Planner Picking

You want to get a planner to help organize your year, but you don't know what to choose. A planner will help you be more productive if you use it correctly and if it fits your lifestyle.

There will be a few things you need to ask yourself.

Why do you want a planner?

Are you going to be tracking habits?

Do you need a daily to-do list?

Do you need it for family purposes?

Do you need it for school or for work?

Do you need it for budgeting?

Are you going to be goal-setting?

Are you going to be meal planning?

Establishing what you need your planner to do for you can help you choose the kind of planner you need. If you have a lot to do your not going to want a tiny planner, If you are using it for multiple reasons then you might want a customizable planner, if you don’t have a lot of time to put into your planner and need it for the basics then get ready to use a planner.

What type of planner do you want?

• Hourly layout

• Horizontal layout

• Vertical layout

• Daily layout

Along with the layout of the planner, you have the structure of the planner.

• You can have a basic already-made planner. If you do not need a bunch of fancy pages/ trackers, just something already made that is cute or plain. If this is the case, you can get a coiled/ spiral planner that is ready and either plain or decorated.

• Do you want to customize it? There are different planners that allow you to add or remove things.

• Disc bound planner ( My preferred planner)

• Binder planner

• Do you need something that is completely blank and you can set up yourself with your own artwork or no artwork? If this is the case then you can do a bullet journal. This way you can add whatever type of layout you need or sections that you may need.

• Along with the structure you need to ask yourself if you want to be paper or digital.

You also need to make sure that you have time for your planner.

-Are you going to plan in the morning?

-Are you going to plan the night before?

-Are you going to use your, planner, once a week or every day?

-Are you going to be using it throughout your day?

Choosing a planner is very difficult there are different brands and pretty colorful covers. Make sure you do your research look at Pinterest and look through all the planners. There is going to be a lot of trial and error. What works for someone may not work for you. What is trending and cute may not work for you. If a planner is not working for you it's okay to try a different layout or brand or to get something that is guided. Keep trying until you find something that fits you and your lifestyle.

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My personal planning

If you would like to know my planner journey, how I use my planner and which one I use you may continue to read.

For the year 2023, I am using a classic vertical layout Happy Planner. It has taken me a while to get to this I have tried a bullet journal which was fun but it took a long time to make and I am not very artistic so I did not like some of my spreads and it took a long time to make them. I tried a binder planner and it was too small and just didn't work. That is the same with a mini Happy Planner it was too small for me. I tried a classic horizontal planner and I liked the size but realized I need room to make a list. I tried an hourly layout( the layout I used for 2022) to realize I did not use the times which bought me to use it as a vertical planner and not an hourly one.

What do I use my planner for?

• Daily task

• Cleaning

• Appointments

• Track my schoolwork

• Assignments due

• What work do I need to do that day

• Track my goals/ habits

• What my goals are?

• Steps to complete my goals

• If I completed the goals

• My blog post/ social media post

• Blog post ideas

• When I'm going to post

• Any printables

• Budget tracking

• Monthly budget

• Expense tracking

• Period tracking

• Tracking my mood

This is the reason I use a happy planner because most of it is already made for me and I can print/ buy extra pages/ trackers to add to my planner. I also use stickers from the happy planner to decorate my planner.