So Many Planners?!?! Which do I pick?
I don't know about you, but because planners are expensive, my crafty side decided, "I can make that", and when I went to start making my planners, the first thought I had was, "what size do I make it?" Right after that, my thought was "It has to fit cute pre-mades that I might want to use later."
So then I'm searching for dimensions. And frankly, a purse that the planner will fit into. I don't eyeball things that should be standardized, things that need to be consistent. I just can't. Too much wasted product and too many wasted supplies. But there is no be-all-end-all standardization in the planner world any more than there is in the fashion industry. (I'm looking at you, pants pile! Every pair in a different size, different shape, and yet all fit various parts of my lower half.)
I started the planner journey in truth back when we started the homeschool experiment. I figured using planning printables in binders would help me and the kids stay on track. In that process I found a planner blogger who had a fascination with rainbows and some decent minimalist planner pages. I don't like printing in color as that gets really expensive over time.
The Journey
Binders?
Years later I found my way back to the planner community, found a couple of go-to bloggers that I liked, and in the process noticed that one of my new go-to ladies had quite a few printables that looked very familiar. Then I saw it: One of the printables had an old 'click me' image that had the name of the old website on it. Oh my! This is the same chica!
Rachael at AllAboutPlanners has a fantastic and comprehensive, in-depth post, with printable included, breaking down the millions (okay, dozens upon dozens) of name brand planners and their dimensions. In fact this is the post I found that has the old website URL that Rachael had. I might make a post at a later date with the sizes and dimensions I tend to stick with.
Bullet Journal?
It was still confusing because frankly I didn't know what was going to work for me! Thus latching onto the Bullet Journal, using an A5 sized dot grid notebook. It's fine for minimalist journalling, and pages that are just simply for planning your day, week, month, year. But as many of you have found, if it ain't pleasing to look at, we wind up quitting.
Traveler's Notebook?
Then I gravitated towards Traveler's Notebooks which I will not go into here, (The Hooting Pirate and her YouTube is where I go for inspiration there...), but the available pre-printed layouts that are out there just didn't work for me.
Happy Planner?
I was back to Bullet Journalling, just this time in replaceable inserts, trying to come up with my own layouts, but didn't have the time and talent to make pretty layouts. The inserts still didn't inspire me. I picked up a Happy Planner and desperately tried. It somewhat worked.
So back down the Planner Rabbit Hole we go.
My Happy Planner Clearance Haul
A couple months ago my local JoAnn's did a complete overhaul of their small planner section. CLEARANCE is a very dangerous word. I left with too much stuff, but in my defense, had I paid full price for all of it, I would have spent way more.
As far as the planner supplies I bought (we're going to leave out the dozens of paper craft supplies that I will of course also be using in my planners), I made a killing. In no particular order:
- 2020-2021 18-month Happy Planner Rongrong Kind Women (Vertical Layout)
- 2020 12-month Happy Planner Modern Mom (Dashboard Layout)
- 2020-2021 12-month Happy Planner Promise Yourself Skinny Mini
- Classic Happy Notes - Zodiac Signs
- Classic Happy Notes - Be Wonderful
- BIG Happy Notes - Rongrong Better Together
- Classic Planner Companion - Rongrong
- Happy Planner Magical Washi Sticker Book
- #StickerBook Vicki Boutin
- Journal Studio Stickerbook
- Journal Studio Heidi Swapp
- The Happy Planner Sticker Book - Wellness Planning
- The Happy Planner Sticker Book - Rongrong Fitness
- The Happy Planner Sticker Book - Rongrong Everyday
- The Happy Planner Sticker Book - Going Places (Mini)
- and a ton more little teeny packets of planner stickers and washi rolls and books from the teeny clearance bins...
Whew! I don't need that many planners or stickers. I know I don't. But it's so incredibly easy to cover up old dates to use the planners for other years. And I knew nothing about the Happy Planner layouts! Some just don't work for me, others don't work for everything I want, and still others... Should have came with some instruction.
Which Happy Planner Layout Should I Use?
When I bought my first Happy Planner back in January, I purchased the 2020 Classic Stay Wild Monthly Layout. It was gorgeous. I also bought a 6 month undated extension in Dashboard Layout, and a 6 month undated Wellness extension. I only mention the layouts because now I know the difference. Back then, I just liked the dividers.
I noticed that the 2020 planner and the two extension packs had completely different layouts. I had no idea how to put them all together. I bought bigger HP discs so it could all fit in and set to work covering the annoying half month that was sitting on the back side of all the dividers. I wanted my dividers to be reusable from year to year, so I didn't have to buy whole new planners every year. I didn't want to buy new extension packs to get new dividers when I didn't use the sheets. I also kind of regret tossing the fitness sheets now...
I didn't know that the Happy Planner Monthly Layout is really designed for daily To Do lists. Really. I didn't get it. When I got my planner haul, I finally had the Vertical Layout, noticed the layout types had names, and went in search of an explanation. I found a fantastic video that quickly explains the different layouts and provides ideas for how to use them.
I knew I could put several of these together into what the planner community calls a "Frankenplanner" and I had seen a couple of really good videos on how others did it and why, but the video that really made it stick, make sense, give me that sense of "AHA!" was Denise Tanisha's Happy Planner setup :: How to Franken plan 5 planners into 1.
FrankenPlanner
I was going to try this mix mash thing. So I grabbed some standard sized black Tul discs I picked up at Office Depot in another planner haul run, parts of my various Classic sized collection, and Frankenplanned my butt off.
I started with the Kind Women covers, threw in the yearly pages from that planner into the front, added the rebuilt months of Oct-Nov-Dec from Stay Wild, added the Oct-Nov-Dec months from Kind Women, 2 dividers from the undated extension for DIY projects and Blog plans, washi and post-it dashboards, divider dashboards, a wet erase dashboard and double sided pocket folder from the Rongrong Classic Companion and a Rongrong plastic envelope for coupons.
I'm still not happy with it, but that's for another post for another day/time.
5 Planners You Need Every Day
Okay. So you don't really need all these planners. You really only need one. But creating that one that works for you and helps you make your best life... That's the true secret. Don't take my word for it. PlannerTube is filled with people explaining good ways to use planners, how to not carry the biggest and most back-breaking planner with you every where you go... If you become obsessed with planning your life, you are going to wind up with more than one. Just accept it and move on.
There is a reason for the heading of this section (see the video list below). Because if you have a planner that is getting too big for your purse, if your planner page stack is too big for your rings, your binder, your TN cover... You need guidance. There are multiple videos to help, but let me help you narrow that search down. My Top 3 Recommended Multi-Planner Explainers Videos, in no particular order:
- At Home with Quita: 5 Planners You Should Have in Your Collection
- The Hooting Pirate: Multiple Planners 2020 (Focuses on TN's, but really helpful!)
- Heather Kell from Kell of a Plan: Should You Use More Than One Planner?!
In Conclusion...
Planners work, y'all. But there will never be a single planner or single planner system that works for every person. The planner community is filled with a lot of politics and strife right now, but I am straight up ignoring it. For my mental health, I cannot get dragged into it, so I refuse.
But somewhere out there are people who can give you advice and 97% of them are people who preface their work with "Find what works for you". That's all I can say too. I am an ADD mom of an ADHD teen and I also am my dad's caregiver despite my own health crises. I need to plan.
Even if you don't think you need to plan and you're doing just fine thank you, consider giving it a try. If you're doing just fine now, think how much better you'll be when there is a master plan for your life that you create.
I'm going to go off and work on a post that shares my current planner lineup. There are currently 12. Yes. One dozen. And no I don't use all of them every day and yes there are plans to create more. Marquita is not joking when she says you need a catch all and can then use others to expand on certain aspects of the sections. And Cara is dead on when she talks about needing different layouts and décor to get your head in a certain mindset. And Heather asks the hard questions that will help us stay on track and not waste our time.
Until Next Time...
Keep Organized!
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