2019 Planner Ideas

Somehow as soon as Christmas is over, my mind starts racing about the New Year. I haven’t been bullet journaling or doing anything productivity tracking related for months. Pregnancy and life with my littles has knocked the wind out of my sails in terms of goal hustling (see previous post), but there’s something about January 1 that inspires me again.

I even thought about starting to work out again! This is funny mostly because I’m actually on Doctor ordered “reduced mobility” for a few weeks due to some concerning contraction patterns. So exercise is not a good idea.

So now I’ve been bit by the New Year bug and it got me thinking about planners.

Bullet Journaling vs Planners

Somehow I haven’t been blogging much about bullet journaling, but I’ve posted quite a bit on my personal Instagram over the years. I really like it because of the flexibility. You can do what you want from week to week and if you fall out of the habit, you don’t have all kinds of blank pages to remind you of that lost habit!

However, like many of you (and the reason so many told me you haven’t given it a try), I no longer have/make the time for it. It used to be an enjoyable therapeutic thing to do lots of colouring and designing on it. No longer. I’ve still been using my “bujo” to make and keep lists. It’s become a more minimalist bujo, which is still very useful. What you might find more useful, is a bullet journal-type planner that is already set-up for you. Or, you like a traditional style. I never have. I keep all of my day planning appointments etc in my Google Calendar app on my phone. Everything else is in my planner. Usually this means, meal plans, daily trackers, and to-do lists. Lately, it means only meal plans and to-do lists.

Check out the summary list below. Click on the pictures to be linked to Amazon to see more photos and features. You can also find the whole list here.

Traditional(ish) Planners

Orange Circle Studio 2019 Do It All Planner

Do It All Planner

Who it’s good for:

  • if you’re tracking a few different things in a day. This could be either different family members or home life and work life etc.
  • if you like pretty things. There are 5 different cover styles to choose from

Features:

  • stickers
  • spiral bound
  • colourful

Katie Daisy 2018 – 2019 On-the-Go Weekly Planner:

katiedaisyplanner

Who it’s good for:

  • if you like pretty things
  • if you don’t need a lot of space to write what you need to

Features:

  • 17-moth planner (starts in 2018)
  • colourful
  • fun quotes
  • spiral bound

DayDesigner:

daydesignerWho it’s good for:

  • People who have daily to-do lists
  • If you don’t need your schedule written down
  • you like a little colour

Features:

  • to-do lists each day
  • space for weekly top 3 priorities, notes, gratitude
  • inspirational quotes
  • goal pages at the beginning
  • comes in 2 sizes and multiple cover designs
  • monthly tabs
  • spiral bound

OrganizeIt Weekly Planner:

OrganizeItWho it’s good for:

  • Someone who doesn’t need a ton of space each day
  • Weekly notes/summary area. One reviewer explained, “at the end of each week there are both a notes page and a preview page to write down those tasks of importance for the upcoming month.”

Features:

  • softcover
  • several design options
  • black and white interior
  • cost-effective (between $10-$15)
  • inspirational quotes

Pretty Simple Planner:

letmepencilyouinWho it’s good for:

  • Someone who likes the DayDesigner but wants a slimmer/softcover version
  • Likes fairly minimalist interior

Features:

  • daily to-do lists
  • multiple cover options
  • softcover
  • minimalist interior

Nomatic Planner

nomaticweek1Who it’s good for:

  • someone who needs lots of functionality and features

Features:

  • whiteboard paper
  • 3 bookmarks
  • a pen holder elastic
  • 2 elastics to keep pages in place and book closed
  • comes in black and mint covers
  • hardcover

Blueline DoodlePlan 

doodleplanner

Who it’s good for:

  • Someone who likes colouring more than planning
  • If you don’t need much space for planning but do need somewhere to write things down

Features:

  • Spiral bound
  • Colouring pages
  • Monthly and Weekly spreads

Panda Planner Colour

Panda Planner Colour

Who it’s for:

  • Someone who likes colouring pages as well as a full action planner
  • Someone who wants space for daily schedules

Features:

  • colouring pages
  • Weekly spreads with daily columns
  • weekly tasks, priorities, daily gratitude space, daily thankful space

Minimalist (Undated) Day Planner by Action Publishing

minimalist-plannerWho it’s good for:

  • a true minimalist
  • someone who likes to colour or draw on their pages

Productivity Planners

The SELF Journal: The Day Planner, Goal Setting System, Journal for Doers

SELFplannerWho it’s good for:

  • People who like to record more than just what they’re doing in a day
  • Goal oriented people

Features:

  • smaller design
  • space for weekly priorities, space for reflection, daily goals, big-picture goals
  • a part of a productivity series that includes weekly action pads etc.
  • fairly minimalist design

High Performance Planner

High Performance PlannerWho it’s good for:

  • If you read and enjoyed High Performance Habits, this follows that system
  • Someone who needs constant prompts and guidance in reaching their goals/productivity desires

Features:

  • A LOT of prompts and guides on every page.
  • Daily, weekly, monthly reviews etc

The Clever Fox Planner

cleverfoxWho it’s good for:

  • Contains an organizer, calendar and gratitude journal to boost productivity, happiness and hit your goals in 2019
  • A bullet journaler who doesn’t have time to do daily layouts
  • Someone who likes to record daily tasks, reflections, habit trackers etc

Features:

  • black or brightly coloured covers (blue, pink, purple, rose, orange, turquoise, black)
  • stickers!
  • daily habit tracking space
  • main goals, priorities, to-do list space, daily dot grid section for jots
  • other planning pages throughout the book including mind map space

Full Focus Planner

FullFocusWho it’s good for:

  • If you love Michael Hyatt and his systems
  • Claims to help set annual goals, increase focus, eliminate overwhelm, and achieve your biggest goals on top of being an agenda organizer

Features:

  • Daily spreads include a page for tasks, lists, and trackers, and a second page for notes
  • two ribbons
  • Goal Templates – to detail the specifics of your goals and help you reach them faster.
    Ideal Week Template – to plot out what your perfect week should look like.
    Monthly Calendars – to get a glimpse of the entire year when you plan your big goals.
    Rolling Quarters – to get a closer look at your quarters when planning.
    Daily Rituals – to design routines for your mornings and evenings that make you extra productive.
    Daily Pages – to plan your days with your to-do lists and priorities separated.
    Weekly Review – to look back, correct what went wrong, and make the next week better than the last.
    Quarterly Review – to celebrate the wins of your quarter and move forward with confidence.

Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change

productivity-plannerWho it’s good for:

  • Amazon says it’s frequently purchased with the book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
  • Someone who mainly wants to keep tabs on their daily movement toward goals and productivity

Features:

  • undated daily pages
  • smaller size
  • Weekly and daily planning pages + a weekly review page

Cossac Planner

CosacCleanWho it’s good for:

Features:

  • Premium quality ivory colour paper (100 GSM)
  • Simple and highly functional journal layout
  • Habit+Health tracker
  • 2 bookmarks + 2 elastic bands
  • Back and front pockets
  • Non-dated calendar
  • Eco-friendly materials

Morning Sidekick Journal

Morning JournalWho it’s good for:

  • A morning routine person who wants to track day and and goals
  • Someone who needs guidance in achieving their goals: “Our morning planner uses 3 phases to help you get the ball rolling and keep up momentum with your morning productivity, morning energy, and overall health”

Features:

  • Multi-phase planning system
  • Daily tips bite-sized, actionable piece of content that you can apply immediately to improving your mornings.

Let me know!

In the past I have tried Simplified Planner, Passion Planner, and the Action Method Book. None of them ever really “stuck” for me. Out of all of these, I think the one I’m the most interested in is the Clever Fox Planner because it has the most features like what I would write out in my bujo.

Was this helpful? Do you have other planners to add? Leave me a comment with suggestions or whether you went ahead and bought one of these (these are not affiliate links). If you want to look at them all in a smaller list, you can find them on this Amazon list I made.

Miracle Morning: getting off the strugglebus

IMG_6495

Hey look it’s one of my semi-annual posts! I’m feeling pretty great about it, thanks for asking. A few weeks ago my husband referred to “my old blog” and I was a little sad when I realized he meant this one. It’s not old, just a little neglected, ok??? If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you may notice a pattern. I stop things and sometimes I start them back up again. This is actually improvement because I used to just stop things and be disappointed in myself and then never start again. This has happened in the last few months again. I stopped doing my early morning routine and things fell into chaos.

Miracle Morning

One of the most transformational changes our family has made in the last year was getting up before our kids. My early mornings was largely inspired by the concept of a Miracle Morning. I had already been waking up and doing morning pages, so this is only a slight variation on that. Earlier this year, that meant I was actually waking up at 5:30 ON PURPOSE. My toddler had started waking up earlier, at 6, and so I had become so desperate for my ‘me’ time that it became worth it for me to wake up that early. I’m telling you, it changed my attitude as a parent. I went from feeling irritated with my kids for taking up “my” time during the day, to having my day start with quiet, reading, journaling, exercise, and when they woke up I no longer felt like I was being cheated out of being a person.

It was a huge win for me to make that change. I spent years having a bad attitude before I got desperate enough to change things. Our family life runs much more smoothly now particularly in the morning. I have never been a “morning person” but the time has become precious enough to me that I was looking forward to it! It certainly makes for earlier evenings — I’ll get into bed at 9:30. Some nights that means that I’m only awake 30 minutes longer than my oldest, but it’s ok because I’ll have that time in the morning again.

We made some changes the last few weeks and I fell off the early-morning wagon for a bit. But I’m back, slowly, and that’s what counts! Not quitting entirely, but getting back at it again. Like this blog. I’m still at it, and I’m still at slowly chipping away at my goals. I’ll write more about that later.

Morning Pages & My New Morning Routine

pigeonThis image describes me perfectly. I’m not an early bird or a night owl. Since being married the fact that I am neither and need a lot of sleep has caused some frustration between us. Willy always wants to set his alarm to a time that involves a 6 in the front. This idea has infuriated me because I’m the girl who sleeps until the very last possible minute and doesn’t snooze the alarm because if-i-don’t-get-out-of-bed-this-second-I-will-be-seriously-late. It’s hard to be late when on mat leave, though. And it’s hard to sleep in with kids, too. But because my husband insists on getting up early in the morning, I told him the early bird gets the worm and the worm is our toddler! I don’t even remember when it was that he started letting me sleep in a bit extra and he manages the morning with our first. This was especially wonderful when I was up in the night a few times with the baby.

But guess what! I now wake up before him! With an alarm! And I look forward to it!

Eww, why? How?

A couple weeks ago I saw a friend post on Instagram about Morning Pages. I did a quick google and realized: I needed to try this. I wouldn’t describe myself as an artist and I feel too shy to call myself a writer, but I could relate to the issues the Morning Pages are said to address.

Morning Pages

What are morning pages? They’re 3 pages of scribbles done first thing in the morning by hand. Before you look at your phone, before you read your Scriptures or even pray, before your mind gets revved up, before everything. I decided to give it a shot. I wanted to take the time in the morning to get my head on straight before I started the day, anyway, and so this seemed like the best way for me to start. So this is what my morning looks like now:

  1. Wake up at 6AM with my quiet birds chirping alarm on my phone.
  2. Quietly roll out of bed an start the kettle IN MY ROOM (because with toddlers and squeaky floors, you gotta keep hidden!)
  3. Start my morning pages, while hovering over the kettle so it doesn’t whistle or click and wake Willy up by the light of my iPhone haha (it’s not as tedious as it sounds).
  4. Make my coffee in the french press because I’m still trying to not wake anyone up.
  5. Finish my 3 morning pages. This means I write everything that comes to mind. The random to-dos that pop up are written down and starred. I write them down as they come – often it’s in the middle of a sentence I’m writing. I write about all the dumb things that are in my head or come into my head until 3 pages is finished. By this point I’ve mostly guzzled my first coffee and I’m awake.
  6. Transfer my to-dos that have come into my mind over to my planner so they don’t get lost.
  7. Open up my devotional and read it. I write out the quote that most stuck out to me into my planner.
  8. It isn’t until I’m done all of this that I get on my phone and check my messages etc.

IMG_0100Guys, it’s been life changing! It’s changed my devotional time because I don’t have all those brain interruptions happening. I’ve already cleaned out the cobwebs of my head and I’ve gotten into a head space that does not involve my phone. I have Do Not Disturb mode on my phone anyway so I’m not notified of any messages or any activity happening that would take my attention.

When I finally leave the room, I’m ready for the day. I’m awake and human again! I don’t find that I’m swept away by the day, living as much in reaction to everything.

Update on my morning routine with baby

A few weeks ago I posted about how I needed to re-establish new routines for my life with my five-month-old. Well,  I have resounding good news for you: IT WORKS. It’s been great! My morning now looks like this:

  • Wake up, make coffee, drink a glass of water
  • Hop in the shower
  • Feed Jack (Willy gets Jack when they wake up and they play together until I’m done in the shower)
  • Eat breakfast With Willy, put on make-up (it makes me feel like a real person)
  • Unload the dishwasher
  • Jack goes down for his first nap and while he naps I do my first round of cleaning for the day.

By the time Jack is sleeping at 8:30, I have already accomplished so much, that I’m able to sit down and enjoy the silence. I’ve even CLEANED stuff. I’ve realized that I need to get something done like this first thing in the morning before laziness/ tiredness sets in. It’s really easy in the afternoon to “justify” not doing any cleaning because I’m tired or whatever excuse that comes up.

You know, I was really sceptical about the difference having my shower first would make. One day I was having a bunch of moms over and I had to maximize my morning so I hopped in the shower first since Jack seemed to be fine waiting to eat. It revolutionized my morning! Instead of waiting till his nap and showering, now I can use that time to do other things.

I’m very pleased with myself. Now I need to make sure I don’t get lazy with the cleaning because that’s been the best part of all: I don’t feeling gross about this apartment I’m sitting in all day long.

Rethinking my morning routine

Photo by jencv
Photo by jencv

I guess its been a few years (!) now since I first wrote about morning routines. Since then I’ve had varying success and most recently since my son was born, continued varied success.

I’m sure you can relate. If you couldn’t you likely wouldn’t be following this blog.

You have a good routine or daily organization system going and then something happens and it messes it up. You fumble around for a little (or months?) until you remember it doesn’t have to be this way!

And so you reboot your system and try again.

This happens to me all the time and is the reason I tell people not to give up on a system until they’ve failed in this cycle a few times. If it worked for awhile then there’s hope. If it never ever worked then you should probably keep looking.

Routines

Since Jack was born I’ve had a few different routines that have helped me stay sane. For awhile I did at least 2 loads of laundry a day: one in the morning of Jack’s barfy clothes and one in the evening of his cloth diapers. Now I have more clothes and more diapers so I do laundry every other day.

Other mornings I had a routine of waking up, starting coffee, drinking a glass of water, feeding Jack, then shower and get my day in order during his first nap.

Then that got messed up.

So here I am working on a new routine to help me have a decent day despite the unpredictability an infant can bring. There are other routines that I would like to establish so that I don’t have to decide what I want to do or feel like doing. Because I will never feel like cleaning. Ever.

I went back and read those blog posts again and actually found them helpful!

Things that are helpful in a routine

These days I need habits that will help our life work more smoothly. This means that things like laundry, dishes, quiet times and meals get done naturally rather than haphazardly. I think something I need to institute is a consistent wake-up time. I usually wake up when Jack wakes up, which was 6:30 for a long time, then 7:00 for a long time, now it’s 7:30. I think I actually had better days when he was waking up earlier, even though I always needed a nap.

The other thing that has helped me operate well is dealing with clutter quickly, whether it’s unloading the dishwasher right away so it can be loaded as dishes are dirtied, or fold and put away laundry right away. (Sidenote: I have never folded laundry or put it away until Jack was born so let’s just all do a slow clap for me right now because I’m finally a grown up. It only took me becoming a parent).

So we’ll see how this goes! If anyone has any tips on what worked for them (or their mom) please leave me a comment!

Alone but not lonely (until I am)

Photo by Mo Riza
Photo by Mo Riza

Willy came home from a night class on Monday – the first class he’s taken since the winter semester 2012 (a year ago). It was 10:00PM when he got in. He came over to me and looked a bit sad and said something like:

“You’ve been here all night alone!”

“Yes,” I didn’t get where he was going with this

“And you did this almost every night last year.”

“Yes.”

“You just sat around all alone,” he said, and then after a beat added, “No, actually, that’s not true. You got things done while I was gone at school.”

A light when on in my head. “Yes I did, didn’t I?”

And that, folks, was when I realized the difference between last year and everything I got accomplished versus this year. The presence of my husband verses  him not being around as much.

I’ve been thinking about this all week (while procrastinating writing this post). Whenever I’m all alone in the house, I’m motivated to do things. Whenever there’s someone around, that motivation dies. The mornings when Willy isn’t around when I wake up (which is rare), I get up, have a shower, read my Bible, and have  a full morning. When he’s away or there are other people around, I’m a bum. I don’t always read my Bible ( I do always shower) but… it’s just different.

This is my guess as to why: I’m an extrovert, who sometimes cherishes my alone time but when there’s too much, I go stir-crazy. At first when I was getting used to Willy being away at school, I watched all the movies I wanted to that he didn’t. I was like a kid in a candy store. But that got old fast and I realized I was quickly going to rot my brain and waste my life. I was also getting stir-crazy so that’s when I got productive. But when people are around, it messes with me. I feel like I need to be chatting with them, engaging with them. I have a hard time ignoring my husband when he’s around. Like when I’m reading my Bible, it feels private and personal (despite the fact that I often end up telling him about what I’m reading thinking after… see where this gets confusing?) and so I feel a bit abashed to know people are seeing me doing it.

This past Friday, a bunch of friends were going skating. I decided to stay back because I get sore feet when I skate and can’t stay out as long as others, making me a kill-joy. I wanted to do something social, but I asked a few friends and they were all busy. So, I was left alone, which I wasn’t particularly excited about.

But I remembered I hadn’t baked in a while and so I did that. I ended up really enjoying my evening alone!

So I think the lesson here is that I need to institute some time where I’m actually entirely alone, without anyone around — even my dearest loved one. It wont be Monday nights when Willy’s in class, because I’m taking a class, too.

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