PLANNERS, CALENDARS AND NOTEBOOKS

I have found the key to getting and staying organized lies in writing stuff down.  Sounds simple enough, right?  

I have kept just about every kind of planner or calendar system out there over the years and they have all worked fine...if I kept them up.  I have found for me, the simpler the better, if it's too complicated I tend to skip using them when I'm in a hurry and before I know it, I get discouraged and just give up.

Another way we can over complicate an easy task is by wanting to make our daily planners into works of art (which I love to keep, just not for my everyday scheduling).

So now I keep it simple by keeping three hand written planners, one electronic planner and two notebooks.  Whew!  What's so simple about that?  To start with, I don't write in all those planners every day and I don't write much at all when I do write in them.  Let me break them down for you.

A basic daily planner - This is where I keep what needs to be done each day.  I divide it into two sections, household and errands.  On Monday I might have written under household - clean bathroom and do laundry.  Under errands I might have written - pick up tomatoes, return library books.

I purposely don't put times on my daily planner (unless it's an appointment), just stuff that needs to get done that day.  Simple enough, right?

I also keep a work daily planner - This is where I keep an exact list of what area of my business I work on each day of the week and what in particular needs to be accomplished.  Again, no time frames just tasks.

The third planner I keep is more of a journal and it is work related as well and includes what needs to be done for video footage each week and by what day it needs to be done, so that I can finish my editing in time to publish on schedule.

If you don't work from home, you may not need those last two planners.

The biggest help and the one I resisted the most has been my electronic Google Calendar.  This took a few hours to set up but now that it is, it doesn't require any time at all because I rarely make any changes to it.  This is where my day is broken down in chunks of time.  This is what keeps me on track.  I watched this video by Amy Landino to learn how to set up my schedule.  I highly recommend watching the video and setting yourself up.  This one has been a game changer for me.

I also keep a work notebook that I use for class homework, creative ideas and stats for my business.  If you'd like to see that one, just let me know and I will do a blog post devoted to it.

And the last notebook I keep is my household journal which is where I track my household expenses/budget, quarterly cleaning schedules, appliance maintenance and home improvement wish list.  Again, this notebook requires it's own post as well and I will be sharing it soon.

So there you have it, a quick over view of my planners, calendars and notebooks.  I plan the activities on my calendar on Sunday afternoon for the entire week.  Let me know if you'd like me to go into more details on any of the planners and I will put together a blog or video to share in more detail.

Next week I will have a free planner insert with my basic cleaning schedule on it for those of you who are newsletter subscribers. so if you aren't signed up yet be sure you do that here.

Have a wonderfully productive week my friends!

xo, Patty

You might enjoy this video that highlights how I set up my desk space to be as organized and productive as possible even if you have a small space.