Dropped off the face of the earth!

It seems that just when I settle in for the cozy holiday season, the world takes a quick spin and suddenly I am so busy I'm catching sight of my own behind as I rush out the door. Sigh. I have great intentions of what I plan to do while I have those precious two weeks off school for Christmas Break, but the time sneaks away, and I'm left holding a list full of unchecked intentions.
So now I'm back!
I'm going to pretend that I was never overtaken by the rush of the holidays and give you a peek into what I'm doing to get back on track.
Planners!
Yes, again!
This time, I have an assortment of fancy fabulous planners that I hope to hang my dreams on. There's the Big Happy Planner, which should be spelled in all caps, it's so big. It holds all of my memories, the bits that I have printed off on my zink printer, the greeting cards, movie tickets, and business cards that spark my memory of a day well spent.
Then there is the regular sized Happy Planner, a gift from my bestie, Angela. It holds my plans for the week, the appointments, work hours, band practice, archery practice, and all the detritis that goes along with motherhood and family life.
Finally, there's my mini happy planner, small and sweet, that holds my plans for my writing. That's the one that the blog will emerge from.
So you can thank Me and My Big Ideas for my next few posts. I may even add a photo or two!!

Planners Gotta Plan

This summer, my sister introduced me to something new (at least new to me). My first venture into the planner phrase was The Happy Planner by MAMBI (Me and My Big Ideas). I had decided that I wanted something that I could use daily to keep up with my schedule, both at school where I work as a Speech Language Pathologist, and at home. I also needed somewhere to keep up with my side career as an author, to help track deadlines, signings, and events.
At first sight, I loved the planner. The pages were sturdy and could take pens, pencils, and markers. They had nice rich colors, attractive designs and patterns, and sayings. There was a summary page at the beginning of each month that outlined things like birthdays, special events, and goals for the month. Each month was laid out on the next two pages before the weekly pages started. And best of all, it was designed on the disk system. This system, like other ARC planners, is comprised of removable pages that hang on disks, sandwiched between interchangeable covers.
You could also buy others packs to go in the planner which included a household piece for daily cleaning chores, a meal planner, and a budget planner. Extended pages, spare pockets, additional tabbed dividers, post it notes, and stickers were all available. I quickly snatched up most of the extra items as well. And the planner is simply awesome for the day to day planning and, better yet, memory book. I was able to add tickets and bookmarks, business cards and receipts. The system allows for popping holes in almost anything and adding it to the planner. Eventually, I had to give up and buy the hole punch as well from the ARC system. (They have since released a hole punch for the Happy Planner specifically, which is cuter and less expensive than the ARC one!)
And when the planner got too thick, I simply used some of the additional covers that I had purchased, bought another set of rings for a couple bucks, and separated out the parts of the planner that I had completed. July through September went in their own book, where I would eventually add more months as my main book filled out. (The planner came with 18 months, so plenty of time to spread out between the two books.)
After some amount of time, with the addition of cute washi tape, stickers, some scrapbook paper, I was thrilled with the look of my planner. My only problem with this particular planner is that I didn't have enough space for work information.
So that began my search for a daily planner for more practical day to day life.
My Happy Planner continues to grow. It holds all the pictures, spare papers, newsletters, cards, and other memorabilia that I love so well.
So how do you plan, and how do you remember? Do you use different books for different things? The planner plot continues!

Planner Peace

As a writer, some of my favorite things are electronic. I like the lit screens, the buttons, the sounds, the click of keys, and the neatly typed words. In my computer, tablet, and phone I have a collection of documents and outlines, reams of lists and addresses. But there is something that I miss about the feel of paper against a pencil tip (yes, I like the scratch of the pencil oftentimes better than the slip of a pen).

              So my new thing has been planners. Sure, I’ve used planners for years, in high school it was a spiral bound one with Ziggy on the cover, in college it was one from the University of Kentucky, but they have always been a purely functional thing. Now I have to admit it, I’ve kept them from year to year. Why? I loved looking back to see what I did in my daily life, back then when I was in school, or staying home with three small children, or just married with only my hubby at home.

              And then a whole new world opened up. In the summer, my sister introduced me to the new planner fad. Oh, they’ve been around forever, probably since the first cave man carved a jagged line in a cave wall to indicate the passage of time, but for the first time, planners have become a creative thing. So I looked up a few infamous reviews of Erin Condren planners, and from there I was hooked.

              I chose the cheap way. I went with the Happy Planner by MAMBI. It had the same set up as the most popular Erin Condren, but was on an arc system, which means that pages can be removed, replaced, and reordered. And then I had to buy a few cute tabs, some new covers, a few extra pages and folders, and I had dropped into planner mania. Next came the stickers, the colored pens, and then the plotting as to how I was going to make this system work with my life.

              The Happy Planner is great for the day at a time, three box system. To Do lists, meal planners, events; all fit neatly in the cool little boxes. They have a home planner addition that I snapped up as well. But after using the planner for July, August, September, I realized that I was having to add a lot to make it work for my job. As a speech therapist in the schools, my day changes over the week, seemingly never the same schedule twice! The planning space just wasn’t enough for work, for my fiction writing, my social media, and my family events.

              Oh, but it was so cute. So I’ll admit, with the stickers, the washi tape, and some cut scrap paper supplies, I’ve decided that this planner is going to be a more personal record. I have even gotten my hands on a Polaroid Zinc printer and added pictures. This is my scrapbook planner, the one I’ll look back on in the future to enjoy the memories. I love it, and I can add any little paper mementoes that I want, tickets, business cards, postcards, anything that can be punched and added. Yeah, arc system.

              For serious stuff, I’m trying something new. I have the KITlife Planner, which has a page per day with space for my writing job, my therapy job, my notes, and a neat area to list call backs (and I’m adding social media). It also has a business add on in the back to keep track of expenses, mileage, and several other pages. So that’s my new thing. New year, new organization.

              How’s it going, well, I’ll let you now after a few weeks of trial and error!

              So my other planner folks out there, what are you planning, and how are you doing it?