Plannerisms Planner

In my last post I explained how I chose which planner I would use in 2014. I eventually decided on the Plannerisms planner and I want to share my first impressions and how I intend to use it. Over a few weeks it has evolved into a more complex set up than I intended but is still reasonably compact and I think workable.

 If you want to see the features of the planner and how it was designed to be used see Plannerisms where Laurie has posts and videos which explain it all. This post is about how I intend to use it which is slightly adapted to suit my needs.

Firstly, it is similar proportions to the large Moleskine but slightly larger and the paper is a similar colour. I love this as I find A5 books just a little wide. Not a big deal at all but I do prefer it.

The only thing I am not so sure about is the cover. I am not careful with my planners. They need to go where I want, when I want, and just deal with it. I haven’t done much with this at all yet apart from put the elements together and write in a few key dates and I have already scratched the cover in several places. I am a little worried about how it will look a few months into the year.

The annual goals page is where I will write my ‘master to do list’. I guess it will encompass annual goals but probably a less grown up and focused version.

The 2014 year planner two page spread will be used to give me an overview of finances for the year. I know basically what goes out each month so will not record those things but have started to make a note of annual bills such as car, pet and house insurance. Another thing I will use it for is to track certain things over the year. For example I often get headaches and they are often clustered i.e. several for a few weeks then none for a month. I want to see if there is any pattern and to see how long the clusters last. Finally, I will use it for an overview of holidays.

The monthly pages will be used for birthdays, anniversaries, monthly to dos, and to make a note of things I may want to refer to later such as major purchases. This way when I am looking for something, I only have to look through 12 pages rather than 53.

Before each month spread there is a two page spread for monthly goals. I think I will find this useful to instead write notes for the month. For example if I am going away I can write my packing list.

The weekly pages are where I will put appointments, daily to dos and reminders. The space at the bottom is ideal for meal planning and notes.

There are a few note pages at the back which I will be using for my 'waiting for' pages. I find having a list of things I am waiting for so important and couldn't be without it.

Now, what finally sold me on this planner was that I could fit a Moleskine cahier in the back pocket. Everything in one place, just what I wanted.

However one of these is unlikely to last me the year (I predict that I will need 3 or 4). Therefore in order to keep important information with me I have kept the Plannerisms notes booklet in the back for this purpose. There aren't a lot of pages in this booklet which is fine with me as it doesn't take up much space and will only contain important information I can see myself using regularly throughout the year.

Finally, I have an unused Moleskine address booklet that I will use as an index so I can reference information I may want to find again. 

So really I have ended up with a strange Filofax/bound planner hybrid where individual pages aren’t moveable but sections are. I don’t have to worry about weight but I still have a large page size. Will it work? Time will tell. I admit that I am already eyeing up my flex to see how I can get it to fit to protect the cover. Hmmmmm……..