I love your Happy Planner folio! I just bought a few spiffy Le Pen colors from Cloth & Paper, and the service was excellent. I admit, I like a little more color in my planners, though. I started subscribing to Silk & Sonder journals back in April, and I love them so much—beautiful watercolor floral illustrations (my catnip!), monthly intentions, lots of tracking options, a recipe, coloring page, weekly spreads, and a theme each month with journal prompts to help dig deep. Combined with the Headspace app for meditation, it’s been so wonderful in easing stress and helping hit goals.
Do have recommendations for places to get stickers? I especially love your plant one.
Hi, Leah! Ooh, I have a friend who went with Silk and Sonder and she's really loving them too. I was craving neutral and minimalist this year so C&P fit the bill and then I can add color as needed. As for stickers, the plant sticker is from a Happy Planner sticker book called Plant Mama. Most of my stickers are happy planner, agenda 52 (hobby lobby), or recollections sticker books (Michael's.) I like getting the books because I'm able to keep them in a drawers on their sides so I can just flip through them like files. If I get loose sheets, they get lost.
Wow, those are gorgeous inserts! I wish I could do rings.
I really agonized over my planner system this year. In the end, I've decided to use a small weekly planner to keep track of work meetings and a minimalist bujo for everything else. I love looking at the gorgeous planner systems online, but I don't have great handwriting and my attempts at decoration usually look pretty weird. I don't save my planners, either, or track memories in them, or any of the other things I saw people doing.
There is every possibility I'll cave and order something "cool" (planners aren't actually cool, I realize this) and shiny next year, but for now I'm comfortable.
Wait. Planners aren't cool?? My whole life outlook is overturned. ;) I am gravitating now to a more minimalist look. I think that's why C&P appealed to me so much. And mine aren't rings, they're discs (like Happy Planner) which I really like because I can switch things around easily. But I also don't travel with my planner since I work from home. If I had to put it in a bag, I'd need something smaller and more compact like a bullet journal.
I have always had a paper planner on my desk, despite relying on an online calendar to send me appointment reminders because I like having the quick reference (don't need to be online) and a space to jot down extra thoughts. A scene idea or fix. A line of dialogue. Odd notes. I like the idea of being able to flip through my old planners and catch up with where I was in relation to my writing projects.
BUT, about two years ago, I discovered an app called Notion. At first, I was using it to track my lists - what I was reading, travel ideas, movies, and recipes. When I started my next writing project, I did all of my preliminary work on Notion, transferring and tweaking the templates I've been using and tweaking for several books now. I then started tracking my word counts and writing-related tasks using tables and kanban boards. Finally, I started transferring all of my career support documents over there (promo templates and link lists, etc.)
Obviously, it has taken me a while to convert fully (nearly two years), and I never expected to step away from a paper planner entirely. I figured I'd still like having something on my desk that I could refer to and jot notes down on. But as I discover more and more ways to use Notion, I found I was using the planner less and less, until one day, I realized I hadn't opened my planner for over a month.
So, I'm going to skip a paper planner this coming year and see how it goes! Whether I end up with a notebook there for notes, or whether I continue hoping onto the appropriate page of my Notion setup (which is available offline, yay).
I will admit, reading about and seeing pictures of your new planner setup did tempt me to look at the website. I do love planners and being organized and being organized in an /attractive/ way. But that's actually one of the things I love about my new setup. You can tweak your pages to look really nice too. :)
I've never heard of Notion. I'll have to check it out. And I'm so glad you've found a system that is working for you! I'm still liking paper, but I also know that I like changing up things every few years, so I stay open to new things. :)
I had a minor freak out a couple weeks ago when I realized I was using no fewer (but possibly more than) 8 tools to track all the things - to-do list, goals, ideas habits, priorities, not urgent but also don't forget, etc. Dawn was amazing and immediately offered to go through all her planners on a call with me and introduced me to Agendio, then I spent HOURS over the next few days playing with all the customizable planners. I found the one I liked best, let it sit in the cart for a week, realized I wanted more one thing in it, and finally logged in to update it and order. It's from Plum Paper and should arrive next week. It won't capture everything the 8 tools do, but it should cover at least 3 of them.
Lol, you can lose DAYS, WEEKS on those customizable planner sites, lol. So much to choose from! I'm glad you found something that you think will work. I've used Plum Paper Planners before and their paper is SO nice. And I like that they have so many layout options. Have fun with your new system!
I'm not into planners but I loved your movie review so I'm adding it to my watch list. <3
Thanks! Hope you enjoy the movie! :)
I love your Happy Planner folio! I just bought a few spiffy Le Pen colors from Cloth & Paper, and the service was excellent. I admit, I like a little more color in my planners, though. I started subscribing to Silk & Sonder journals back in April, and I love them so much—beautiful watercolor floral illustrations (my catnip!), monthly intentions, lots of tracking options, a recipe, coloring page, weekly spreads, and a theme each month with journal prompts to help dig deep. Combined with the Headspace app for meditation, it’s been so wonderful in easing stress and helping hit goals.
Do have recommendations for places to get stickers? I especially love your plant one.
Hi, Leah! Ooh, I have a friend who went with Silk and Sonder and she's really loving them too. I was craving neutral and minimalist this year so C&P fit the bill and then I can add color as needed. As for stickers, the plant sticker is from a Happy Planner sticker book called Plant Mama. Most of my stickers are happy planner, agenda 52 (hobby lobby), or recollections sticker books (Michael's.) I like getting the books because I'm able to keep them in a drawers on their sides so I can just flip through them like files. If I get loose sheets, they get lost.
Wow, those are gorgeous inserts! I wish I could do rings.
I really agonized over my planner system this year. In the end, I've decided to use a small weekly planner to keep track of work meetings and a minimalist bujo for everything else. I love looking at the gorgeous planner systems online, but I don't have great handwriting and my attempts at decoration usually look pretty weird. I don't save my planners, either, or track memories in them, or any of the other things I saw people doing.
There is every possibility I'll cave and order something "cool" (planners aren't actually cool, I realize this) and shiny next year, but for now I'm comfortable.
Wait. Planners aren't cool?? My whole life outlook is overturned. ;) I am gravitating now to a more minimalist look. I think that's why C&P appealed to me so much. And mine aren't rings, they're discs (like Happy Planner) which I really like because I can switch things around easily. But I also don't travel with my planner since I work from home. If I had to put it in a bag, I'd need something smaller and more compact like a bullet journal.
I have always had a paper planner on my desk, despite relying on an online calendar to send me appointment reminders because I like having the quick reference (don't need to be online) and a space to jot down extra thoughts. A scene idea or fix. A line of dialogue. Odd notes. I like the idea of being able to flip through my old planners and catch up with where I was in relation to my writing projects.
BUT, about two years ago, I discovered an app called Notion. At first, I was using it to track my lists - what I was reading, travel ideas, movies, and recipes. When I started my next writing project, I did all of my preliminary work on Notion, transferring and tweaking the templates I've been using and tweaking for several books now. I then started tracking my word counts and writing-related tasks using tables and kanban boards. Finally, I started transferring all of my career support documents over there (promo templates and link lists, etc.)
Obviously, it has taken me a while to convert fully (nearly two years), and I never expected to step away from a paper planner entirely. I figured I'd still like having something on my desk that I could refer to and jot notes down on. But as I discover more and more ways to use Notion, I found I was using the planner less and less, until one day, I realized I hadn't opened my planner for over a month.
So, I'm going to skip a paper planner this coming year and see how it goes! Whether I end up with a notebook there for notes, or whether I continue hoping onto the appropriate page of my Notion setup (which is available offline, yay).
I will admit, reading about and seeing pictures of your new planner setup did tempt me to look at the website. I do love planners and being organized and being organized in an /attractive/ way. But that's actually one of the things I love about my new setup. You can tweak your pages to look really nice too. :)
I've never heard of Notion. I'll have to check it out. And I'm so glad you've found a system that is working for you! I'm still liking paper, but I also know that I like changing up things every few years, so I stay open to new things. :)
I had a minor freak out a couple weeks ago when I realized I was using no fewer (but possibly more than) 8 tools to track all the things - to-do list, goals, ideas habits, priorities, not urgent but also don't forget, etc. Dawn was amazing and immediately offered to go through all her planners on a call with me and introduced me to Agendio, then I spent HOURS over the next few days playing with all the customizable planners. I found the one I liked best, let it sit in the cart for a week, realized I wanted more one thing in it, and finally logged in to update it and order. It's from Plum Paper and should arrive next week. It won't capture everything the 8 tools do, but it should cover at least 3 of them.
Lol, you can lose DAYS, WEEKS on those customizable planner sites, lol. So much to choose from! I'm glad you found something that you think will work. I've used Plum Paper Planners before and their paper is SO nice. And I like that they have so many layout options. Have fun with your new system!