For the Love of Planners

I have always been obsessed with planners.  I used one religiously in college and also in my job as a speech pathologist.  I had to use one.  I had so many places to be, patients to see, meetings to attend, etc...  A planner was kind of a no-brainer during that period of my life.  But when I became a momma, I kind of stopped using them.  It wasn't because I didn't have any place to be or anything to do, because we all know that's not true.  Most of the things I did when my kids were babies were pretty routine (library on Tuesday, gym on Friday....)....it didn't really require me to write those things down.  That was our "routine".  I still kept a monthly calendar, but nothing too specific.

Fast forward several years later, four million activities, Heidi Swapp's Capture 30 class and my friendship with Marcy (ha!), and I am now obsessed with planners.  Actually, I'm obsessed with memory planners.  I blame Marcy and Heidi.  Who knew they could be so fun?!?  I remember seeing Heidi, Kim and Lindsay sharing their memory planners and being so intrigued, but with Project Life and all the other memory keeping projects I had going on, I never took the plunge.

But...a new year means trying something new, right??  And I'm all in!!  I'm really loving how this little book holds all the details of our day.  It holds our memories.  It's where I can write down little quotes my kids say, notes about our day, AND keep up with my menu planning, grocery lists and activities.  

Here's how my January is looking so far....

I'm using Heidi Swapp's Memory Planner for the majority of my memory planning and organizing.  It's a great size and gives me enough room to write little details down.  I think my writing is a little large and bubbly, so I like to have a good bit of writing space.  Plus, I love to write down lists!!!  I keep this one out and open at home and usually toss it in the car with me when I'm leaving.  I also have the new Webster's Pages Color Crush planner (in white), which I love and keep in my purse.  It might be redundant to have two, but I always find that when I need my planner, I don't have it.  The larger planner holds ALL of our schedule and is also used as a simplified form of memory keeping.  I'm using the smaller one as a quick summary of our month, as well as place to jot down notes and ideas when I'm out and about. 

I've customized both of these planners to my needs (which is always my favorite part) and have also included a a few extras (sticky notes, pads, alpha).

You've probably seen this collage before, but here it is again!!  I used PicMonkey to create a collage of some my favorite photos from 2014.  I printed it, punched holes in it and added it to the front of my planner.  You can't really see it in the photo, but I also trimmed a piece of clear transparency to cover the front of the collage.  It just adds a little more weight to the front pages and keeps them from curling or bending in. 

I've used the slots in the book for photos to add in some of my favorite pictures and memories.  I always "think" I will remember these moments, but it really is amazing how quickly they can slip your mind.  Writing down the details is my favorite part about this memory planner.

I slipped photos into the small page protectors in the book, and even trimmed down additional page protectors to add in notes and more cards.  I CANNOT wait for Heidi's new planner supplies to be released!  I am all over that!!

This pocket above is one that I trimmed down from an October Afternoon page protector.  I slipped some sticky notes into the top pocket and use these to keep a running list of things I need to pick up at the store.  I love having a place to keep these notes....AND be able to find them when I need them (I'm notorious for writing lists and losing them.  Womp. Womp.).

The monthly calendar holds most everything that we have going on that month.  (And why are my Tuesdays always so busy???).  I try to color coordinate my projects and people to make it easier to read.  I also try to highlight the different things when we have finished them.  Again, I think it just makes it more read-able to me.  :)

The daily calendar is what I love the most.  These little daily boxes are filled with all the details of our day....memories, appointments, quotes....basically whatever happens in our day.  I call this a "journal with a grocery list".  It fits my needs AND my personality perfectly.  I love to write down details (and I usually do this in a notebook), but keeping them all together in book has been a game changer.  I'm loving how our month (and memories) are coming together. 

Inspired by Heidi, I created a "today" divider so I could easily find the current day.  I used a piece of trimmed transparency, added a gold foil sticker on it and adhered a plastic tab labeled "today" at the top. 

At the back of the book, I added in a section for all of my Creative Teams.  Here, I just keep any ideas, inspiration and to-do projects.  I'm thinking of adding in a few other sections (inspired by Marcy and her amazing planners)!

(Oh...and you may have noticed that I removed a September-December from this planner.  I wanted to have room to play around in the book, and didn't want it to feel so crammed. I'll add them back in as the year progresses.)

So that's a look at my memory planner!  Have you taken the plunge into memory planning yet??  Do you keep just a regular planner??  If you have any pages to share, link them up below!  I'd love to see them!!