Today, we are going to finish the Plans section of your planner, and we'll finish the rest of your planner, in total, in the next installment. We are getting close to having a near perfect planner. Isn't that exciting? :-)
Future Planning
The first page to have, right after your last monthly calendar page, should be a Future Planning page. I'm writing this in 2016, so my current Future Planning page says at the top - "Future Planning - 2017." Just use a sheet of filler paper for this.
On the sheet of filler paper, simply write down the date in 2017 (the next year), and what is going on, on that date. So far, I only have one thing on my Future Planning page, and that is a dentist appointment.
Towards the end of each December, start setting up your new planning pages for the next year. That will also be the time to look at your Future Planning page, so you know what to immediately mark on the next year's calendar.
Your Daily Planning Pages
This is where it can get expensive, or not at all. This all depends on what type of planning pages you want. Some people will spend 50 or more dollars, just for planning pages, and these pages may be worth it. Some of the planning pages out there are just phenomenal. They have a great layout, they are user-friendly while being aesthetically pleasing, and they are on high-grade, thick paper, so there is no pen bleed through, and the paper is nice to doodle on, or place many stickers on.
I do enjoy viewing, and sometimes getting and trying out these various different planner page layouts for daily or weekly spreads. Here's the thing, though... Sometimes I need a whole page to plan my day. Sometimes I need two pages to plan my day. Sometimes I only need a small space to plan my day - perhaps just a few, or several lines.
Since I've personally noticed that depending on the time of year, and what's going on, on a specific week, dictates what type of planning pages I need, I have moved to a form of planning, called "bullet journalling." However, I don't follow any specific bullet journalling techniques or processes. My form of bullet journalling is more of a mish-mash of bullet journalling, Franklin Covey tasks lists, and my own flair. Therefore, instead of calling it "bullet journalling," I tend to refer to it as "bullet task planning," or variations thereof.
With my system, it only costs a few bucks for planning pages each year, and it is completely customizeable. When I have a slow week, I may only need one or two sheets of planning paper. When I have a busy week, I may need two sheets of paper per day. On average, though, I tend to fit one or two days per page, and that has been suiting me just fine.
Before I show you how to set up your daily planning pages, we need to first set up your Master To Do List, and your page finder...
Your Page Finder
You will need some type of marker, to mark which day you are on, in your planner. If you are using tabbed monthly calendar pages, like the Flavias or Kathy Davis ones I showed in the previous installment, then you can use the month's tab to turn directly to the month you are in, whenever you need to.
However, the daily pages are obviously not tabbed. Some ladies like to use magnetic bookmarks to mark where they are, but I personally prefer and suggest a page finder. Some ladies like to use Arc, Happy Planner, or other disc brand note papers to mark where they are, such as the following:
If you like this, then I suggest you go ahead and laminate several sheets of this note paper, as it'll make it more secure and stiff, and the bookmark will last longer. You don't have to own a laminator to laminate these. You can laminate it with simple packing tape. Just put a layer of packing tape on it, trim, re-punch, and you are all set.
The best page finder, IMO, is to use an official disc page finder, with a ruler on it. This way, you have an accurate straight edge, a sturdy bookmark, and if you need to measure something (which I've had to before) you have a ruler, right there. You can get a page finder for discbound planners at Staples. My Staples has one for their Arc system, and one for the Martha Stewart discbound system.
I'm currently enjoying the Martha Stewart page finder.
The Master To Do List
A laminator is suggested for making this page, but not mandatory. You are going to create a Master To Do List, which goes with your Master Schedule from your homemaking section. This is going to be a sturdy page, which will be moved, along with your page finder, to each day, on your daily planning pages.
Below is a picture of my laminated Master To Do List, along with my Martha Stewart page finder:
The Master To Do List contains pretty much everything you are to do, each day. This way, you are not constantly re-writing some of the same things over and over again from day to day, on your daily planning pages. Instead, you follow your Master To Do List, and then you have a time during the day, where you look at your daily page, and follow and mark off things on that page.
Your Master To Do List and daily page are facing each other, so that when you have your planner opened to your page finder, you are looking at both your Master To Do List, and your day's page.
To make a Master To Do List is simple:
1) Write or type up a list of everything you need to do, each day. Look at your Master Schedule in your homemaking section, and basically copy just about everything down from your column, for your Master To Do List.
2) Your Master To Do List doesn't contain times, like your Master Schedule does. There may be a few things where you will need the time written. If that is the case, just put the time in parentheses. Else, you can always check the time slot for said task on your schedule.
3) When you need to make sure your children are getting specific things done, while you are doing your task, you can write/type their tasks on your Master To Do List, next to your tasks, but put their task in a different color. Decide if you will use one color for your children, and one for yourself, or if each child will have a different color. I generally color code my children for homeschool and chores, but not usually for the Master Schedule, or Master To Do List.
4) By the way, if there is something you want to change on your Master To Do List, but it's already made and in your planner, then place some thin washi tape over where you want the change, and use an ultra fine tipped Sharpie, and write the change on the washi tape. Then, every once in a while, like every few to several months, you can print out a new Master To Do List, and implement the changes on that.
5) Now break up your Master To Do List into sections. In a different color and/or font, label from when you arise, until just before lunch as "Morning." Label from lunch until you start cooking supper as "Day." Label from making supper and evening chores until after supper clean up as "Evening." Label what you do after supper clean up, until around your children's bed time as "Evening-Night." Label your before bed routine, and chores you do around the house - the last section, as "Before Bed."
If you want to do different labels, or different sections, obviously do what works for you. Basically, you may have noticed that I am showing you how to break up your Master To Do List into chunks of routines. You have your morning routine, daily chores and tasks (this is when you should likely do your Daily Chores, in addition to the things you have written for that day on your daily page), evening and night routine, and before bed routine.
6) Now design how you want your Master To Do List to look, then make it pretty. I printed mine out in different colors, and cut it out to be smaller than a half sheet of paper. I then adhered the list to a pretty sheet of scrap book paper, that I already had cut to the right size for my planner. If you are not planning on laminating, then adhere your list to some pretty card stock, or a pretty, trimmed down file folder - or some type of thicker paper.
7) Make your Master To Do List double sided, so that you can see it when your daily page happens to be on the left, or when your daily page happens to be on the right. Make sure your whole list fits on one side of the paper, so that you can have the exact same to do list duplicated on the other side.
8) Laminate (optional) your new Master To Do List, and then punch it, and put it in your planner, at your page finder book mark.
Your Daily Pages
You have your monthly calendar (as of the previous installment in this series), your page finder, and your Master To Do List. To complete your planner section, we now need to set up your daily pages. I discussed your daily planning pages a bit, earlier in this installment. We are going to use simple disc filler paper, and set up a type of bullet task planning system, that is completely customizable to you, and only costs a few bucks to do. As to where to keep your daily pages, I suggest you keep them all together, after all of your monthly pages. You have the monthly tabs to help you turn to the month, and you have your page finder, to help you turn to your day. Let's make those daily pages:
1) If you don't already have some - buy some discbound filler paper. Staples currently sells filler paper for Arc Junior, or the smaller Martha Stewart discbound notebooks, and either will work nicely in your planner. I have both, and like both. If you don't want to purchase filler paper, you can take paper you have laying around, trim it to size (half sheet of U.S. paper), punch it, and use that as your filler paper. This will work just as well.
2) Decide if you will want one page per day, two pages per day, two pages per week, two days per page, or any other variation. Remember that you can change it up, at any time, no problem. I almost always go with one page per day. On days where the page may be more sparse, I can journal, write little reminders, doodle, or decorate with extra stickers and washi tape. The rest of these instructions will be as if you are setting up for one day per page, but if you are not, you can easily tweak the instructions to work for your desired setup.
3) At the top of your filler page, write down the date, and day. You can do this in regular pen, and leave it at that, or put on some washi tape, and write it on the tape, or use a label maker, etc. You decide. Most of the time, I just write the date and day, and then I draw a type of dotted line design around the day. That ends up looking cute to me, so I usually leave it at that.
4) Use a square bullet (or any kind you want) to list tasks that need to be done. Use a diamond bullet to write down tasks you are reminding other people to do. Use a heart bullet for special dates and such with your hubby, use an asterisk bullet for just reminders, use an arrow bullet for discussion topics that may need to be handled that day, use triangle bullets for appointments, etc. Obviously, you don't have to use the exact bullets I just mentioned. Perhaps you want to make your own bullet key, and use that.
5) To write out your daily page, first have the day and date at the top of the page, then use your bullet key, and just start writing down what you need written down for that day, in any order. Your different bullets will draw your attention to what's what.
6) On some days, I need to have my bullets in a particular order, because it is a very busy day. For days like that, I first just write my bulletted list in whatever order I think of it in. Then, I go back, and number them. I'll put a little number 1 by the first thing that will need to be done, a 2 by the second one, etc. Anything that doesn't need done in a particular order, I'll leave un-numbered, and just get to it sometime that day.
7) Consider using some functional planning stickers. I use mine sparingly, and mostly when I want to make certain tasks/bullets stand out, more than usual. For example, yesterday I had a carpenter come over, to replace one of our patio doors. That bullet had an "important" sticker next to it, to remind me to make sure the area was clear for him to work, and to remind me to crate the dog while he worked, etc. Two of my children had an appointment, so I used a picture sticker, with a symbol that matches their appointment. My oldest had to go to work yesterday, so I put a briefcase sticker next to that bullet. On trash days, I use a cleaning type of sticker, etc.
8) Sometimes you may have something on your bulleted task list that is super important, and you're not sure that a priority number, or sticker will grab your attention well enough. In cases like this, highlight that task. You can use a highlighting marker, or a neon, translucent sticky flag. I had a particular task that was very important and time sensitive yesterday, so I put a bright yellow, translucent sticky flag over the top of it, so that task jumps out at me every time I look at that page, and the task was done.
Below is a picture of one of my recent planning pages. You'll notice I used different bullets, some functional stickers, a translucent yellow flag to highlight something, etc. The sticky notes and such were added for anonymity, but judging by the picture quality, I probably didn't need to do that step, LOL.
Also, you can somewhat see in the above picture how I mark off my bullets. If the task was completed, I put a check mark in/on the bullet. If the task was not completed, I use an X. If the task is to be migrated to another day, I put an arrow through the bullet.
9) Only keep enough filler paper in this section of your planner for a month's worth of planning. You have the whole year in there, via your monthly pages, and your future month planning is done on those. You have a Future Plans page for stuff coming up next year. Therefore, at the beginning of each month, take out the daily planning pages you used, and either toss, store, or file them, and put in their place about 30 or so blank pages to plan for the new month.
With this type of planning, you are only spending a few bucks on filler paper, or trimming and punching your own filler paper. You are not spending the big bucks on pre-made planning paper, which can get pretty expensive, and may not always work for you, if your days vary as much as mine can, sometimes.
Making Sure You Actually Check Your Planner
Many ladies complain that they put all sorts of time and effort into making a wonderful planner, but it just sits on their counter, or in their purse, and rarely ever gets opened, and they keep missing appointments, because they keep forgetting to check their planner.
Here's how to fix that:
1) Each night before bed, plan out the next day in your planner. Personally, I usually plan in bed, shortly before I turn out the lights. This helps me visualize the next day, and that is de-stressing for me. I know that there is a plan for the next day, and it is all set up, so I just need to get some sleep.
2) Every morning, as one of the very first things you do, open your planner. Turn it to your page finder, where you will have your daily task page already written out, next to your Master To Do List. Skim over your plans and tasks for the day, then begin your morning routine, as listed on your Master To Do List. If you need time slots, then turn to your Master Schedule in your homemaking section, and follow on that.
3) Check things off on your daily task list, as they are completed. You may also want to check things off on your Master To Do List. If it is laminated, you can use dry erase markers, wet erase markers, or certain permanent markers, which wipe off with rubbing alcohol. Or, you can use a sticker or flag to mark your place, and just move the sticker down one line each time you finish a task. Consider marking off (or stickering) each task you finish, even if you know what to do next, as this will get you into the habit of checking your planner often, and this is a habit you want to get in to.
4) Wear a watch that has multiple alarms on it. Each night before bed, after you have done your planning for the next day, synchronize your watch alarms with certain appointments or specific tasks on your task list. Then, the next day when an alarm on your watch goes off, you can check your planner, and see what's supposed to happen, or be done at that time.
5) Have your planner with you. Put it into your purse for when you go out, have it next to you when you are doing sit down work around the house. When you are doing work all over the home, place your planner in one central location, so that you can always find it. My specific location for this is usually a kitchen counter.
There you go. Most of your planner is complete, but not all of it. The next installment in this series is the last one, where we will finish up the rest of your planner.
