My LifePlanner & How I Stay Organized

Yes, I am one of those people that geeks out over planners and goes full nerd alert when it comes time to order a new one! I had heard a lot of good things about the LifePlanners from Erin Condren, with tons of blogger gals I follow raving about them. So this year I figured I'd give it a shot. I don't think I'll ever go back!

I'm sure a majority of you have heard about Miss Condren's oh so fabulous LifePlanners, but for those of you that haven't...let me be the first to introduce you! The LifePlanner is completely customizable from the front cover, to the weekly layout to the color pallet and more. The pages are sturdy and super easy to write on, it has cute fonts and quotes throughout and it's a great size! Basically...it's perfection in planner form!

Since I have loved mine so far, I figured it'd be fun to share it with y'all and talk about what accessories I use with it to help me stay organized.

My planner is the "Life She Loved" LifePlanner. I customized my cover with a beautiful peach color and my full name, all in white writing. For the inside I chose the horizontal weekly layout and neutral color pallet. I wanted my pops of color to come from all the stickers and pens I would be using. Lastly, I chose to get a gold coil and I'm so glad I did because it goes perfectly with the peach cover!

I'm a huge believer that if you are excited about your planner and what's going in it, than you will be even more excited to sit down and plan then stick to those plans! Everyone girl needs a little extra fun and cuteness in their life right?!

So let's talk about accessories! I'm obsessed with all the planner inspo shots that Makayla (@fashionablykay) shares! If you're not already, you should follow her and the hashtag #fashionablykayplanner for some seriously cute inspiration! Anyways, I came across her planner pictures and went to her blog to find some info on the pens she uses. I had some different ones originally, but they bled through paper easily so I wanted to try whatever seemed to be working for her.

She suggests the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pens and I started with just a few colors; black, dark orange and brown (since it was fall). I wanted to make sure I loved them before investing in more. After trying them myself, I can 100% recommend them as well! They write like a dream and make my handwriting better than I could ever do normally. And THEY DON'T BLEED at all! You can find them at several stores or online. Here's a set from Amazon and another one. If you don't want to commit to a full set before you try them, you can buy individual pens at Michael's...remember to bring your 40% off coupon!

Ok, now my favorite part...STICKERS! Stickers make my planner look so much better and help me get even more excited about planning. I've had several people recommend The Happy Planner sticker booklets from Me and My Big Ideas so I decided to try them out. Super cute and functional! But they are a bit on the pricey side: each book is about $20. Granted there are thousands of stickers in each one...but I just couldn't justify spending that much. I checked trusty ol' Amazon and Hobby Lobby as well to see if I could find them cheaper. Amazon had some for $10 and some for $18 and Hobby Lobby had them for $20 (but $11.99 with their 40% off coupon). Just make you shop around to get the best deal! Hobby Lobby's stickers are 50% off pretty frequently. So if you can, patiently wait until you can score them for half off and slowly build up your collection!

The first sticker booklet I bought was the "Super Mom Mini" one. I know I'm not a mom yet, but it has all the functional and practical stickers like to do today, grocery shopping, laundry, travel, appointments, etc. The next one I bought was "Gold Star Quotes" because I mean hello...who doesn't want awesome inspiring messages in their planner?! Then I got the "Seasonal Mini", the "Food" and the "Workout" together on sale. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love the food and holiday ones...two of my favorite things! But really, they add more fun and personality to my planner and I love it!

I don't just get the sticker booklets...I'm always on the look out for cute stickers when I go into stores! I actually found some cute ones at Michael's and Tuesday Morning. I buy smaller packs of stickers that I don't want a lot of or are more for a specific occasion. The possibilities are endless!

Now that I've shared what tools I use to stay organized, I want to talk about some effective ways to stick to your plans and make sure you planner doesn't just become a pretty thing that collects dust on your desk.

First thing I do when I get a new planner is sit down and write everyone's birthdays in it. That's an easy step and something I know I obviously want written down so I don't have to remember all year. Then I mark important dates like anniversaries, vacations and when visitors are coming. If there are any other significant events or special occasions you know about early on, write them down!

Then I set a time when I can sit down and plan. You have to do whenever works best for you. Maybe Sundays? You know what they say...a Sunday well spent brings a week of content! Don't overwhelm yourself, just plan one week at a time (aside from the major things you should have already penciled in). Before you start adding events and stickers, make a list of everything on a piece paper. Brainstorm so that you don't have to erase or scratch things out on your planner and it can stay nice and clean. (Mine below is definitely not perfect...it's a learning process and you'll get better as you go!)

Start with your list of things to do that week (grocery shopping, laundry, pay bills, meal plan, run errands, etc). Now, make a list of family activities you have going on that week (kids sports, school functions, meetings, church events, doc appointments, etc). Next, make a list of workouts you want to do that week (cardio, arms, full body, spinning, etc). Then make a list of work tasks that you need to accomplish that week (meetings, supply runs, respond to emails, make calls, etc). Lastly, make a list of down time that you know you're gonna need that week (at home spa day, nail appointment, date night, binge watch Netflix, etc). Got your five lists? Great, let's keep goin'!

Now that you have your lists, it's time to start organizing your week! First, write down the events from each list that you know have a set time or have to be done on a certain day (i.e. kids soccer game, church meeting, pay bills, doc appointments, etc). Then fill in your days around those events with things from your lists that have a higher priority status (i.e. grocery shopping, work meetings/tasks, exercise, etc). If there's still room in your day after mandatory and high priority items are scheduled, fill in the rest of the day with the items from your list that may be lower priority but still need to be done (laundry, respond to emails, etc). Having said all that, there are still several important tips and tricks that I want you guys to remember when planning and scheduling out your weeks!

ONE: Do NOT overwhelm your days! Yes, it's important to have productive days...but if there's too many tasks or events or both for one day, none of it will get accomplished and you'll feel defeated. Baby steps, moderation and priorities...all key principles!

TWO: Make time for yourself! Whether it's binge watching a show, reading a book or taking a nap, make sure that your planner includes downtime! If you aren't taking care of yourself and staying healthy (mentally and physically), you can't take care of others or your responsibilities. Plus, happiness and joy are part of life too...not just all the jobs and tasks!

THREE: It's all about priorities! Make sure that the events or activities that you have no control over and are at set times make it into your planner, but for the rest...decide what's most important and make it happen. Don't forget tip number two though...schedule some time for yourself! Self love is so crucial!

FOUR: Use your stickers! Use them to highlight the fun things and help make the mundane, boring tasks a bit less so. Visualize different stickers as you decide where to place events and what stickers will go with it so you have a clear vision of what your planner and your week will look like.

FIVE: Don't worry about failure! It's totally ok to not get everything on your list done. It doesn't mean you failed, just move it to another day because life happens while we're busy making plans. Try to learn and adjust: as things aren't getting done, ask why and learn to schedule differently or smarter in the future!

I honestly love my personalized planner, my gigantic supply of stickers and the cute pens. I feel motivated and excited to plan my days and weeks out! Go crazy and have fun with it. It's a great way to express yourself and spark your creativity. Happy planning!