Decorating a Planner With Distracting From Planning

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Let's all be brutally honest. Giftie Etcetera does not feature the prettiest planner pages on the internet.

Which Planner Pages Are Worthy of Top Tabs

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I've talked a lot over the years about how I use tabs in my planner (especially when I discuss my projects section), but I've never really focused on the tabs and how I position them.

Planner Tabs: The Case for Less Than a Handful

Planner tabs are used to divide a paper planner into sections. My planner only has four tabs now.

I know that number comes as a shock to a lot of planner people. It's crazy low, right?

It works, though, because I select the tabs so carefully.

I use no tab for my dashboard (consisting of sticky notes and blank paper).

After that, I put my projects section (not pictured). I used to have my master task list after that, but since I rarely use it except as a dumping ground, I made that list one of my active projects!

(That's a little bit brilliant. Don't you agree?)

Then I have calendar, future, and notes.

I still use tons of post-it tabs, to mark project sections or notes sections. But having only four permanent tabs means a lighter, thinner profile for my planner. It also mean, ironically, that I get to things more quickly when I have fewer options.

How many tabs do you have? What are they labeled as?

Etcetera.

5 Essential Sections That Every Planner Needs

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When setting up or updating a planner, one of the most critical decisions is how many sections (or tabs) to have.

There are five that cover almost any needs.

1. PROJECTS

Projects includes any current, multiple step plans that are happening.

Examples: 

*logging my youngest child's behavior for a potential epilepsy diagnosis
*doing a research project for work
*planning a birthday party

2. TASKS

Most tasks belong on the weekly calendar pages because they are active and coming due, but for those that need remembering but not on a serious timeline, this is the place to dump them.

Examples:
*clean out the deep freeze
*edit my novel
*make an emergency tote bag

3. CALENDAR

The monthly and weekly pages are the heart of the planner. They go in the middle so that the planner is easy to write in.

Examples:

*doctor's appointments (on monthly pages)
*pay tickets (on weekly pages)
*schedule dentist (on weekly pages)

4. FUTURE

Like Tasks, Future is a catch-all spot for anything happening after the calendar ends. (No tab is pictured because I put it right behind my calendar tab.)

Examples:

*husband's birthday next year
*yearly physical
*tax deadlines beyond the immediate ones

5. NOTES

Notes are exactly like Projects, but they are currently inactive, yet needed for reference.

Examples:

*list of current medications
*list of sizes for clothes shopping
*contact information in case of emergency

The full page sized Avery Dividers cut down to fit any size planner really easily.

Make sure to Pin this simple list for future reference!

Etcetera.

Partied at: A Little R and R, Wise Woman Linkup, Worthwhile Wednesdays, Waiting on Wednesday, Way Back Wednesday

How To Put Your Planner On A Diet (With Video Link)

Somehow, while I wasn't paying attention, my ring-bound planner got fat.

Now, I'm a pretty big girl, so I usually don't complain about fat. I work out and I eat lots of vegetables, but staying under 200 pounds is a constant struggle. So is carrying a fat planner! Am I right?

Recently, I lost 10 pounds...and I am pretty sure that my planner gained 10 inches.

(I measure inches like Crowley, so that's probably an exaggeration.)

(Double extra points if you know what that last sentence meant.)

For 2015, I streamlined my planner to make it light and easy to carry again.

HOW TO PUT YOUR PLANNER ON A DIET

Use Lighter Binders

Consider the exterior weight when deciding which planner to buy or use.

My Franklin Covey Boston is a creamy blue leather planner. It smells and looks amazing. But it is wider than most FC compact planners and it has generous rings. Plus, it is just heavy, even empty.

My FC Flourish is skinnier in width (but still holds compact pages) and is lighter, made of a fabric and vinyl material combination. 

I switched back to the Flourish.

Bonus: The vinyl exterior wipes clean and requires no care.

Limit Writing Instruments

I only use two pens - one for writing and one for highlighting completed items.

TIP: Instead of color coding, create visual codes that attract the eye, but don't require extra pens, like circling, underlining, boxes, little slashes, etc.

EXAMPLES:

No slash = you
// = partner/spouse

/// = Child #3

//// = Child #4

Nothing = you

W = Work
P = Personal

Nothing = you

O = Household
* = Work
! = Important

Don't Carry Too Much Spare Paper

I rarely carry more than 10 extra pieces of paper. I don't ever remember running out of space to write, even during conferences and other busy days.

TIP: Have a little basket with blank, holed-punched planner paper near wherever the planner rests at night. When you put your planner away, add more paper from that basket if you've used any during the day.

Only Carry Projects or Files That Need To Be On The Go

If a project or file is necessary on the go, put it in the planner. 

For example, my medical prescription list and my exercise logs need to go out of the house with me.

But things like old birthday party plans? They are useful, when planning another party, but I don't need them all the time.

TIP: For things that are best tracked electronically, like addresses, do that. For things best written out, like birthday party plans, use an old, cheap planner in the same size (or binder clips) to file those items together.

TIP: If unsure of the usefulness of a section, take pictures of sections before discarding.

TIP: If a section is truly home-based (like "where gifts are stored" notes or housecleaning schedules), store them at home. Don't carry them everywhere!

Use A Future Section

If there is a good future section, planners should not need more than 3 months of weeklies or 1 month of dailies. 

TIP: Use daily pages only when they are necessary. (For me, that's about 4 days a week.)

Use Page Markers Sparingly

A bonus advantage of using page markers sparingly is that it will be easier to find everything.

I only use them on my monthly and current weekly spread.

TIP: If magnetic page markers are used to keep several pages together, use them on the same page as the page marker, so that no extra width is added to the planner.

Replace ABC Files With Indexing

I know this is heresy in the planner world. But I cannot justify all the space and weight that address ABC tabs take up, when I can just do the Step 4 in this post. Seriously.

I did a video overview of my planner changes here, so go watch.

Etcetera.

DIY: Upgrading Planner Tabs

I love my planner tabs that I made a while back from craft paper (glued together, cut, and hole punched). But the template I used had the tab in one specific spot, so all the tabs ended up in that spot, each hiding the ones underneath it.

I needed a new set of tabs, and since I wanted something more lightweight and durable, I decided to buy tabs made for a planner, that were clear (so I could see my indexes through them) and big. I found some at Target (Avery brand), but only for a FC Classic-sized binder.

So I bought them (for under $4) and made them my own.

(No worries about the old tabs. They are only worn around the edges and will be cut into little closet dividers as part of my baby shower gifts to my many pregnant relatives. Big Catholic families usually mean three or four babies baking at any given time! The dividers will be labeled NB, 3 M, 6M, 9M, 12M, 18M, and 24M, for sorting all the not-yet-in-use new baby clothes.)

Please forgive the shadows, but they were necessary to show how this DIY project is done.

First, I binder clip the template to the clear, plastic tab.

Next, I cut and hole punch using the template.

TIP: Use a single hole punch for this job, so you can easily press through the plastic. Don't bother trying with the six hole punch. Ask me how I know. :/

TIP: When cutting, never quite let the scissors close. Just keep moving it forward, or you might break the plastic.

I also rounded any annoying edges. I like to keep the edges by the rings square, to protect papers, but round the outer edges.

Don't worry about perfection. Nobody is going to be comparing each individual tabbed page with the others.

The pages came with little tab labels.

One tab, by necessity because of cutting the tabs down to Filofax personal/Franklin Covey compact size, was going to hide a bit. Since Future is part of my calendar, it's the one I hid.

My tabs: Projects, Tasks (master list), Calendar, Future, Notes (some people do Files or ABC Files instead).

Etcetera.

The Proper Order of Things in a Paper Planner

***This post may contain affiliate links. These links help you find the items that I use in my planner and financially support this blog. See my "Disclaimer" link for additional details.***

Even though I keep staring at it intently and exclaiming, "Plannerist Upgrado!" while flashing my green quick-dry Pilot G2 Gel Ink Pen (because I'm a leftie, so quick dry ink is important) in the direction of my planner, my FranklinCovey Compact 365 Planner has not magically turned into a soft, buttery leather Filofax.

All those hours of yearning over the Filofax USA site are for naught, as I cannot afford to buy a Filofax without first putting it in my hands and feeling it.  My OCD won't let me. Hanging out with the Philofaxy people online is not helping matters. Visiting the only store in town that sells them and discovering only one ugly, shiny red plastic planner certainly was not satisfying.

In my dreams, the buttery leather planner, in the perfect color (whatever that is...whole 'nother post), fits everything I put in my cheap little planner now. My pesky big brain keeps pointing out that I like Franklin Covey layouts and their paper usually too wide for my dream Filos. Sigh. When I win the lotto, I am flying to a shop that sells nothing but paper planners and hand picking the right one.

In the meantime, reality happens. So I have to make the planner that I already own work. 

I think I am succeeding, too, as I have used the same planner since...wait for it...April 1st. That is a month and a half! (Shush. You know planner fail usually happens at the end of the first month of use.)

Without further lusting over what can never be, here are my tweaks:

Notepaper is the first thing in the planner.  

I actually don't like this particular style of notepaper, so I am considering making my own or splurging on some creamy Filofax paper paper next time, but it does its job. In a rush, I can open straight to notepaper. In this case, it holds my packing list for an upcoming weekend trip. (Note the clever use of "top under" and "bottom under." No one will ever guess that those secret phrases refer to my underthings. Stealth and intrigue, I tell you.)

Tasks go in the front, too.  

I actually rarely use my master task list, but it's a great catch-all for unimportant or "maybe" tasks. I rarely look at it, since more important tasks are assigned to a monthly or weekly task list or written on a certain day. Right now, all it says is "edit novel." Note that no editing has been done on novel since I wrote the romantic story of small town love last November.

P is for Personal. And Projects. I really should customize this tab to say "Projects."  

Projects go right after the master task list. 

Projects are listed on an index and then noted, on the corresponding date that the first task in the project must be done, on the weekly part of my planner.

The reason that all of this goes in the front of the planner is two-fold. First, these are things that I refer to a lot. Second, putting some of this stuff in the front and some in the back means that whatever date it is, January 1st or July 5th or December 10th, there is plenty of cushion on both sides of my weekly lists so that the paper that I write on most, the weekly pages, is sturdy and protected.

I use clear page markers. Before, I didn't mark monthly pages with a Today marker. But I found that I often forget which month it actually is. (See above, putting underthings on packing list.  Also see, having babies made me dumb.)  

Putting a clear marker to mark the monthly pages means I always know when and where I need to be. 

(If the marker is not transparent, you can't see everything. I hate that.  Why have two pages if I can't look at them all at once?)

I really love using a huge, transparent page divider (the same one I use as a hole-punch template) to divide my weekly pages.

Why this and not a normal today marker? I don't use daily pages. So if a day gets really crazy, I can whip out a sticky note, put it on the divider, and add extra stuff. This doesn't happen often, but on the first day of school, when I need to remember backpacks, water bottles, school supplies, carpool rules and times and id numbers, the new schedule, etc., that sticky note is a life saver.  

Finally, the Notes section cushions the back of the planner.  

I use an index page and the A/B, G/H, M/N, and S/T dividers to keep track of on-the-go information, like names and numbers of babysitters, a list of the medications that I take daily, and ideas for my next novel (after I edit this one...sigh).

All I did, really, was change the order of things, but I think this will get me through the hard times, at least until I win that lottery.

Etcetera.

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