One of the things that's a MUST HAVE in my life is a planner.
When I was working, I used a planner to organize my year, month, and daily work life. It went everywhere with me, and I even worked with teachers on HOW to plan and organize their planners.
Now that I'm retired, my planning life is a bit different, but not by much.
I still need to keep track of appointments and weekly tasks and I like to see what's coming up in the near and distant future.
Over the years I've tried many different types/brands of planners, and have found that the Happy Planner system is what works best for me.
I may or may not have a problem...
Here is my current collection of planners and notebooks.
Yes, I realize that there are A LOT of them, but once I explain it will all make sense.
A Happy Planner (or ARC or Martha Stewart) Disc Bound System is one of the best ways to customize and "build" exactly what you need when planning.
It starts with the discs.
I have discs from Happy Planner (the heart cutouts), Martha Stewart, and ARC. There are other disc manufacturers which you can find on Amazon. Michaels carries the Happy Planner system and has a nice selection of discs. Staples carries Martha and ARC.
They come in all different sizes, from small to large, and even different colors. I currently have the black, gold, silver, and rose gold options, but I've seen hot pink and turquoise as well.
When I was first introduced to the disc bound system I was hesitant because I was afraid that the pages would not turn smoothly. This can happen, but more often than not I don't encounter issues.
This is because I also invested in the Happy Planner hole punch.
This is by far the best thing you can have because it will allow you to add a whole host of things to your planner/notebooks.
Things like printed schedules, printed inspirational quotes, handouts, photos, self-made organization sheets, and much more. It has been especially helpful to me as I make my own notebooks which I will share a bit about later in this post.
I currently use to pre-printed Happy Planner products as my personal planners.
The smaller notebook fits nicely into my purse and I use it to make appointments and notes. I specifically purchased this size so that it could travel around with me as my "main" planner is 11" x 9" and way too big to fit into my purse.
Each week I coordinate the two so that they are up to date. I know this may sound like a lot of work, but really it's not. When I sit down on Sunday to plan my next week, I pull out the small calendar and write all the additions to my big calendar.
It takes all of 2 minutes...
Interesting note: My large calendar is actually the Happy Planner Happy Memory Making Planner. It's designed for those folks that like to "scrapbook" their year in calendar format.
What drew me to this was the fact that all the lines and pieces were there, BUT it could be started during any month and you could personalize the calendars and the pages. There is very little pre-printed. This was great for me and my washi-tape/sticker obsession.
Another feature about the disc bound system is that I can make specific notebooks for different needs.
This notebook has our menu planning system inside, along with a notebook that I created to house information about healthy foods and recipes. It's a smaller version at 9.5" x 7.75" and uses 9 discs.
Happy Planner makes menu and grocery lists that you can purchase and use inside any of their disc planners and notebooks.
In addition, you can find many different laminated options for covers and dividers with Happy Planner. This one was just a green dotted cover and I added the stickers and label.
I created an 8.5" x 11" notebook as our budget tracking system. I personalized a monthly bill payment sheet, specifically for our budget and at the beginning of each month I pull this out and record all our bill payments. It's a great way to keep track of those important items. At the end of the year, I pull out those 12 sheets, calculate how much each bill was and find the average spent. I compare it with previous years to see if there are any glaring differences.
This has been a great way to track our use of utilities and spending.
Another notebook I made with the larger discs is our "Camping Adventure" book. I keep all of our camping discount/membership cards inside in a Dollar Tree zipper pouch that I punched with my Happy Planner disc punch.
I also created dividers so that I can keep track of current/upcoming reservations, laminated camp maps, ideas of camping trips to take, and a section with blank pages for notetaking if needed.
This notebook travels with us when camping as it holds reservation numbers as well as phone numbers and directions to various campgrounds.
One of the things that I especially love about a disc bound system is the ability to create my own notebooks, complete with covers.
You saw my budget book on the top left and my food sourcebook on the top right.
In the foreground is a smaller 8 disc notebook that I created using scrapbook paper and an image from the internet. Inside I have blank paper and a few disc bound pockets. This is a great notebook to use for any need and I totally customized it!
Investing in a Scotch laminator and laminating sheets might be something you want to do, especially because it's a great way to laminate insurance cards, newspaper clippings, recipes, and even covers and dividers like this.
Amazon is a great source for these, but Wal*Mart also has them as well as office supply stores. As a former teacher, I've used mine to their deaths. This is number 2 in 25 years...
Once you get started in a disc bound system, these are really no limits to what you can do or make.
Here are some of the supplies that I have tucked away in the event that I need them for future notebooks and planners. I'm always restructuring my notebooks as my needs change, which means I'm saving money because I'm not buying new notebooks all the time.
I'll let you in on a little secret...
This is the pile of notebooks that I've created but don't have a current use for.
Many of them have just plain or lined paper inside. I can add or subtract paper as needed, changing the discs if I need it larger or smaller.
In fact, the fourth notebook from the top was actually an Erin Condren notebook that has my name on the front. It was not a spiral bound, but a glued bound book and it still had lots of paper inside. I took it to Staples and had them chop off the very edge (they can do that you know...) and I brought it home and punched holes in it to make it disc bound.
Easy Peasy.
If you'd like to see a post about how to make your own disc bound notebook, drop me a comment and I will include it in a future post.
The only rule here is find what works for you and do it!
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