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Conversations With My Planner Girl Self #2

5/31/2020

Welcome to the second post in the Conversations With My Planner Girl Self blog series here at Createyou86. This post will be all about my new Homebinder. What is a homebinder? You might be thinking. I consider a homebinder a catch all for anything that has to do with my home or vehicle. This is a planner that will be staying at home. This planner is A5 so that I have plenty of room to write, and log any pertinent information. For my binder I purchased a Carpe Diem A5 binder for $10.00. Carpe Diem was having a spring clearance sale, and I purchased a pack of monthly dividers for $2.00 which I taped together to create my 12 dividers, and a pack of three clear bookmarks for $1.00. Twelve dividers may seem like a lot of dividers, but I am using all but one of the sections. I used the Carpe Diem tab sticker pack to rename the dividers. Here are my sections

Lists.
Home needs (larger purchases that we want to make for the home (bookcases, etc.)
Monthly budget.
Home decor tracking (mostly holiday). I live in a one bedroom apartment, and storage is scarce. I want to make sure I'm not purchasing too many things for one holiday that I then have to find storage for.
Family medical information.
Favorite recipes (for when we have no idea what we want. This also includes a $75/ week meal plan.)
Vehicle maintenance.
Cleaning Schedule (as well as a declutter checklist for spring cleaning or otherwise.)
Blank section (If you have any ideas please let me know in the comments!)
Holiday planning (Thanksgiving and Christmas.)
Life plans, and organization (trips etc.)
Notes (note paper.)

I have only been using this for about a month, but I have loved filling out all of the information, and knowing that I have it all in one convenient place in my home. Also with an A5 there is still plenty of room to add more if I need to. Also be sure to check out my FIRST PODCAST in a year and a half. It is associated with this series so definitely check it out.

Let me know in the comments below if you have a home binder, and what yours consists of.

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Conversations With My Planner Girl Self #1

5/25/2020

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Welcome to a brand new blog series here at Createyou86. There will be four installments. One for each week in June so make sure you come back to hear some of the things I have conversations with myself about my planners. The first time that I did one of these was on The Createyou86 Podcast. You can check that out HERE . This series will be an opportunity for me to get deeper into why I plan, what it does for me, and when I need planning the most among other things.

I started planning in 2014 after a photo came through my Instagram feed. I saw a planner with some stickers on it, and a Filofax hashtag. I purchased my first Filofax, and the rest is history. I still have that red Filofax Domino. Planning evolved from there for me into something that I could do to keep control in my life. Not only for myself, but for others around me. I used stickers, and decor all over. Looking back at memories that pop up on Facebook or Instagram I tend to laugh at what kind of decor I had used. I still use stickers, but I haven't used washi in a long time, and I have more than I know what to do with. While in this strange time I am still trying to keep up my planning even if it is for the most simple things. I have found this meme in every planner group, and it kind of irks me.

This irks me because some weeks I find myself planning more than I had in previous weeks, and months. I know people are homeschooling so that's a tons of stuff to put in your planner, and people working from home is another reason. People are also ordering a ton of stuff off of Amazon, and other sites so they have plenty to keep track of. I am super guilty of this. I have ordered shelves (2), makeup, desk organization, and a few other things. Boredom, and late nights get the best of me. I ordered planner items from Wish one morning around four AM. My planner is still very useful to me. Come fall it'll be even more useful when school starts back up for me. I have tried several sizes, and styles of planners, but I always return to my favorite which will always be personal size. Planning will return to normal soon, and planner spreads will be full of appointments again. I plan to stay sane, and I plan to move forward when the rest of the world is standing still.

Let me know in the comments why you plan. Let's be honest with out planner girl selves.

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Planner Anti-Haul 2020

5/17/2020

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Welcome to another post here at Createyou86. This is an annual post as of December 2018. I don't think it matters what month it is posted in because things change in the planner community so frequently that favorites, and dislikes change frequently as well. You can hear the podcast episode where I did my first Planner Anti Haul HERE. A Planner anti-haul is just a list of items that based on my current likes, and dislikes are products that I will never purchase from the planner community or items that I have purchased that I was disappointed in or regret purchasing. Some of the items remain the same, but some have changed. My list is as follows:

Planner printable. This includes planner pages, and stickers. This is mostly because I don't have a printer that prints double sided, nor do I have a sticker printer, and I don't want to have to cut them myself. I'd much rather give my money to a company that can do this for me.
Kawaii anything. Sometimes Kawaii looks cute, but that is rare that I feel that, and it kind of weirds me out to be honest. Plus so many of the stickers look the same to me. It really is a trend that I just can't get into.
Stickers. Let me explain. Specifically List stickers (with the hearts), Foiled stickers, and Glossy stickers. I have never actually used a list sticker in my entire time of planning except in my blog planner where it gives me the perfect amount of spaces to plan a blog series, but I don't really consider listing to be planning. I know that probably sounds a bit crazy, but it is just how my brain works. I think that foiled stickers look messy, and hard to read, and glossy stickers make it impossible to write anything unless you are using a sharpie, and even then they have a tendency to smudge.
Disney anything. I have been to Disney more times than I can count or care to, and Disney is just too childish for me. while I have all kinds of wild stickers in my planner Mickey, and Minnie aren't characters that I would ever be proud to show off. Disney hasn't ever been apart of my personal or planner personality, and I don't see it happening anytime in the future.
Happy Planners. While I own a few Happy planners, and sticker books there is a lot that the company needs to improve. I highly dislike the disks because they are not secure, the pages bend near the disks, and the disks break. I am using a happy notes notebook for just that, notes, and as a lefty I find it extremely hard to write with the disks. I also find most of their products too childish. They really should listen to their customers, and offer more neutral, adult looking planners. They also do 3,000,000 different HOT MESS releases per year, and most of the sticker releases are repeats throughout the sticker books. No other planner company feels the need to do this, and they do just fine. Suffice to say I won't purchase anymore happy planners due to the mere fact that they are cheaply made, and people end up changing out the rings to metal disks made by other companies anyway.

While these are my dislikes right now they could definitely change further into the year. I hope that you enjoyed this post, and that you get a chance to check out the podcast from a few years ago that inspired this post. That podcast was a lot of fun.

Let me know in the comments below. What are some of your planner anti-haul items so far for 2020?

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Must Have Planner Items 2020

5/3/2020

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.Welcome to another post here at Createyou86. I wanted to talk about some of my must have planner items for 2020. This will differ for most people, but I always find myself reaching for the same products over and over again. While I am definitely a decorative planner I consider myself a minimalist in that I use the same products almost every week. Of course there are tons of shops that I love, but I tend to stick to ones I truly enjoy, and purchasing from them only once or twice a year, and I try to keep everything as affordable as possible. I created a list of my top five essential planner items that I have reached for repeatedly in 2020.

2020 Planner Essentials

Good quality pens
Personal sized planner (size does matter)
Stickers or sticker kits
Quality post-it notes (even though I don't use many)
Good quality crafting scissors or a paper cutter

I know that these items will never be essentials for every planner out there, but they are good starter items, and even after years of planning I still find myself needing or wanting the essentials that I started with. I hope that if you are a new planner that this post has helped you with what some essential items might end up being for you.

For those seasoned planners, and new planners alike let me know in the comments what your planner essentials are at this stage in your planning journey.

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