How I Use My Planner to Organize My Life

Since I was a kid, I loved organizing and especially appreciated the results that it yielded in my life.  I get to have a lifestyle that opens up more free time and creates less stress when I implement planning and organization across the many facets of my life.  Life is a never-ending to-do list, and the “things” of life are never done, so why not embrace this concept and create structures within them that benefits you?

Organizing your life is a way of planning for the things that are most important to you so that you are not left feeling overwhelmed with all that needs to be done. We can all be guilty of procrastinating or pushing things off to another time because we try to look at all the “things” as one whole that needs to be done, but when you simply break them out into categories and timeframes, then organize them into your schedule and complete them, you’ll notice that the tasks can be done quite simply without as much of a time investment as you feared. Below is how I use my planner to organize my entire life as well as some tips on getting started.

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tips to get started

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habit stacking

First, let’s talk about habit stacking. If you are unfamiliar with this term, it is basically the act of combining two or more actions into one single habit.  For example, I do my own pedicures/footcare at home, but instead of taking out time to just do the pedicure as its own task, I will do a foot exfoliation and hydration weekly as part of my Sunday “everything” shower.  I am already going to take the Sunday shower regardless, so I build in my pedicure habit into this habit to create one overall task instead of two separate tasks.  Finding ways to habit stack is a great system for creating more overall free time in your life.  Some more of my habit stacking examples are, for Life Admin I will plan my meals while at the same time make a grocery list, for Finance I will do a budget while at the same time schedule payments.  This is kind of an aside tip to get you thinking about what two or more things you can stack together to do at one time instead of separately when planning out your week.

electronic, paper or both? Find the system that works for you

Another important part of getting and staying organized is the act of recording things.  Dates, appointments, chores, meals, travel…. all of these things need to be recorded in some place where we can refer back to them.  As much as we try to keep all the things in our head straight, the simple truth is that a person has on average 60,000 thoughts a day.  That’s a lot of different things to try and keep straight for any one person, and then when you add in distractions such as social media? You can see why things may need to be recorded in order to implement them successfully.  There are really two ways you can accomplish this, either have a physical paper planner where you can write things down or use an electronic planner or even a combination of both.  My preference looks like 90% paper and 10% electronic.  I am naturally a person who loves to write things down on physical paper, so this is where I do most of planning and organizing.  I have a paper planner, a physical meal planner pad, a grocery list notebook and a blog ideas notebook.  Electronically I do put appointments into my iPhone calendar for alerts and quick reference and I also have a list app that I use to record things such as Target items to buy (a running list), Blog post ideas for when I am out and get an idea and travel to-dos for places, restaurants and things to do when I am visiting a destination.  If you have not found your system, then I suggest you try out some or try a combination of both.  This is a crucial step in moving forward as you need to find the system that you look forward to using each and every week.  If you do not enjoy the process, then you will have a high probability of quitting.

set the scene

Carve out this time for yourself to do the planning at the same time and in the same place every week to help solidify this new habit, if it’s too sporadic then the habit might not set.  You already know that I elevate all of the everyday moments in my life and this one is no exception. Make this task one where you look forward to completing it and one that is luxurious and full of beautiful details. Make a cup of coffee or tea in a beautiful cup, put on music (preferably some without lyrics to help you think more clearly), have some beautiful stationary or apps that you enjoy using, if using paper then accessorize as well.  Purchase some cute pens, a pretty bookmark if your planner doesn’t come with one, there’s even stickers that you can purchase if you enjoy using them in your planner.  Light a scented candle, get cozy and plan for your week and be excited about it.  You are creating your life on purpose as well as staying on top of important things and creating a habit that will set you up to get more accomplished in your life with ease.

Show up

Of all the tips shared, this one is going to be the hardest.  I wish I had a magic tip or some special bypass to make this step easier, but I don’t.  If you are truly trying to organize your life and to create results, then the most important component is to simply show up and do the task. Especially if you are trying to organize your life to start a new habit like working out, meal planning or doing a weekly declutter.  In the beginning it’s going to be a battle against what you want and what your brain wants.  The brain wants to keep on like normal because it’s comfortable and familiar and it simply does not like change.  The only way to change its mind and to get it comfortable again is to show up consistently and do it anyways until the brain understands that this is the new normal.  The good news is that this process does not last long term. As humans we are always trying to reach homeostasis (the tendency toward a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements), in this case what we want for ourselves and what our brain wants in the name of keeping us safe.  In the beginning this homeostasis will be interrupted, but if you keep showing up and keep doing the things, your brain will adapt and come into harmony with what you want as well.

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How i do my planning

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categories for Planning

Life is a multi-faceted thing.  We have so many different categories of things that need our attention through each day, week, month, quarter and even year.  That is why creating categories can make it easier to schedule when organizing our days.  The categories will look different for each of us based on what we are doing in our lives.  My list is below, but some may need to incorporate other categories such as children, pets, school, volunteering, etc. Make your list personal based on your priorities and what you do week-to-week. I keep a list written down in my planner of these categories so that when I sit down to plan my week, I will remember the areas that I want to focus on to schedule into my week.

My Personal Categories

• Life Admin.
• Fun
• Meals
• Health & Self Care
• Chores
• Finance
• Blog

Plan your days one week at a time

I schedule my life one week at a time. Doing more than this has a propensity of causing overwhelm, missing important things, feeling like there’s too much to do, or stretching myself too thin. The only things that get scheduled into my planner past the one week are things that are planned in advanced such as days off of work, birthdays, or booked appointments, once these are scheduled I just record them in the planner so that I can work around them when I get to that week specifically.  Since I do my organizing with my planner on every Friday I will schedule for the days of Saturday through the next Friday.  I start with each category and input the tasks into my calendar.

schedule tasks for each catergory

You do not need to go overboard with these, just schedule the things that needs to be done that week.  The categories are the overarching ideas for what I want to incorporate into my week, from here I create and schedule the tasks. I will start with each category and schedule in the tasks for the week.  For example, starting with life admin I may schedule things like “book dentist appointment” for a Monday or “renew Vogue subscription” for a Wednesday.  For fun I will schedule at least three things for the week that are for me to simply enjoy.  I may schedule a picnic on Saturday, meeting with a girlfriend for brunch on Sunday or reading in the park after work on Wednesday.  Meals are simple as I basically write in what’s for dinner for each day. This also plays into habit stacking as I will also create a grocery list while doing my meal planning. Health & Self Care is all about taking care of myself, so I will schedule days for certain workouts, days to do a sauna, days to do facials, manis/pedis, etc.  For the chores, these are not necessarily things that are done on a day-to-day basis like cleaning dishes, instead it’s for things that needs less maintenance than that.  So, it may be cleaning out the pantry every other Saturday, deep clean the microwave monthly, washing throw blankets monthly, etc. It’s a way to keep track of the cleaning that takes place weekly, monthly, etc. For Finance I schedule in paydays, when bills get paid, savings transfers and monthly check ins for progress on goals. Then lastly for me, the blog category where I will schedule tasks for blog posts like which ones get posted on which days, days where I may want to take certain pictures, etc.

Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual

The last thing that I look at while planning my week is my monthly, quarterly and annual list of to-dos.  I write out this list every January in one of my blank pages within in my planner.  This is also broken down into categories and I list out all the things that needs to be done within these timeframes.  This is a shorter category list than my weekly planning as I have only 3 categories of Health & Self Care, Chores, and Finances.  There are some tasks that do not require my attention every week, but instead needs me to check in within these later timeframes, so I will double check them as I plan my week to see if there is a task that I can take care of that week.  If I do schedule and complete the task, then I will mark out from that item when I completed it so that I have a better record of when it needs to be completed again.

Some items (in no particular order) on my monthly, quarterly, and annual list:

• Book dentist/doctor appointment
• Book hair/facial appointment
• Get car serviced for oil, tires, etc.
• File taxes
• Review insurance
• Deep clean oven
• Review retirement accounts and contributions
• Declutter closet
• Declutter pantry
• Book restaurant/plane tickets/hotel for upcoming travel
• Wash throw blankets
• Renew subscriptions/licenses/etc.

Planning for me is a way to stay on top of life’s to-dos and it also creates a self-image for myself of a woman who is organized and has her life together.  That’s not to say that when I schedule these things that 100% of all tasks get completed.  Life still happens, people get sick, friends want to get together, work may be in a busy season and therefore you are tired and need a break over the weekend, but when I do write in these tasks most of them do get accomplished and taken care of and for the ones that I miss, I just reschedule them.  This is not a practice in being perfect, it’s a practice in scheduling what is most important to you to accomplish and thereby create more simplicity in your life.