How to Use a Paper Planner Effectively Along with a Digital Planner

Learning to use a paper planner, along with an online digital planner has so many benefits.  In this post I’ll show you how to use a planner (and how I use my happy planner), to help organize, reflect and get priorities straight!

I actually love my paper physical planner so much I did a podcast about how I use my planner that I think you will love:

If you liked this post, be sure to check out my post about my course Family Routines:

1994 me:  Dear Franklin Planner.  I love you so much.  I lay my head on your padded cover when I am falling asleep in class.  You keep all my AP tests on track.  All the to-do list, even all my ID and cards arranged so neatly.  I love you so much {swoon}

2004 me:  Dear scrapbooking.  I love you so much, you are my life, I’ve met so many friends doing you.  I love the paper, the stickers, I love everything about it.  I love that my 20 albums are all organized on my bookshelf so the visiting teachers can look through the minutia of my life.  So grateful for you scrapbooking {swoon}

2015 Me:  Dear Google Calendar,  If you were an entity, I  would ask you to marry me (sorry Drew).  I remember the day I realized that if Drew changed something on his calendar, it would automatically show up on my phone {swoon}  OMG.  The digital world. The thrill.  It was palpable.  It still sometimes “gets” me. Big fan. 🙂 #allthefeels

I think it is safe to say that I am a girl that loves planners, planning, and all things organized, life.  It gets me right in the gut.  Feels so good to have my life all there.

BTW, looking for other organization ideas – check out my organized home page!

So, how do we somehow combine all these people?  How can google calendar along with a paper planner co-exist?  Can they be helpful?

Will we go bankrupt when I am let loose in a washi tape aisle?  Wait, don’t answer that.

Paper Planners

Well, enter my trip to Snap (a blog conference I went to) where they handed me a Happy Planner.  Wow, that looks fun… as I put it in my swag bag.

Fast forward a month and I’m really feeling like a portion of my life could do really well with a new planner, and I start to dip my toe into the world of planning….

And then I totally fell in.

I started watching YouTube videos.

Watching planner videos is right up there with nail art.  I could watch it all day long.

I just don’t do it myself.

Yes, I love washi and I love stickers but more than either of those, I love the actual organization.

Let’s take a look at my actual planner pages (who doesn’t love a good GIF):

I absolutely LOVE making each week different with Washi and stickers.  But I REALLY like the organization of it.  I see so many planners where they FILLED with stickers and paper crafts, with hardly any physical space for planning.

How to Combine both a Paper Planner and a Digital Calendar Together

My google Calender is strictly for events.  I have my family members put their events in their calendars which are shared with me (I got over this pretty thoroughly in my course).

I do put MY events in my planner, but I don’t always put other people’s and events (unless I have to drive them) almost 98% of the time hit the phone first.

My paper planner is for my heart & mind

And my google online calendars are the digital version for my mind, and to make sure I don’t miss events.

I am going to go on to share how I use my paper planner, but that’s the basics of how I combine them.

How to Use a Planner Effectively

I think the answer to this, at the end of the day, is how YOU want to use a personal planner as a productivity tool.

I want to share how I use mine — and it might spark some ideas in you.

**Since I got my planner, and wrote this initially in 2016, planners have changed.  It’s a lot easier to get what YOU want depending on the type of planner you choose.

Some people use planners to:

• Plan meals and a grocery list
• Plan finances, enter bills
• Track workouts/weight loss
• Plan projects

You’ll see that I have some of these within mine.

How to use a Happy Planner

The Happy Planner is a brand of planners. You can get it from Me and My Big Ideas or most of the craft stores out there.

It has a ring system where papers can come in and out (although they don’t turn as nicely as a 3 ring binder system (which is my main beef with this system).

However, that also means it’s modular and additional pages can easily be added/taken out.

Over time I’ve found the rings to be less of a hassel.

You can kind of see the rings here a little better (although I recently switched to metal).

I have a couple of tabs that hold a pen and a pencil.  I need both instruments.  Need people.  need.

You can see my favorite pens for planners.

I have a pocket in the front where I carry a few notecards for when a thank you note is due.  I often think “oh, I should write a thank you note” — but then the thank you cards are painful to get to.  Excuses no more!

OMG, the sticky notes.  So cute!  Right?!

They get me every time.  My planner might have just pages and pages of these instead of actual planner papers #selfrestraint  These post-its hold really well.  I totally recommend them (and I am picky about my post-its!).

Behind that, I have a lot of blog planning pages.  Nothing insane.  Just post ideas, and ways I promote each post to remind me.  If there are bloggers interested in how I organize my blog using this — you can read more about in this post.

Behind that is a few adult coloring pages.  Because they make me happy.

Using monthly pages in your paper planner

And then comes the first monthly page.  The monthly page is almost entirely for blog work.  Each category that I write on is in a different color.  That, hopefully, helps me to not write about pregnancy 5 times in a row, etc.

I love to use washi tape for it because they’re moveable as my editorial calendar changes.

Although, you can see that we did go out of town on this one (that was the Jimmy Kimmel trip)

** For me, the monthly pages are a “big picture” type of a moment.  Vacations. Day-long events, etc.

Then, comes a weekly set-up:

This is where mine really skews from the normal path.

How to use a weekly planner:

First thing for me, any big projects I want to get done during the week are in the margins.  I check those off as we go through the week.

I also set a goal with my kids each week, so they can work on something at home.

I also track how many vegetables I’m eating (true story) and while I am not always the best at tracking, it always gives me a good start to the week.

AND, I track my menu plans there on the sidebar of my weekly spread.

How I use a daily planner:

The top section, I use as a gratitude area.  Just a few things I find myself super thankful for.  Just helps to remind me how blessed I am.  I try to make them bigger things, but sometimes it’s small things like the dishwasher.

I truly think that by finding the good and recognizing it, you are sent more of it.  And heavens knows I need that.

The second section, I use to set intentions for the day/my life.

Some are super specific — like, please help me to sell 10 courses today.  OR, one that worked out… I asked to get a blue Honda Accord with less than 20 miles on it for $19k.  Which, we totally did!

Some are vaguer — like, help Princess P follow through on things she says she will do.  Please help my friend’s baby to feel better.  Please help me to lose weight.

It’s just a place to put into motion the stuff I want to have happen.

And in some ways it helps shape my final section:

The bottom section is how normal people use theirs.

I outline any appointments that I have in there.

I have 2 to-do lists.

The top half of that box is blog jobs I need to get done

The bottom half are household jobs I need to get done.

I sometimes also plan out the day hourly (usually on a post-it note)

For some days, I find this is really important, or I get lost in blogging tasks (that could easily take less time than I am giving it).  Especially now that my kids are in school and I have a full day ahead of me that I need a little more help staying on track — I want to be sure to get in all the daily tasks I need to before 3 pm hits.

I also use some of these small tabs to menu plan or write other intentions I have each week.  I love them.  Love how cute and bright they are.

Best Paper Planners:

Anyway, there are tons of planner systems out there. I have a whole post on the Best Planners for Moms — but here is the condensed version:

Happy Planner is one you can get on Amazon and likely also at your local craft store.  There are 2 different ring sizes, and I bought the larger ones, but later decided to only use the smaller ones and only keep 12 months in the planner.  They have adorable accessories!

Erin Condren is probably the most popular planner system.  They have tabs that allow you to add things to their spiral notebook.  I really like their spirals.  They allow for page turns so nicely.  I think this might be my next one (as I am not the biggest fan of the Happy Planner rings.  Erin has very similar weekly and monthly sections.  I just think it’s more durable than the Happy Planner.

Another common one is the Mormon Mom Planner.  Think Erin Condren with a more Mom Emphasis.  They make 2 varieties — the Mormon one and the non-Mormon one.  They look really cool and I know they are my friend Lara’s planner of choice.  They seem to have more pages for planning, which I would really like.  Things like budgeting, goals, etc.  Very cool.

**I just got my Mormon Mom Planner.  You can see my unboxing videos here and here (a dust storm warning stopped my FB live).  I REALLY like a few things about it:

• The size (smaller than happy planner or Erin Condren, which I think I would appreciate)
• The spiral bounding is awesome
• Sparks TONS of ideas for a happy family life.

**This also comes as a non-LDS planner as well.  So don’t feel tied to the Mormon part.

Products I Use in my Planner:

My planner really helped me bring out a creative side of me that I had sort of lost that for a long time.

I absolutely love having colors, stickers, and new items that encourage me to be excited about the week.

Things I lose:

Washi Tape:  These are the ones I use for my blog monthly calendars pages.  They’re pretty thin, but great quality (if you are unable to write small, these might be an issue), of course you’ll want some decorative ones like these — or go to your local craft store.  Be sure to pay attention to sales and use a coupon!

I love the Steaedler fineliner markers:  These are great if you want to pen a little color in your planner.  ALso great for adult coloring. 🙂  Be sure and check out my full post on the best pens for planners.

But, when I’m writing on Washi Tape — I use a Tombow  MonoTwin when I write on my Washi — I love the dual tips and it never smears (I used to like the Sharpie fine liner, but it sometimes smears, and I find the pen to sometimes leak on me when I write).

I also have these adorable stamps (sometimes I help my daughter make her own to do list with this one).

Although, I mostly use stickers and washi tape.  They tend to work better for me and are an easy way to keep track of important dates and important tasks of daily life.

If you liked this post, be sure to check out all my other organization posts below, and be sure to sign up for my newsletter right here:

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