I have loved paper planners for as long as I can
remember. Some of my earliest memories
of my dad are of him sitting at the desk each month with his Day-Timer. I watched with anticipation as he took the
completed month insert out of his leather cover and replaced it with the insert
for the new month. I couldn’t wait until
I was old enough to have one of my own.
I’m serious. I REALLY couldn’t
wait! So, I did what any desperate child
would do – I created my own. I gathered
the nicest paper I could find and cut and folded until I had just what I wanted,
then stapled everything together. The
Day-Timer had perforated corners so you could tear of the corner each day and
go right to the new day. I figured that
must be important, so I drew lines in my “custom planner” to represent the
perforation and dutifully tore of a corner each day.
As I got older my planners evolved. I loved little notebooks of any kind. I remember being a teenager when a paper
store opened in the local mall. In my
memory, I can still feel the texture of the binder cover I left the store with
that day. They had a whole store filled
with different pretty pages to customize your planner.
Time has gone by. I
have had Day-Timer planners, Dollar Store planners, Franklin Covey Planners…
the list goes on. My husband loves to
tell me that I need an organizer to organize my organizers. I used to think he was kidding. I TRIED using
a Palm Pilot and other electronic organizers when they first came out, but none
of them gave me the same sense of satisfaction that I felt when using a paper
planner.
We live in an incredible age of technology. Someone in my family can enter an event on
the phone calendar and it automagically (no, I didn’t forget to spell check, I
say this is a word and I’m sticking to it!) appears on each family member’s
phone. This is a great convenience and I
do use it.
However, I am much more productive if there is a paper planner in my life. I love the ability to look at the whole month at a glance, color code events, add stickers or washi tape, etc. My planner is more than my daily schedule and “To Do” list; it is a creative outlet.
I love the feeling of accomplishment when I look at my
calendar and see items on my to do list checked off. I am one of those people that has been known
to add something I have already done to my list, just so I can have the
satisfaction of checking it off.
My current planner love is the Erin Condren Life Planner. I’ve been using it for years and I love the interchangeable covers, and other available accessories. After being out of school for over 38 years, I started college again this semester and found that my list of things I need to do and remember no longer fit in my Life Planner. So, what is a self-proclaimed planner addict to do? Buy another planner, of course! My new Erin Condren Academic Planner is sitting at my local FedEx waiting to be delivered tomorrow. I can hardly stand the wait. I’ll share pictures of my “new toy” soon.
Being a planner addict is serious business. How does a planner addict store all things planner related? I finally found a solution that I love. Check back next Thursday and I will show you my solution!
What is your favorite planner? Do you use stickers and washi tape or are you a “keep it simple and only use pen” planner? Comment below!
