Changing Planner Page Layouts to Make Them Work Better for You | Giftie Etcetera: Changing Planner Page Layouts to Make Them Work Better for You

Monday, June 8, 2015

Changing Planner Page Layouts to Make Them Work Better for You

I write about my daily dockets all the time. I've been using Quo Vadis Textagenda daily pages for a while now. I only use them when my day is busy enough to merit a daily plan.

Until now, I was using them as intended: schedule at top and tasks in the middle of the page.

But I changed things up today.



daily, planner, schedule, tasks, errands

I needed more space for my schedule and I needed a place to highlight stuff that is due TODAY and errands. I reconfigured the page:

*DUE TODAY (upper left)

I put a square (when Textagenda intends the morning schedule) in the upper left hand corner for things that must be done immediately. Since English reading eyes move from left to right and top to bottom, this is naturally the most important space on the page. I can't miss anything that goes here.

*ERRANDS (upper right)

Errands need their own list because they cannot be done one at a time, whenever I feel like it. It is much more productive to plan to do my errands as a grouping.

*WEAR/TAKE WITH ME OUT OF HOUSE (upper blue stripe)

*SCHEDULE (middle of page in left column)

By simply writing the numbers 8 - 12 and 1 - 8, I made a more useful vertical agenda.

TIP: To set it off the schedule with a thick line, line up the page marker along the left edge of the top middle blue square to make a perfectly straight line, then trace along the middle of the page.

*NOTES (middle of page in upper right column)

These notes are about my errands. More general notes go in the bottom right.

*TASKS (middle of page in the lower right column)

General should do tasks that can be rescheduled if needed go in the low priority lower right.

*MENU (bottom left)

I think this layout is going to work a lot better for me. I never loved the non-vertical schedule, but I don't want the schedule to take up the whole page or hide the "must do" DUE tasks. This new use of the planner pages solves that problem.

Quo Vadis is one of my favorite planners in part because of their more open formats. This is just one way to adopt that format to fit one planner's needs.

If you are trying to configure a planner page to work better for you, take a picture and share with me be clicking Etcetera below. My Facebook group is happy to help you make you pages fit your needs!

2 comments:

pattygardner.com said...

It's amazing the difference a few small tweaks can make. I love pages that allow that freedom easily.

Beth T Irwin said...

Hmm! Going to steal some of these. Thanks!