Creating My Planner
After trying a couple of different planners over the years and wasting time doing extensive research on the Internet, I came to one conclusion. I need to create my own. Actually, in doing my research, I found several people who made their own planners. I guess planners are highly personal.
I was particularly inspired by how Jennifer at I Heart Organizing created her own planner pages. I like that they are colorful but clean. But still not with the week plus to-do list layout I wanted.
So I created my own pages. Clean, colorful, fun, pre-dated. One week on one side, matching To-Do list on the other. A Martha Stewart Discbound notebook as the cover.
I really love this cover. The blue is soothing and pretty, but the silver discs really make it sing. I would have liked to have found it in pink (Hello, Martha- are you listening?), but this one is nice, too.
I love, love, love how this turned out! Lots of space to write. Bright and cheerful. A To Do list. What more could a girl want?
I used Martha Stewart tabs and my label maker here. I can’t find the tabs anywhere anymore, I just happened to have used them on last year’s planner. I actually couldn’t even find them in my house, either, until the day I took this picture. They are made from a sturdy card stock and the adhesive part is strong, too. Martha? Yeah, you need to bring these back. (As if Martha reads my blog!)
True confessions time. I totally copied the title page from Jennifer at I Heart Organizing. I just really liked it and my inner graphic designer took over and I couldn’t help it. On the other side is my “if found, please contact…” page. In the little pockets in the front cover I tucked our family cards and our Pumpkin Girl Designs business cards.
I was surprised at just how easy this was to put together. I worked on it a little at time and once I got the template made it went very quickly. I skipped monthly view calendars because I never use them. I skipped a perpetual “special days” page as well, mostly because I couldn’t it to the right size, but I never use those pages anyway. For filler pages I just used the pages that came with the binder. I tucked them in the back for when I need more extensive notes than just a To Do list.
So there you have it! Nothing to fancy, but totally customized to fit my needs. What do you think?
I like it!
I would love to be organized and use such a fine, fine tool.
But alas, I am not.
One time … about 1995 my husband bought a Mead day planner or something. He carried it on a trip he took back then. He journaled in it for that short trip only. It has several tabs, calendar, address book, little sweet pockets, a clear pouch, notepad, and zippered pockets in the cover. I called it ‘my brain’. I tote it around the world. Probably the most valuable thing in it presently are my children’s SSNs. I have the sweetest photo of my baby playing the blue Coleman cooler in it. He’s 17 now. There are multiple glasses prescriptions in it. I have stamps from Ivory Coast in it. There’s a magazine picture of a cute baby cut out by a niece. And many other things. It’s a random collection of whoever I was back then. I have no idea why I carry that thing around the world. But when we were robbed in Switzerland in 2010 and they went through all our possessions and took every tiny bit of cash we had, they never found my stash in ‘my brain’. So it does have value.
Playing IN the cooler @jani –
Beautiful, Lorri! Very professionally done.
Making my own planner pages is my only real hobby. I spent more time making the kids checklists for school than I did actually planning their work. :p Of course, each one had to be individualized. Every year.
Very fun!
It’s so cute; I love it!!
Very pretty. I think planners you create for yourself usually work better than pre-made ones. I use custom pages most of the time but every now and then I switch back to pre-made for a while. But the custom pages work best for my life.
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I’m impressed. I just love it! You did a great job. You are so creative! Maybe you can show me how it’s done the next time we come to visit.
Love, Mom
@jani – That is so cool! Like a traveling scrapbook of sorts. Or a travel journal.
@Elizabeth – Glad to know I’m not the only one obsessed with making planners!
Thanks, Tami!
@Cindy in GA – Thanks, Cindy!
@Patty@homemakersdaily.com – I really was surprised to see that so many people make their own. I guess we all have those little things that work for us, probably a combination of other planners we have used or seen.