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!
