Planner Crazy

One of the things I've really been working on is planning activities to do with my free time. Any activity will really work and honestly, on the days that I do not have something planned, sometimes I just get in the car and drive. It helps me have something to look forward to and keeps me from staying at home wallowing in my pit of sadness. I even took the girls to breakfast the other day by myself! Single mom of the year over here, people!

Anyways, I'm also reverting back to my 16 year old Lisa Frank-loving self. There's this whole community of women that "plan" and by "plan" I mean - use stickers and bright colors and decorate the sh*t out of their $60 planners. I'm jumping on that bandwagon, folks. It's cute, it's a mind-numbingly easy, and gives me a creative outlet. A lot of these lady-planners have the Erin Condren life planners - which are pretty cool and totally break up your day into day, afternoon and evening planning. Super helpful for those busy moms that are planning kid activities, family activities, dinner, etc. I think they even have a line for teachers so they can lesson plan. They're colorful, personalizable and basically addicting. Plus, there are a billion etsy shop out there that make special stickers (YES SPECIAL DAMN STICKERS) to note all of your awesome and fun activities and events!! What the heck, sign me up!

Source: mamasgotittogether.com

I'm an Emily Ley fan though and love her Simplified Planner. I debated switching to the Erin Condren this year and even dabbled into the Day Designer - but bit the bullet and got my Simplified Planner for 2016! This year I decided to "downgrade" and get the weekly version (I had the daily version last year) but also added August - December 2015 to my new planner so I can use it for the rest of the year. Not only did EL make her 2016 planners slightly smaller - but the weekly version is a lot less bulky compared to the daily version and unlike all of those cool ladies with days and days of activities to schedule, I find that I like working off of the monthly view better anyways. So, a weekly at-a-glace is perfect for me. And so far I love it.

And since I want to be cool like all of these lady-planners, I've also started to slowly order some cute stickers off of Etsy that are small enough to fit in my Simplified Planner! I have a little nailpolish bottle for pedi days, a laptop for work from home days, a softball for games, even a little scale so I can keep tracking my weight bi-weekly! FUN! Plus, I think it makes my days look at whole lot happier even if I'm no longer scheduling family activities (but hey! me and the girls are a little family!) or events.

Wanna be cool like me and the other lady-planners out there? Or need a new hobby and want to obsess over your schedule? Or be *so excited* when a new activity actually gets planned in your already busy day? Start off by scoping out all of the crazy-expensive planners and get your credit card out and buy one. Just do it. Then, you can hop on Instagram and find a ton of lady-planners to gain inspiration! One of my faves is Jen DuFore. She blogs budgeting tips at www.jenplans.com and has an awesome planner-focused IG feed at @jen_plans.  Check her commentors on her IG feed and you'll find a TON (like a CRAPTON) of lady-planners that have awesome posts and colorful stickers and then you'll want to spend all of your hard earned money on cute stickers. But it'll be worth it because it'll save your sanity. I promise. :)