Staying Organized and a Confession
Happy Monday, folks! People frequently ask me how I keep everything in my life together. Honestly, keeping everything together 24/7 is a myth. I don’t believe anyone who claims that they never drop the ball on something or that their life is perfectly balanced between home, family, and work. So, my first response is typically “I don’t have it all together,” and that’s the truth. Now there are definitely things that I do to try and keep my life as organized as possible, and today I want to talk about one of them.
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My initial horizontal planner
I’ve always been big on planners and for most of my academic career I used the At-A-Glance Weekly Academic Planner. After I got married and had Sesame, I realized I needed a bit more space and a way to organize household things as well. I tried a MomAgenda for a few months, but it still didn’t work for me and last Fall I came across Erin Condren’s Life Planner. I read tons of reviews before taking the plunge. I was reluctant because I’m a horizontal planner and the Life Planner was initially vertical, however I made it work.
This summer Erin Condren offered a horizontal planner and while I still had 6 months left in my initial plan, I decided to switch just in time for the new semester to start. It was seriously the best decision I made because I’ve finally found “planner peace,” a phrase used in the planning community when you’ve found the best planner for your personal needs.
Finished layout for the week..
Confession: If you haven’t already figured it out, I am a planner nerd. I’m talking I buy stickers and everything to organize my layout each week. While I’m not as extreme as some people, I don’t cover my planner in stickers completely, but I do use functional stickers to make things pop each week.
Every Sunday (or Monday) I sit down with my sticker binder, favorite pens, and I start with a blank space and a sticky note that I’ve been jotting down notes on about important dates for that week. I decided on a color scheme, so that it doesn’t look as cluttered as my brain feels most weeks. For the most part, my weeks look the same lots of teacher prep, writing, reading, and crocheting. I like to use computers, colored pencils, books, notepads, and yarn stickers to designate the important things for the week.
My favorite planning tools:
Erin Condren Life Planner (this link saves you $10 off your first purchase)
Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pens
The majority of my sticker collection comes from Lille Henry on Etsy. There are lots of different shops out there, but her work is impeccable and I like that the stickers aren’t meant to take up the entire white surface. I know some planners don’t like white space, but I love it. I also love that I’m supporting another WAHM when I purchase.
Any other planner nerds out there? What are your favorite tools? Let’s chat in the comments…
