It’s That Time of Year

Posted on December 17, 2019 by prairiemoonquilts in Organizing

The time of year for me to decide what type of planner I will use for the next year. I change it every year, and am still trying to find THE perfect planner for me.

For 2016, I put together THIS planner, and I’ve used it ever since in some form or another. It has changed drastically since 2016. I still don’t use daily pages, but I have changed the sections, taken out forms I hardly used, and added in other ways to track my many lists. My goal is for planning to not take so long that I end up doing all planning and no real work!

This year, I divided my lists up into categories. For example, I had one category for things to do on the computer, things to do to the house (even divided up by rooms, since we’re still into serious remodeling mode), personal, business, quilting, etc. And I’m happy to say I scratched off a lot of things! I’ll be keeping that notebook and those lists, and giving them a thorough going-over before 2020 begins.

Something new I did this year, was create this form on loose paper, each page good for a one-week period. I keep it on my desk on a clipboard, and it’s there to remind me of each week’s projects that have to be done, with plenty of space to write down notes and other things that come up during the week.

At the end of each week, I go over it to make sure everything I put on it is dealt with, transfer things onto the proper lists in the big notebook, and then I throw that week’s sheet away. It’s a way for me to keep things all in one place, make sure nothing gets forgotten, and even if I scribble it all up, I get to throw it away and the real information is neatly stored where it belongs. It works, and it has never yet made me feel guilty for not using all the pages in a planner I paid good money for.

But . . . this time of year always sends me searching for something even better, simply because I have a blank book fetish, and I love office and school supplies! So while I haven’t yet purchased anything, and may still just go with the simple homemade forms I’ve been using, I’ve still been browsing and window shopping to see what’s out there. And wow! Is there a lot out there! Soooo many different types of planners — it’ll make your head spin.

I’m going to list below the ones I’ve looked at (and it’s a pretty long list). So many of these are great planners, but don’t necessarily interest me for what I do. I run a business, and I’m a creative person. Some planners are too serious and intense for me (I’m not a leader, and I don’t have a team — I don’t dwell on the past, and my goals change monthly — I don’t spend a lot of time journaling — I have lots of projects in many areas — I don’t stick to a rigid time schedule each day), so I’m not listing those to avoid a migraine! But they each have their good points, and can give us ideas on things we might want in our own perfect planner.

I’m also not listing my opinions on the pros and cons of each one, because they ALL have their pros and cons, and each person will have a different idea of what those pros and cons are. My pros may be your cons, in other words. What doesn’t work for me, may be perfect for you.

There are so many more planners (of all types) out there, but since most of my readers are creatives, too, and lots of you either have jobs or businesses, we may like the same types of things in our planners. If you see one that is just your style, I’d love to hear what you think if you try it.

If you use one that is not on this list, or you’ve made up your own, like I have, I’d love to hear about that, too. Do you use a planner? If so, what’s it like? Do you like it? Or are you always tweaking it, like me? Is there one not on my list that you think others like us might be interested in? Let’s discuss!

And without further ado, here’s the long list of planners I’ve looked at this year (in no particular order). Have fun looking around!

Franklin Covey

Monk Manual

Commit30

Cultivate What Matters Powersheets

The Quilter’s Planner

Lori Holt’s Scrappy Project Planner

The Dragon Tree Dreambook & Planner

Start Planner

Productive Flourishing’s Momentum Planners (free!)

Archer & Olive

Planner Envy

Erin Condren

Good Busy Planner

Sweet Life Planner

Unbound Planner

Blue Sky

Savor Life Planner

Full Focus Planner

Bullet Journal

Define My Day Focus Planner & Journal

Daily Greatness

Simplified Planner

Ink+Volt

Habit Nest Journals

The Maker’s Yearbook

This Is My Era

Leaders in Heels

Living Well Planner

The Mincing Mockingbird

Planner Pads

Self Planner

Layered Living Planner

Plum Paper Planners

Goal Crazy Planner

Agility Planner

Cloth & Paper

In addition to all that, Etsy has hundreds, maybe thousands, of options for planner pages that you can print yourself, so if you have some spare time, you can go check them out. It’ll take awhile.

Oh, and one more thing before I go: Amy Ellis, from Amy’s Creative Side, has a set of Quilt Planning forms, so if you’re looking specifically for something like that, go check it out. She’s also updating them new for this year, and if you buy now, you’ll get the updates for free. Get it HERE.

6 responses to “It’s That Time of Year”

  1. Cynthia says:

    I have never found a planner that works for me. I must design one just for me. Thanks for sharing the list I will have a look at the ones I haven’t looked at.

  2. Joan Ferguson says:

    Love this. I am a double creative—I am a musician/harpist as my main jog, and quilting is my hobby /obsession! I am always looking for the perfect planner/calendar…….I will go through the list and hopefully 202 will be the best year ever!!!!!

  3. Marcia in TX says:

    Do you still use simpleology? Did you have any problems with it? The video doesn’t explain much about it. It sounded interesting because of the reminders.

  4. Sharon Gratz says:

    I really want to use a planner this year. Not only for motivation in quilting, but in working on other areas of my life, too. I think simple will work good for me at this time so that’s what I’ll be looking for to download/print, if possible. You make me want to get ‘er done, Shelly

  5. This is my second year using a bullet journal. I really like it. My is very plane Jane, no nonsense. I personalized it for me.

  6. I’ve been using a plain spiral notebook that I bought at the dollar store for 25 cents years ago. I like that I can look back and see what I had been working on years ago. I’m just too frugal to spend big $$$ on a planner when an ordinary note book works just fine for me.

Leave a Reply to Joan Ferguson Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *