Planners 2025 edition

[trueblue]

If you use a planner (paper or virtual) what are you looking at for 2025? I have a happy planner right now but I am not in love with it enough to get a 2025 refill without comparison shopping. We use a google calendar for appointments and stuff but my Gen X self can’t make the full switch to virtual. I just need to write things down.

Has anyone used one of the virtual planners that lives on your tablet? That might be a contender if I remembered to keep my iPad charged consistently.

[Bookshelves]

I’m with you on virtual versus paper. We use Cozi app as a family, but I also use a paper planner, because my brain works better that way. I am a pretty simple planner person and have found the 8”x5” weekly/monthly planner from Blue Sky brand to be my favorite for many years. Usually $10-15, tabbed (I hate planners that don’t have the months tabbed), small pocket, durable, notes spaces/pages, and mostly recyclable. (I haven’t picked one for 2025 yet.)

We have liked the Cozi app overall.

[AmyG]

I have yet to find a planner that works for me.
So I make my own kinda.
Like I like to tear pages out if it's a to do list
I want a small sized monthly calendar to jot appts in
but they also go onto my family calendar in the kitchen for dh
love to have sticky notes in there for random thoughts or lists
that don't seem to belong elsewhere
when i rip out to do list pages though, in my old age I forget things
Like I have on the list to reorganize the linen closet,
but where the heck did I put the things that didn't belong in that closet?
cause they've been there for too long and my brain just resets to where the used to be
instead of where I moved them to.
so I need a more journal thing for when I move things where the heck did I put it?
but for now that's a note on my phone, and once written it tends to be remembered.

[AmyG]

So I've taken to buying a nicer spiral small sized notebook and add in the things I find useful
inside the front cover

[hawkward]

I really love our Skylight. It’s the only thing I’ve ever really stuck with. I like that I can add things easily, but also there’s a central calendar we can all reference. H, DS1, both of the grandmas, and I all have the app and anything we add automatically shows up on the master calendar tablet where the kids can see. That way they all know who is picking them up, etc., and they also have chore lists that they can check off.

[gymngemini]

Oct 21, 2024 19:03:23 GMT -6 hawkward said:

I really love our Skylight. It’s the only thing I’ve ever really stuck with. I like that I can add things easily, but also there’s a central calendar we can all reference. H, DS1, both of the grandmas, and I all have the app and anything we add automatically shows up on the master calendar tablet where the kids can see. That way they all know who is picking them up, etc., and they also have chore lists that they can check off.

I've been looking at those! We went to Best Buy to look at it in person, but all it showed was a demo video vs being able to play around on it. What size did you go with if you don't mind me asking? Have you found the chores list functional for the kids? I think we want to go with the 27" but I'm hesitant to drop the dollars if we aren't going to keep up with it well.

[hawkward]

Oct 21, 2024 19:11:37 GMT -6 gymngemini said:

Oct 21, 2024 19:03:23 GMT -6 hawkward said:

I really love our Skylight. It’s the only thing I’ve ever really stuck with. I like that I can add things easily, but also there’s a central calendar we can all reference. H, DS1, both of the grandmas, and I all have the app and anything we add automatically shows up on the master calendar tablet where the kids can see. That way they all know who is picking them up, etc., and they also have chore lists that they can check off.

I've been looking at those! We went to Best Buy to look at it in person, but all it showed was a demo video vs being able to play around on it. What size did you go with if you don't mind me asking? Have you found the chores list functional for the kids? I think we want to go with the 27" but I'm hesitant to drop the dollars if we aren't going to keep up with it well.

We went with the bigger size. My friends have the smaller one and it didn’t seem quite as functional for the kids (hers are still little and not checking things off). I really like the chore list. I can change it from my phone easily, so if something comes up I can add it. They like that I can see immediately what they’ve done when I get home from work. We put daily tasks like “take medicine” on there to prompt them as well. DS2 is AuDHD and it really helps him.

[gymngemini]

Oct 21, 2024 19:16:45 GMT -6 hawkward said:

Oct 21, 2024 19:11:37 GMT -6 gymngemini said:

I've been looking at those! We went to Best Buy to look at it in person, but all it showed was a demo video vs being able to play around on it. What size did you go with if you don't mind me asking? Have you found the chores list functional for the kids? I think we want to go with the 27" but I'm hesitant to drop the dollars if we aren't going to keep up with it well.

We went with the bigger size. My friends have the smaller one and it didn’t seem quite as functional for the kids (hers are still little and not checking things off). I really like the chore list. I can change it from my phone easily, so if something comes up I can add it. They like that I can see immediately what they’ve done when I get home from work. We put daily tasks like “take medicine” on there to prompt them as well. DS2 is AuDHD and it really helps him.

Thank you! This is super helpful to hear!

[STP]

One benefit of having teens is they both have phones, so we all just share a google calendar and that's really made my life so much easier.

I love the concept of planners, but in practice I stop using them a few months in. So I've just given in and we are all digital now.

You can also display a Google calendar on your smart TV if you don't want to pay for a new device.

[cdnfroggy]

I absolutely love my Always Fully Booked (undated version) from Little Inklings because it has so many extras for readers (challenges, review sections, lists etc.) and is in a dashboard layout. Pre-orders are up and there are 3 covers and 3 layouts to pick from. It will be my 2nd year with it and I find it perfect for me.

[McBenny]

There is no one size fits all for planners and people.

There are studies that show writing things out activate more brain regions and connections vs typing things out. That being said, for me, even with digital planning, I still wrote the shit out somewhere to type into the digital, so it was mooot.

Picking out a paper planner, you have to decide what your needs are. Do you just need a monthly view? Do you need weekly? Both? Are you a daily planner? Etc.

Then from there you can decide what system you would like. Rings/Binders, Discs, Coils, etc.

Then there are layouts. Vertical, Dashboard, Horizontal.

Then you can also pick what size you want - full paper size, half letter, etc.

I am a paper planner person. I have my main planner, then one for the home/family, self-care/personal, budget planner, and then one for the social/planner stuff.

All of these are sections in my planner. Since I use a disc system, I can add in and take out etc. So it's one physical planner but a lot of sections. I feel it helps me to be less stressed to get things out of my head onto the planner. I am not trying to remember things. I do regular brain dumps and get all the things down and then make a plan to get them done or the deadlines to get them done.

Again, whether it's digital or paper, there is no right or wrong answer. It comes down to what you need and what works for you.

[trueblue]

Thanks McBenny, I was hoping you would weigh in. I was looking for systems/paper planners I could research to determine if they would work for me, throwing it into google brings back so many hits I get overwhelmed and close out of it. Narrowing it down by recommendation made it easier for me to limit my search. The brick and mortar stores near me don’t have a wide selection.

[McBenny]

Oct 23, 2024 12:52:28 GMT -6 trueblue said:

Thanks McBenny, I was hoping you would weigh in. I was looking for systems/paper planners I could research to determine if they would work for me, throwing it into google brings back so many hits I get overwhelmed and close out of it. Narrowing it down by recommendation made it easier for me to limit my search. The brick and mortar stores near me don’t have a wide selection.

if you first narrow down what style you want like rings, coils etc then determine your size then Google that.

Like "coil planners" then you can see layouts and all of that. Depending on what brand you like, that will determine if you have to order or can you pick up online.

[ponyhairs]

McBenny, do you have a go-to suggestion for planner supplies, like date stickers, month stickers, bill due stickers, etc? I went to Etsy and was immediately overwhelmed by the seemingly endless options.

[sudsy]

I am the type of person that can’t do solely digital. I do set alerts in my phone though for things that I need to remember to pack for a specific day or minor events I may not remember (ie a phone meeting I had the other day that wasn’t related to work).

I need a planner that shows a full month at a time, but don’t really need weekly blocks to write a bunch of stuff in. I have highlighters that I use to color code. One color for my own personal appts, one color for kids stuff, one color for work-related stuff, and an extra color for random things. I do sometimes use stickers as well.

As an extra level of visibility, I print out a monthly calendar and copy everything from my planner onto it and post it on my cork board above my desk at work. Not only does it force me to look every day, it also lets my boss see what I have planned, who is taking PTO, whose birthday is next up, etc.