Managing my time creatively...

One of the areas in my life that I have always worked at but haven't been completely successful is the management of my time. I have so many varied interests and responsibilities that its sometimes hard to fit it all in...impossible really. A planner is the only thing that keeps me somewhat sane. I think all the new techie gadgets are really cool but I'm really just a pen and paper girl. Especially if it's a felt tip pen and cute paper!

I've tried many different planners like Franklin Covey, Daytimer, Dayrunner, and just plain old notebooks and I have never found just the right thing. Recently I was searching for a planner (again) and I stumbled upon the idea of DIY planners. I found out that there is a whole huge group of people out there who are just as nerdy as I am...they LOVE their planners. Also like me, they could never could find the right one and so they started designing their own. Cool! I jumped right in with both feet...how fun would this be? I have spent a LOT of time in the last few weeks looking at planners on flickr.com (just type in DIY planner), printing out pages from diyplanner.com, buying covers from CrownBindery on Etsy and just generally searching the internet for what other people are doing. It has been fun in a geeky and obsessive compulsive sort of way.

So, what I needed was a planner that has a 2-page monthly calendar, a daily calendar (2 pages per day preferably), pockets, sections for my family budget, lists (I like lists) and addresses. I also wanted a planner that could serve as sort of a living scrapbook of what's going on in my life. I wanted to be able to have space to journal what I'm thinking about that day, place a picture, a cut-out recipe, etc. I wanted something that fits my lifestyle.

Then...I went on a sticker buying trip. I love stickers. Since I don't scrapbook much (well, never, really) I don't feel like I have any reason to buy them. I do now! Each morning when I'm planning my day I pull out the stickers (they live in one of the pockets) and I find one (or five) to express what I'm feeling that day! It's a fun way to motivate me to use the planner and when I look back through it I can see at a glance what was happening in my life at that time. Elementary, I know. But definitely fun for me.

So far, my DIY planner has been a success. I'm using it. Things are getting done. I feel organized and that means less stress. Less stress is always Good!

Photos of my planner and my inspirations are coming next.

Until Next Time...