How To Use Your Planner
If you follow my instagram, you know I share photos of my weekly spreads “before the pen.” What you don’t see in these photos is all the other things I track in my planner. You may think a planner is just for keeping track of your daily schedule and birthdays, but it can be so much more. In this post I am going to talk about what I’ve been tracking in my planner and what I plan on adding for next year (because yes, I am already putting together my planner for 2022!). I want to go ahead and say straight away that I am in no way affiliated with nor sponsored by The Happy Planner (thought I would certainly love to be!) I just really like their products. I know they can be expensive if you are buying new releases, but I signed up for their emails so I am always notified of sales, and let me tell you, sometimes their sales are AMAZING!!
Of course I track my day to day life; I have meetings to keep track of, birthdays to remember, and women’s club events to be on top of. Those are the types of things I track in my weekly spreads (which again, you can see weekly on my Instagram, @SuburbMomMaura). In the monthly section of my planner, I track which weeks are pay week in the month, when recycling comes (sadly ours is not collected every week), when I need to fertilize my plants, which week to clean my comforter or pillows, when I need to change my contacts, and I pencil in social events before I’m ready to commit and write them on the weekly spread. This is a great place to also track when bills or payments are due, you can track your period here, really anything that you want to look at on a monthly basis is great to track in this space.
I read a lot (in case you hadn’t noticed!), and to keep track of what I’ve read in a month I used stickers to cover the notes section on these pages before the monthly spread to make a reading list. Depending on how many books I read in a month this can get pretty crowded. For next year, I am actually going to make a section just for tracking what I read. I am going to use plain lined paper, decorate the top of the page with stickers and write the month name, and have much more room for tracking which books I read. If you are not a reader, you can track new musicians you’re listening to or want to listen to, recipes you want to try or restaurants to check out, you name it!
I’ve posted multiple times about meal planning and how I meal plan for two weeks, and there has to be a way to keep track of everything. That way, of course, is in my planner! I have an entire section dedicated to meal planning in my planner, and it’s pretty self explanatory; I write down the meals we are going to have for the week, if I need to buy something I write it in the shopping list section, and then I make sure I add those items to my grocery list before going out. It’s great having my meal plans on me at all times because I am always thinking about my next task or what I have to do later, so if cooking happens to pop into my head, I can flip to my meal planning section and know if I have to defrost something later.
Mental health is super important to me, so I added a wellness tracker section to my planner. In this section, you can track any exercise you do, your mood, your goals, your intentions for the day, reflections, reminders, self love, self motivation, gratitude… the list really goes on! This section can really be whatever is important for you to track for your mental health. I love posting stickers with positive quotes, I write my intentions for the day down, and if I exercise, I write down what I did and for how long. I also have stickers that are prompts, like “go for a walk” or “digital detox” or “me time.” I love when I am able to check these stickers off.
Did you ever consider that you can track your meals in your planner? I didn’t think of it until a couple months ago, and I am loving it! I use plain lined paper sheets and write each day of the week in a way that stands out. Underneath that I track my meals and snacks, what I drink, and how much water I’ve consumed in a day. This is especially helpful to have in your planner if you are trying to watch your weight or up your water intake - if your planner is always with you, you always have a place to record these things.
So while my weekly spreads may give me the day-to-day things I have to do, I have a section in my planner for daily to-do lists, which I think is a great tool for anyone, whether you’re spending your time at the office or a SAHM. I really like the pages I have in my planner right now, I write down my top priorities for the day, and then just all the other tasks I need to get done. It is SO satisfying when I am able to check off all my tasks for the day! I also really like the self care section at the top - you can never have too much self care! I also find these pages are great because I especially use them when I am working; I can jot down quick notes and things I need to remember/follow up on and don’t have to be scrambling for paper, I always have my planner right there.
One thing I am planning to add to my planner for next year is a budgeting section. While I do have my budgeting spreadsheet that I use, I just really like the idea of having everything all in one place, and my planner is the place. Not only can you track expenses, but you can track savings goals, no-spend days, and paying off accounts. I even have two snap-in envelopes in my planner, one to hold coupons, and one to hold receipts so I never forget to log a purchase in my budget spreadsheet, and going forward, I won’t forget to log it in the budget section of my planner!
Another section I am so excited to add to my planner next year is a section to track my garden and plants!! This will be two pages in each month where I can track gardening projects and tasks, when things need to be watered and fertilized, how much I’ve spent on my garden and plants, pest control, you name it! I have SO MANY house plants, and my vegetable garden gets bigger and bigger each year, so it will be really great to have a spot in my planner to keep track of it all! This was part of the Be Happy Box this year, and I’m really hoping going forward The Happy Planner adds a permanent extension pack for gardening because this might honestly be my favorite addition to my planner yet! I imagine if they don’t make an extension pack, I will figure out a way to make my own plant tracker going forward. I have to admit when I have both my veggie garden and house plants going, I become a bit of a bad plant mom, so having everything in my planner will make it so much easier to remember all the things I have to do to keep my plant babies alive. If plants aren’t your thing, you could totally make a section to keep track of pet issues (cleaning tanks, making vet visits, grooming, etc.) instead of having a section for plants.
My favorite thing about using The Happy Planner is that it is so easy to take sections in and out. If I had a full year of every section in my planner, it would probably be the size of an encyclopedia. Thankfully, pages snap in and out quite easily, so I only keep about six months at a time in my planner to make sure I can easily turn the pages and so it’s not too bulky. Sitting down to decorate my planner is relaxing to me; it’s a way to get out some creativity but also have some of the work done for me already so it’s not too difficult.
I know so many people are getting away from paper planners because everything is in the palm of our hands these days, but I really like writing things down and being able to flip open a page and look at it. I also really like the fact that I can track so many things in one place! Apps are easy enough, but I find flipping through different sections of one book when need be is easier, to me, than remembering to go into a bunch of different apps to log things. Really, you can use your planner however you’d like. It is so easy to customize planners to track the things you want to track and have the things you need on hand at all times. Do you use a planner? What is your favorite kind? Do you track something else I haven’t thought of here? Please let me know in the comments!
The planner I have been using this year.
The planner I am prepping for next year.
