I might actually be one of the ten people on planet Earth who still use a paper planner. I can't help it! I NEED it to function. I get so many notifications on my phone that I am in the habit of just swiping them away, so using google calendar and reminders just doesn't work for me. Plus, writing things down reinforces my tasks in my head and I'm less likely to forget things that way. I actually was conditioned to need a planner from a very early age. When I started school in 3rd grade at Geneva School of Boerne, the first thing I saw when I got to my desk was a crisp new navy blue planner. We wrote all of our assignments in it and each year, we got a new one. It was probably one of my favorite parts of starting a new school year. I'd open up my planner, flip through each month, take a whiff of the delicious book smell and write my name in the front. I do all that when I get a new planner, to this day!
I wasn't always the most organized child. I had ADD before people really believed that ADD was a thing, so I really struggled to scrape by with a C average almost every year. My poor parents and teachers tried EVERYTHING to help me, but it all felt pretty hopeless at the time. I didn't get diagnosed with ADD until adulthood and DANG it was life-changing. I finally had an explanation for what I had gone through during my school years! I got medicated and learned to use some available tools to help keep myself on track, which included finding a planner I could really stick to; one that kept everything in one place.
Believe it or not, there is a MASSIVE community of planner obsessed people like me. Just type "planners" into the Facebook search bar and you'll find numerous groups and pages devoted to finding "planner peace". You're probably rolling your eyes right now, but there are SO MANY different types of planners to choose from. They all have different features and it's important to know what you want out of a planner because you'll be looking at it all day every day, so you want to make sure that it's going to work for you before you get started.
For example: Do you want a monthly, daily or weekly or hourly layout? Horizontal or vertical? Dated or undated? What size do you want? 12 month or 17 month? What paper quality do you need? Do you want something bright and colorful or simple with a lot of white space? Do you need a pocket folder inside? Extra notebook pages? SEE? I told you! It's a major decision.
From 2014-2015 I used a Happy Planner, then I switched to Erin Condren from 2016-2017. After that, I went back to a Lilly Pulitzer planner like I had senior year and I really liked it, but when I went to check out this year's crop of planners, I found one I'd never seen before. It's the Barnes and Noble - Kate Spade 17 Month Mega Planner.
Ain't she a beaut? I love the gold coil and the foil detail on the books on the cover!
Each month begins with an inspirational quote and a place to write monthly to-dos, save the dates and birthdays/special events. Those pages are a nice light blush color. Next, you've got a monthly view with a nice long notes column.
And here is the weekly view! It's nice and clean with plenty of writing space and room for my fun stickers and washi tape. At the end of the month are two notes pages. I LOVE that they added this! It's a nice, easily accessible spot to jot down quick thoughts and make to-do lists.
While I usually go for something more bright and colorful, I'm really looking forward to using this clean slate of a planner this year. I've got a lot more going on now with social media, Glitterati, motherhood and being a home maker, so I need tons of space to write. I think I really did find planner peace this year! We'll see how I feel after a few weeks of actually using it, though.
So what do you think? Am I a nut? Are you a planner person, too? If so, I'd love to know which planner you picked for the upcoming year. Let me know in the comments!
xoxo- Rachel
