Create a planner system that works for me.

I’ve decided to make my own planner with Excel, using A5 paper XD. I’ve printed out the yearly calendar (along with the public holidays, exams and school holidays on it)

Then, I’ve made weekly calendars.

I have also printed a few papers for my Reading Lists and Yearly challenge

Names, Address and phone numbers papers

Websites urls

To-do lists

Shopping List

Finance Management

and many more.

I’ve binded it all in a Ring Binder, kinda easy to remove and such.

The cover is decorated with random stuff.

I really do need to find a routine that works for me. I don’t think this is about the planner, but much more about the plan.

a combination of a commercial weekly “pocket” academic calendar and some other things… what I finally realized is that I don’t want to carry it all around all the time.

BUT a useful exercise because it is a big step forward. I suspect I’ll be refining forever.

My planner is a leather bound zippered binder that accommodates pages of half letter sized paper. It’s got a open side pocket on the inside front cover for miscellaneous stuff, a zippered pocket and slots for cards on the top part of the pocket. The back inside cover can accommodate a note pad inserted into a slot. I have 6 general dividers and then alphabetical dividers for contacts. The first divider is labeled “DAILY” and I have sheets in there that accommodate a schedule from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., a To-Do list, Notes, Phone Call list and a couple other slots for miscellaneous use. Now, I don’t use that all the time, but if I’ve got a lot to do I use sheets like that to help me plan out the day so nothing is missed. The second divider is labeled “WEEKLY” and I have each week (Sun. thru Sat.) with the dates of each day on it along with room to plan out the week. Also behind each week, I have a weekly checklist of things that I should be doing each day for a whole week. (Now I’ve been using it for several months now, and I finally don’t need it any more because I remember to do things pretty well now without it.) The next divider is labeled “MONTHLY” and I have one sheet monthly calendars there. The next divider is labeled “PROJECTS” and I use that for a combination of things. I do have a copy of my church reading plan that we’re to do each day that I’ve reduced to fit the binder. I also have a miscellaneous page that can accommodate a log for things if I’m away from 43T, and still keep up with my goals here. The next divider is labeled “FINANCES” and this is something new for me, because typically I haven’t combined that into my planner before. I’ve got check register pages, shopping list pages, and auto maintenance log pages. The last divider is labeled “NOTES” and I have two different things in there. One is my reference guide for my storm spotter reports that I’ve copied and reduced down to size for the binder. The other thing is my note-taking pages. At the end, I have some pages to put people’s birthdays and anniversaries. Now, you know what I have. And, I plan on continuing to refine this, too.

I have a winner. :)

and I think it may wind up being a combination of a commercial planner and one I make myself. Still digesting info at this point, tho.

Deni, thanks so much for that link.

my system seems to be working really well so far. I’m starting to get in the groove with it.

I’ve already got some additions I want to add, though. Mainly these are reference-type pages, that aren’t for planning, but I really should have where I am on the spur of the moment if needed. I also have a reading schedule for church that I seemed to have lost this week, and when I find it or get a new one, I want to put it in there, too.

I’m in the process of assembling it right now! It’s going to be so nice to have almost exactly what I want page-wise in my planner!

I finally decided that I wanted daily pages, weekly pages, weekly task checklist, offline logging pages, check register pages, shopping list pages, car repair log page, birthday/anniversary pages, contact pages, and note-taking pages. I would still like to have some type of page for a journal type kind of set-up, but haven’t found anyting I like yet to serve the purpose.

This is really going to be good once I get everything done. :)

that creating your own planner would be so much work???

I feel I’ve made good progress with this today, though. I will share with you all my progress on this tomorrow. It should be done. :)

I’ve been working for about 2 hours on this project tonight. I’ve got all my address book pages at least printed out. I’m still evaluating what pages I want to serve as my checklist pages, daily to-do pages, weekly/monthly calendar pages. I’ve decided on some of the peripheral task pages, though. If I can get my printer and computer to work properly together, I should get this complete by tonight. At least the preliminary plan for the planner. I still have to test it to make sure it serves its function well, or whether I’ll need to do some adjustments.

Goal one statement: Success will be awarded when I am able to have every task centralized to my planner. (This is because I’ll be organized more fully, not be prone to lose things as easily, and eliminate excess clutter. The overarching reason is to simplify my life, though.) Measurement of progress will be determined by off-site sources. Progress will be reported once or twice a month or as needed additionally.