TTMA your planning technique

[longhornwino]

When I started venturing into the planner world, I had a Plum Paper ME planner, the one with seven customizable sections. I moved on to a PP vertical layout with lines because I could make the EC stickers fit in it much better. Now I'm expecting baby number two, and I'm starting to wonder how to get all four of our schedules into a vertical style. I don't particularly want to go back to the ME because it's nearly impossible to find sticker kits that fit it (the boxes are smaller, so the full boxes in most kits are way too big). I'm either going to stick with the PP vertical or move on to the EC vertical. But I'm curious how everyone incorporates various family members' schedules. I could color code, but I always use pens that match my sticker kit. So the color coding wouldn't be consistent from week to week.

Thoughts? Any other planner suggestions? Got pics of your organizing technique? I'm probably overthinking this, but I always want to make sure I get the right planner for my needs.

[oliversbear]

I'm probably the odd person out here because I use DayTimers & Franklin Planner products. I don't really decorate my planners, so I find a pretty one and go with that for the year. I'm simple and use just a pen for my schedules. When I was working and had more schedules to keep track of, I used a Desk/Classic size 2-pages-a-day planner so I had room to keep track of everything. I didn't color-code, but did mark things with initials. Now that I have fewer things to keep track, I use a Personal/Compact size 2-pages-a-week horizontal format. I prefer the formats that have space for tasks & a timed schedule for each day, so I can see both what has to be done and how much time I have to do it.

My mother always used a Folio/Monarch 2-pages-a-day planner for all our activities with a satellite notebook in her purse for when she had to make notes if we were out and about. She used pencil (for easy erasing) and initials in her planner. I think I just took her system and adapted it for me.

[mathrun]

We are a family of four. I use a Recollections vertical layout (pretty much the same layout as EC).

Instead of organizing by a box each day for each person, I use the top row of boxes for activities/meetings/appointments. Most weeks I do color code by person, but to make it match my decorations I just stick to dark colors for MH and I and lighter colors for the kids rather than a specific color for each person.

The second row is for To Do list, notes about what household chores we need to do, etc. and the bottom row is meal planning. The blank space at the left of the first page is my weekly To Do list. The space along the bottom left is used for trackers for me and my oldest son's school things (reading, instrument practice, etc.) The space along the bottom right is for gratitude, inspirational quotes, or whatever else I feel like putting there.

I have a cheap notebook I keep in my nightstand to track TV shows and books that I want to watch/read.

I use a daytimer and my Outlook calendar at work to track work meetings and projects.

[longhornwino]

Interesting thoughts, thanks y'all! I like the idea of doing dark/light colors instead of specific color coding. And getting a small notebook to carry with me for notes and misc.

[McBenny]

I've changed how I've done things a few times. What works for me is I put anything that requires someone being somewhere in the first box.

I'm a minimal decorator and use minimal stickers IMO.

[oliversbear]

I definitely recommend using a planner that is small enough to fit in your daily bag or a smaller notebook in your daily bag.

I keep track of everything but meal planning in my planner. For meal planning, I have a half-size notebook that lives on the kitchen counter so it's always accessible by the household. I plan a week on each page and use the back of the page for the grocery list, that way when I'm at the grocery store, I can make adjustments to meals/ingredients as needed. I found I had trouble remembering what each ingredient was for if I didn't have the plan with me.

The biggest advice I have is find what works for you and make your planner system work for you. If it doesn't work for you, you are not going to use it no matter how pretty, cool, fun, or popular it is. I love the look of the Erin Condren/Plum Paper Planners, but they do not work for me with the way I use my planner. I love having a binder to make it easy to change out pages and I really love only have to replace the annual pages each year, rather than re-writing everything I keep in my planner each year. I keep lists of books to read, my checkbook register/budget plans and bill tracker, lists of things to check out and do, birthdays, it's my address book -- I would hate to have to re-write all those things each year.