Plan With Me

I've been talking about planners and my obsession for a couple of weeks now, so let's jump right in! Here's my process from start to finish. First I start by outlining my week by sectioning off each day with headers I purchased off Etsy.  I went with a shop that allowed me to personalize them (color and writing) to fit my wants needs.  This planner came with an hour by hour layout and I tried that for a while, but found that it just didn't fit my style or needs.

I think if you're looking to structure your days to keep you on task or your work requires appointments all day, an hour by hour format is excellent. I may get a smaller daily A5 size planner that is hour by hour for this reason because I could use the help maximizing my days, but for me, that's not necessary for every day. I ultimately decided to cover up the hours with decorative washi tape, so I've utilized a decorative sticker in a functional way.

I then move on to inserting some other key elements and typically non-negotiable items, but ultimately everything is flexible because, well you know, (💩) life happens! And toddlers undeniably rule your world 😜! But if I had to pick something, these items include the kids extracurricular activity, at this point they're limited to one, and my extracurricular activity. My husband's schedule gives him flexibility, so for the most part he can work his stuff in when he wants and he usually has to work his schedule to accommodate our stuff.

I have turned a leaf and made a commitment to getting fit (more on that in future posts), so I make sure to log in all my gym days or activities. In doing so, I've already made the commitment to follow through and go because it's been added to my planner. I mean, let's face it, if you're a planner kind of person, chances are you have some anal retentive qualities 😉 and if you're like me, you don't really want to ruin a pretty planned page by trying to carefully remove a sticker only to have it tear through! So you go to the gym! Then you get to put a satisfying ✔ next to it after you've completed your task.

But if life happens, it's okay, there's a sticker for that too! I also add in my habit trackers. There are three activities I currently track because I feel like this action helps with the accountability aspect.  I get satisfaction from coloring in the bubbles for the days I uphold the habit and am disappointed when I see more empty bubbles than colored ones.  As of right now I'm tracking my Reading, this year's goal is to read 40 books, but I'm 8 behind my target at the moment. I hope to share with you in future posts a little about what I like and how I work in all that reading time. I'm also tracking my Exercise here.  In addition to marking them in my scheduling, I feel like I need another form of tracking as an incentive to do more.Lastly, I'm tracking Finance.  I have never ever had a real budget in my life, until just recently.  I discovered this awesome App, that you can also access on your desktop, called You Need A Budget (YNAB). I have a basic understanding of how to budget, but I was having trouble figuring out just where and how to start. It was also tough considering a household like ours where my income is fixed, because I'm salaried, and my husband's is variable, because he works in real estate and the money comes in whenever all the paperwork is done and both sides are happy. But now that I've found YNAB, it is all making cents 😆. So ideally everyday I log on and work on logging transactions and reconciling accounts.  I will also write more on this topic in future posts.

In addition to the physical part of getting fit, I'm also trying to be more conscious of what I eat, so I include meal planning for my lunch and dinner. It helps me shop for the week and if I get my lunch ready the night before, saves me some time and brain power.

Lastly, I add in all my fun kawaii stickers that are functional and write in all the stuff! As you can see I chose cakes for my date stickers because it's my birthday month 🎉🍻!

I would love to hear anything you're planning or already have implemented in your system. I'm always looking for ways to optimize.

What are some things that might be non-negotiable for you?

If you're new to planning, do you have a better sense of what you may want to implement in your system?

Can't wait to hear all the great stuff you have to share on your journey to rise up to be you!