How to set up a planner

This short little “how-to” is to assume that you already have a planner and the accessories for the planner.  If you do not or plan to get one, look here for inspiration:

Planning for Beginners the 2020 edition part 1

If this is you, that’s great.  Otherwise, let’s get started in the art of setting up your planner.

First, I want to get this off my chest:  I know many of you feel like that this cannot be done, but it can, and I encourage you to give it a try.  I can rest assure that the planner police will not come to revoke your planner card because you did not put your stickers in the right place.  I have not seen one yet.

The planner is a part of you.  You are putting part of you in this book.  This book will help you remember where you are going on a certain date.  It will help you figure out your financial woes and highs.  You will know where you and your family are supposed to be at all times.  It will spring memories.  It is sort of like a scrapbook where you can put in photos to remember a date, a time, or space where it was joyful or sorrowful, uplifting or fearful, birthdays and deaths.  It is   Planners are not just a one year thing if you let it.  I have all of my Erin Condren life planners from the time I started buying them, which was 2015, and I will continue to have them. Yes, will be a time when I have to get rid of them, but I am not ready to do that.  I will discuss it later.

all right there for you to look at.

Photo by DraCat for Pixabay

For right now, it is all about your planner, and it does not matter if you have an Erin Condren Life Planner, A Happy Planner, A Carpe Diem planner, a planner from Dollar Tree, or even a handmade planner from a binder.  The point is that we (including me) arrive at the same conclusion, and that is to be in a time management mode, where you are not running around wondering where did the time go.  You can even do this on your smartphone, computer, or tablet.  For right now, we are going to concentrate on the paper planner.  There are two styles to everything, including the planner.  There is your standard planner, manufactured by the company who made it and frankenplan it. More on frankenplan in a moment.

Standard planner.

I will be using my 2019 Erin Condren Life Planner for this example.

You will need:

• Your planner
• Your planner’s accessories
• Any pens or markers you want to write with.  Make sure they do not bleed through to the next page. You can do a pen/marker test. I use the Erin Condren Dual tip markers and the Sakura Pigma Micron 01 – Pigment Fineliners.   I have tried many types of pens, including the Spectrum Noir which I found that is strictly for scrapbooking and cardmaking.  Since I was a cardmaker, I thought, “Why not”.  These markers do bleed through on the other side.

Frankenplanning

Frankenplanning a planner is just that.  You are taking two or more planners and placing them in one planner setup.  This takes a little bit more doing, but it is doable. This is for the person who wants to carry only one planner but likes more one layout.

Example:

I have 4 planners.  They are all from Erin Condren, and they are

• The Erin Condren Life Planner-Horizontal layout
• The Erin Condren Life Planner-binder style.  Horizontal layout
• The Erin Condren Life Planner Petite Folio
• The Erin Condren Life Planner Deluxe Monthly Planner

One of the things to note:  I can frankenplan the following into one.

Example #1: Combine Erin Condren Life Planner spiral into Erin Condren Life Planner Binder to put the personal and business planners together, order extra pages for the binder to create a Home, Budget, extra business section.

Example #2: Combine the Erin Condren Life Planner-Deluxe Monthly Planner and the Erin Condren Life Planner -Binder Style in with the Erin Condren Life Planner, keep the spiral look to it by taking it to Staples, or another binding shop, and have them do it.  The problem is that most bookbinding shops give you the argument about the policy of planners being are under copyright law (at least in the United States), they will not take on a job like this, but you will have to explain to them that the planners are your personal planners.  You can always do it yourself.  All you need is a spiral hole punch that fits the Erin Condren Life Planner holes. 

Example #3: take example #1, and put the whole thing in a 2” or 3” binding system.  The problem is you cannot carry it around.

Now you see why I am not into Frankenplanning a planner.  I can separate my areas and work them that way. Maybe one day, but not today.

So let go back to if you have a standard planner (no frankenplanning involved)-Yeah!

I am going to assume that you have one planner.  These things can get quite expensive.  Here is a hint.  Get them on sale 6 months before the year starts and/or sign up for the following on the Erin Condren website:

• Newsletter
• Rewards
• Inside scope
• Affiliate if you write a blog as I do. 

1. Collect all of your dates that you have standing or received between July 2019 and now.  They must have the 2020 date on them.  For example, my last doctor’s appointment was in July, and I was not scheduled for another until next month (January 2020).  I only had my binder at the time, which is a 2019-2020 binder (July 2019-December 2020).  Now that I have one, I wanted to place inside of my main planner.  I wrote a note in my current 2019 Erin Condren Life Planner and my Erin Condren Life Planner -Binder Style until setup time.  I had the pages, but I took them out until it was time.  I also placed the appointment on my Ipad.
2. I use the Deluxe Monthly layout Planner as a budget, so I need to set that up with all of my bills and incomes. 
3. For my Business life planner, which is the binder, I will be putting in my income (as a snapshot), video and blog post ideas, as well as handmade product ideas.  I will also be keeping an eye on my social media stats in this binder.  Craft supplies (personal and business) inventory are kept in a pink binder.
4. For the last planner, I am doing a bullet journal.  It is the Erin Condren Petite Folio.  Now I will admit that I was not fond of the folio at first, nor the concept of a bullet journal.  After some research, I found that the bullet journal may make a place in my heart, although, I have some reservations about it.  The reason is I have to learn how to write small again.  This is the one thing I like about the Erin Condren Life Planner horizontal layout.  In the horizontal layout (there is also the hourly and the most popular vertical)- I have lots of room to write big, write out detailed instructions, write multiple events.

I have not figured out a home schedule yet.  The reason is I do not want to.  My nephew and his girlfriend are still living with me until the first of the month (maybe, at least that is what my mom says).  When they move out is when I have full control of my house again, and I can have a cleaning schedule, a wash schedule, and a meal schedule again.  Once I have that, then I am ready to organize the craft room to go upstairs to their room.   OK, I am typing ahead of myself. 

I hope that this gives you some pointers on how to set up a system that is pleasing to you.  As I said in a previous post, you can decorate however you want to.  I will not judge.  Stick to a sticker and accessory budget that does not break the bank.

I would love to see your layouts, so place in the comments section your thoughts on setting up your planner for 2020.

Related Articles:

It is almost Time (Planner Set Up)
Planning for Beginners the 2020 edition part 1