Category: Planning

For 2020, I had two planners, a vertical life planner, and the Daily Petites. I used the life planner for my everyday life and the Petites to content plan for my photography business. About halfway through the year, I became an and realized how much work it takes to make these videos and have a slightly different approach for this year.

And I somehow ended up with six planners. Yes, six. Oh, and a desktop calendar.

This video will go through how I’ve decided to use them. This video doesn’t include the Budget Book because I don’t think of that as a planner. It’s a tool to track a budget. If you are curious about the budget book, you can check out my youtube video on it.

So what all do I have? I will go in size order from smallest to largest. I have a pocket planner because I thought it was cute, and I can toss it in my purse to jot things down and check appointments when I’m out. Then I realized I am never out anymore. So I’ll keep it in my bag but not sure how much use it will actually get. On the monthly view, I will put appointments. For the monthly goals, I haven’t decided what I’ll put there. Important dates, to-do, and the lined pages are pretty self-explanatory. Then in the week, I’ll again put appointments, and that’s probably it.

Anyone else have the pocket planner? How are you planning to use it?

Then I have the quarterly daily, and monthly Petites. I’m not using the daily as a content planner this year. I’m using it as a to-do list. I do have some content info in it, mostly on the monthly page. But between a photography business, several ambassadorships, and the EC affiliate, I have many things I need to keep track of. I started testing this in December, and it was so helpful. So I decided to keep it that way.

The monthly is my goal planner. I’m still working out how I’m going to use it. I have it set up for the first quarter, and I’ll review and make changes as I get more into it. I decided to use this one for goals because of the note pages in the back. I listed out my main goals on the first page. Then I divided the rest of the notes into each goal. I think I ended with seven pages for each one. Then on each goal page, I tried to think SMART and break the goal down. I wrote out daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly tasks for each goal. For my budget goal, I made spending track pages for some categories (races, books, EC LOL).

Once I broke down each goal, I made notes on the month about what I want to do. I’m not done with the monthly calendar yet. As you can see, I’ve got the weekly continuing education video and book. I think I will mark each day with a green x if I didn’t spend that day and the amount if I did. It’s a work in progress.

As an affiliate, I received a monthly planner. I was going to try and make it work for me instead of my usual vertical life planner. I set up January about three different times (yay for white-out) before realizing it wasn’t going to work. I had thought about giving it away or selling it, but I had really trashed January, so repurposing seemed best.

Any ideas of how I can use this monthly?? I know a lot of people use it for budgeting but I have the A5 budget book. I’m at a loss and don’t want it to go completely to waste.

So, I said I didn’t like the monthly as my life planner, so I bought the hourly during the Black Friday sale. I have been a vertical person for years, but the hourly just called to me this year. I like the idea of lines to help my terrible writing be a bit better.

So my 12 boxes are the themes and promos for my photography business and runs on espresso. The calendar is paydays, work holidays, appointments. You know, the big overview stuff. In the dashboard, I repeated the significant dates and the monthly themes. Then I wrote the four books I want to read for the month. Not sure what I’ll do with the blank page or dot grid section yet.

In the weekly sections, I wrote my planned workout at the top and put my mileage goal in the notes section. I added tasks for the week and my planned continuing education videos. Then I added some stickers. I’ll add more tasks/chores as they come up.

Lastly, I have the monthly binder for my fitness planning and journaling. I started it back in October to practice and see if it would replace my Believe training journal. So far, I like it, and I’m getting to know how I want to use it.

I stole my 12 boxes idea from someone on Instagram. I will track all of my monthly measurements. On the monthly page, I put little tabs to track my weekly and monthly miles. I’ll add in my training plan once I have it figured out. I’m still trying to figure out the details. On the dashboard, I’ve got my events, goals, and weight plus trackers for them. Then in the lined note section, I’ll write down how my training went each day and how I feel. And on the last page of the month, I’ll do a little monthly recap.

Oh, I almost forgot my content planner! I have the desk pad for that. It’s big enough I can fit it all in! I make sure the monthly theme is on the top. I write in the photo for each day, blog posts, podcasts, and emails. I also include those education videos I want to watch. And on the side, I’ve got my big to-dos and spots for ambassadorship and affiliate planning. I also color-coded the different things so I can glance at and know what I meant. January is always my test, so it’ll get better as I go.

Wow, that is a lot. I’m not sure if I will keep up with this for 2022. It seems like a lot, and some of it is repetitive. But then again, I know writing things down helps me remember, so if I write it down several times, it will undoubtedly help!

What planner or planners are you using for 2021? And how are you planning to use them? I need ideas! LOL

And lastly, as an EC affiliate, I’d really appreciate it if you used my link for all your EC needs. It helps me keep content going and lets EC know that you like my content and want to see more! If you do buy something, come back here and let me know what you got! I really do want to know because I need more planner friends.

I’m putting together my planners for 2021. I am changing a bit from what Ive done the past few years. Previously I used a vertical life planner, a daily petite, and a desk calendar. The system worked pretty well for me and I love the vertical planner. It makes sense in my head.

I used the vertical life planner for my daily life: workouts, appointments, to-dos, bills due, etc. I used the daily petite for content planning for my photography business. My desk calendar was a Hodge-Podge of personal appointments and business blogs.

For 2021, Im switching it up a bit.

I had planned to continue the same setup. I received the daily petite planners from Erin Condren and was going to order my vertical life planner during the Black Friday sale. But in the holiday box Erin Condren sent out, I received the new monthly planner. I thought about giving it away but wanted to switch up my planning a bit.

I have a pretty good handle on my photography business content, but I’m struggling with Runs on Espresso. I want to be a better ambassador and affiliate, so I need to put in the work. Ive been experimenting a bit this month (November) with how I will use my planners going into 2021.

For next year I have a daily petite, the monthly petite, a monthly coil and binder, and a desk calendar. I swear I didn’t plan to use this many! It just happened.

As stated, I use the daily petite for content planning. For 2021, I am going to use it as a combo of content planning and daily to-do lists. It was a lot of room for what I was using it for. It makes more sense to use the to-do section for all things I need to do, not just blog or social media related. I have also been transferring my workouts from my monthly binder to each day so I can see it in several places.

I was originally going to use my petite monthly to content plan but changed my mind. I haven’t worked it out yet, but I’m making this my goals journal and tracker. I will use the pages in the back to write out and break down my goals and add notes throughout the year. I’ll use the monthly calendars to track “due dates” for steps of each goal.

My monthly coiled planner will be for tracking my personal stuff like appointments, paydays, and bills do. You know, the fun stuff. I love the dashboard and have made notes of how I’ll use each section (important dates, books read, and business goal tracking). I’ll use two note pages per week and add anything there that I need to remember or do for the week that doesn’t fit on the monthly calendar.

You may have seen my previous post, Who is Ready for 2021?, in which I mentioned my plan for the monthly binder. I have been using this now for almost two months and like it. I can plan out a month of my ultramarathon plan, track my races, weight, and measurements. And when 2021 starts, I’ll add my notes on workouts on the lined pages for each month.

Lastly, that pesky desk calendar. I love how it looks so I order it every year but haven’t really had a plan for it. I’ve changed how I use it throughout each year. But not for 2021! For 2021, my desk calendar will be my content planner for my business and this blog. I already started plotting it all out. I’ll list the blog posts, newsletters, social media plans for each month and week. I’ll note the promos or what I’m “pushing” (for lack of a better term) each month.

Whew, that’s a lot of planners and organization I’ve got going on! If you want to see the planners in action, head over to my YouTube channel where I walk through each of these planners.

What planner(s) will you be using next year?

I was lucky enough to receive a holiday box from Erin Condren as part of their affiliate program. Any links will be my affiliate links and I would appreciate it if you used them. I will earn a small percentage for each purchase.

I get excited for Christmas time every year.

I love finding gifts for friends and family. I actually buy items all year round when I find the perfect item. I love giving unique gifts over gift cards. The fun is the hunt for the right thing.

Plus, you get to listen to Bing Crosby croon as you wrap presents and bake cookies.

Although the Erin Condren Holiday collection is meant to be given as gifts, I want to keep it all for myself! I love everything I received and flipping through the lookbook, I am finding more things I want for myself! We may be doing the one for you, one for me gift buying this year.

I say Christmas because that is what I celebrate but really these items could be given for any holiday or birthday. The items are definitely not Christmasy. Everything is so colorful and beautiful. And many items use this year’s popular layers, floral, and mid-century circle patterns. Even what I call ornaments aren’t really ornaments. They are paper decorations and the colors are rich, jewel tones as opposed to red and green.

You can shop for all the holiday items at erincondren.com. If you aren’t an Insider, you can use my referral link to sign up and save $10 on your first order.

I cannot wait to do this layers puzzle. And mix up a cranberry champagne cocktail. What are you most looking forward to from the Erin Condren Holiday collection?

Referral link info: You will receive $10 off your first purchase and I will earn Insider points.

You may also like my holiday gift video.