information that I update frequently but not on a daily basis like my main planner.
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How to find planner peace for yourself
❤ Go back to basics (use what you have)
I've heard this one line so many times on the subject of having planner peace but it really is true! When in a rut with how your planner is don't make the same mistake I did by rushing to buy all the things to feel content. This is the perfect time to take a step back and evaluate all the stationery items you've collected over the years and have a trial period with them. By this I mean set a goal for yourself- it could be a week, a month or maybe even a couple of months where you are actively revisiting old planners you may have at home or at the very least try out something simple that does not take too much time to set up and start using.
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Whilst in this trial stage it is important to be honest with yourself and stick to what is working for you and not just what is popular. What i learnt about myself in my planner journey is that as well as being organized I see my planner as a creative outlet. Just pen and paper does work for me at times but I came to realize that I actually enjoy customizing my planner with stickers, vellum sheets and other decorative pieces as it's something I look forward to when I can finally have some 'quiet time'.
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❤ Find a purpose
My final tip would be to have some time to reflect (you can even write your thoughts down) and think what areas of your life you would like to be more organized. You might brainstorm your ideas and realize... hold on a minute..why do I have so many planners? or wouldn't it be a good idea to have a separate planner for work/study so that i do not feel so overwhelmed all the time? Personally, I knew I needed something that would be functional and durable for the whole year with my home school plans. But just having that wouldn't be enough as I would like to keep up to date with tracking finances and other boring stuff.
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In a nutshell this brings me to where I am at now in my planner journey. The B6 Stalogy I've been using for 8 months now as my main planner has been working great as I like the versatility of it being undated and also a bound planner so nothing to print or cut for more or less the entire year (Yay!) My reference planner is there when needed and that's planner peace for me. Not having the desire to use anything else unless just for fun of course!
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So I am curious. If you managed to get this far do you feel like you have planner peace? if yes, what's your current system now? I would love to hear your planner journey in the comments below!
Thank you so much for spending time with me,
❤ ❤ ❤
Brooke