The first page you see when you open your planner should be welcoming. I suggest it contain a family picture, and anything else you'd like to see. My welcome page is made from an Avery page protecter, made for Avery mini binders. I simply trimmed the page protector so it wasn't so wide, then used washi tape to cover the trimmed edge, then punched it to fit into my discbound planner.
I put in some scrapbook paper for a nice background, then put in our current family picture, and a pretty journalling card. In/on the other side of my welcome page is one of the wedding photos of my hubby and I, from 1997. I use a cute arrow shaped paper clip I have, to keep the top-loading page protector closed. This way, I can put in the current family picture for each year, and change out the pretty journalling card whenever I want.
The next page should be a "dashboard." A dashboard is where you keep various sticky notes, for writing on right there, as reminders, or for writing a little sticky note, and then sticking it where ever it needs to go, for you to see it, when you need to see it.
I made my own dashboard. I simply laminated some scrapbook paper, and then stuck on several sticky notes from various sticky pads I have laying around.
You may want to adhere the bottom page of each sticky notepad to your dashboard with some double-sided tape. Also, make sure you don't put on a whole bunch of papers per sticky note section. Each sticky note pad should only contain several sheets, to keep it thin, and to minimize chances of stickies falling out of your planner. This is my current dashboard:
On the back is also pretty scrap paper background, and just bigger "to do list" sticky notes.
If you are not too keen on making your own dashboard, Arc by Staples makes some awesome dashboards already:
Consider getting or making some cute journalling cards to put in a few places in your planner. You've already seen the one I have on/in my welcome page. As we continue through this series, you'll see other journalling cards in my planner, placed here and there. Here's one I punched and put in my front matter:
By the way, did you notice I have a little pen loop attached to my dashboard? This is a Happy Planner pen loop that I got from Hobby Lobby. I've also seen these sold at some Michaels, as well. I have another pen loop on a folder in the back of my planner. I keep two pens in my planner. One is my main pen (the one in the back, not yet pictured), and the other one (the one pictured) is my twin tip Sharpie. I use the ultra-fine tip for writing on labels and washi in my planner, and the fine tip gets used when I need a thicker permanent marker, which is rare, but still handy to have readily around.
Having a pocket folder is nice to have in your planner, too. This way, you have a place to store loose papers, and perhaps bills that are waiting to be paid. Here is one of many different pocket folders that Staples Arc has available:
You can place this pocket folder in your front matter, or in the back. I used to have one folder in the front, and another in the back, but lately, I like having just one folder, and currently keep it in the back.
My second pen loop is adhered to the pocket folder I keep in the very back of my planner. The current pen I'm using is a felt tipped Bic for Her pen, in the color purple. I love that pen. It writes very nicely, and isn't very expensive. I got mine from the dollar store.
Here is a picture of my folder, with a Happy Planner pen loop holding my pen. Remember, I keep this folder in the back of my planner, not the front:
You may want to put a pocket folder as the next thing in the front matter of your planner, as it does come in handy. The last thing that should be in the front matter of your planner is some blank paper. This is for writing grocery lists, sermon notes from church, used as scratch paper, etc:
If you have some pretty and fun paper you want to add to your scratch paper section, go for it. In the below picture, I put in some Heidi Swapp paper that I trimmed and punched. Also pictured in the below picture is a package of five beautiful dividers by Staples Arc. I suggest you either get these dividers (available at Staples, in various colors and styles), or make your own five dividers:
Either use the blank labels that come with the dividers, or do what I did, and use pretty washi tape as labels on the divider tabs. Label the dividers as follows:
Homemaking
Homeschool (if you don't homeschool, then whatever else you could use, here)
Budget (if your husband takes care of the budgeting, then make this into whatever other section you'd like it to be)
Notes
Plans
This is a good stopping point for this installment in the Planner University series. In the next installment, we'll begin working on the Homemaking section.