Does anyone else have trouble finding a planner that works just right? Maybe it's just me... but it seems like I can never find one that's quite right for me. This year I've just been using my phone, which has been ok, but for work scheduling it seemed like something small on paper would work better than carrying a wad of scratch paper around all the time.
I tend to have to-do lists in a million different places and so I entertained the thought of including a spot for that but ultimately decided it would make the planner too bulky. Also, I just started using the Wunderlist App and really like it so far!
The other thing I wanted in a planner was a spot to write my monthly goals. I've been loving monthly goal setting this year but I haven't kept them very visible. So between that and my ongoing goal to use up what I have/keep consolidating, I decided to try making one myself.
What I ended up with was really simple month-by-month calendar. I used an Amy Tangerine notebook I had, the cover is cute and the grid paper inside was perfect. I measured and remeasured to figure out how big to make the squares, I wanted them uniform but to leave enough space for a goals column on the right hand side of each month.
After doing the math, I drew out all the lines for each month (read not fun). Then referencing the 2014 calendar on my phone, stamped the dates for each month. Also not fun, but I am happy with the way it turned out! I like the contrast between the hand-drawn lines, cursive writing and the stamped numbers.
It's only 5 inches tall, so it will fit easily in my purse and as you can see below it is pretty thin so won't crowd things too much! I'm planing to use a paperclip to keep it open to the current month. And here's to hoping that it will prevent me from accidentally scheduling myself for insanely long work stretches again... oops :(
I can't wait to start using it in January!! I also excited to fill in some of the blank spots with doodles! And since we're kind of on the subject, here are my monthly goals for November.
* Eat seasonal produce
* Develop an exercise plan
* Practice with my "real" camera
* Focus on being present
* Spend off-screen time as a couple
* Bonus: Keep Consolidating
You can see more of my monthly goal posts here, here and here.
